I needed something exciting, romantic and most of all, fun.
ONE RODEO SEASON by Sarah M Anderson hit the mark. We meet
a rodeo bullfighter, hired to get between fallen bull-riders
and the bull, named Ian Tall Chief. His sole aim is
to keep the riders safe, though he has no intention of
harming the bulls. Finding severe fault with Ian after one
adventure in the ring is Lacy Evans, the lady whose ranch
sends the valuable bulls to the rodeo. Ian could have
injured her top bull Rattler, and where would that leave
her?
I love the action-packed start, so vivid we can see the
awesome bull and taste the dust. Lacy angrily orders Ian
to take more care with her bulls. But Lacy has other
problems that Ian doesn't know about, like jeering
competitor ranchers and a shortage of ready cash. Rattler
gains points for every cowboy he unseats, and a high-ranked
bull can go forward to major contests; if he's lamed, that
is the end of her income. Working a ranch alone is hard
enough, but she is essentially working two jobs to make
ends meet. I think we can forgive Lacy her fiery temper.
Lacy, we learn, has lost her parents and takes her
responsibilities seriously. She doesn't do hook-ups with
random cowboys. In her experience, rodeo guys either think
a woman has no business riding cattle or they treat women
as one-night-stands. Ian just wants to offer genuine help.
But Lacy decides she doesn't need any help. It's a pattern
of thinking that has become a habit. Without her capable
father, though, she's easy prey for the more predatory men,
including some who intend to put her out of business. And
the massive bulls don't always co-operate either.
I came to genuinely admire Lacy the more I read. And what
of Ian? He's from a Lakota reservation, but he and a black
cowboy Jack are the only persons of colour around, so he
knows how it feels to be an outsider. He's got a degree in
sports kinesiology. But he's got a secret, a baby son
adopted off the rez. Ian wants to help Lacy, but he doesn't
know where to start. I like that this pair spend time
together, find out what they have in common, and decide
whether they want more than friendship. This is an adult
romance, and a complicated one. Sarah M. Anderson writes
the outsider role, the layered identity, very well and ONE
RODEO SEASON is a top-rank story about credible characters.
When his past collides with her present, only true
love
can survive the wild ride…
Bullfighter
Ian
Tall Chief is determined to get off the reservation and
onto
the pro circuit. After a wild youth, and some big
mistakes,
he's found his focus. The only person who can break his
concentration? Lacy Evans, owner of the Straight Arrow
Ranch.
But the beautiful cowgirl is dealing
with
problems of her own. She's running the ranch alone, after
her parents' deaths. The macho rodeo world is not ready
for
a female stock contractor. And she's discovered her
parents
were keeping secrets from her—ones that rock the very
foundation of her identity. Can she trust Ian to be the
good
man he claims to be?
Excerpt
She was so lost in thought that she didn’t see the tall
figure in a white T-shirt flagging her down until she
almost ran into him. But the man stepped to the side,
neatly avoiding having his toes squashed, just as he’d
avoided Rattler’s horns.
Lacy slammed on the brakes—at least she’d only been going
about ten miles per hour. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have
been able to stop. “Dammit!”
Because it was Chief again. The pain in her neck, come
back for more.
He leaned against her driver’s side mirror and waited for
her to roll the window down, looking cool and graceful
and hot all at once, dang it.
She lowered her window. “What now?”
“I’m sorry about the bull,” he said. “I’ll pay for any
treatment he needs.”
She blinked at him. “What?”
“The bull.” He shifted and she realized the white T-shirt
he was wearing was soaked through. It clung to his body,
highlighting muscles and more muscles and then, down a
little lower…
Chief cleared his throat, making Lacy startle. “Is he
okay?” he asked again.
She needed to come up with something that wouldn’t have
her breaking down in grateful tears that Rattler was, in
fact, okay. It would be best if that something she came
up with didn’t let Chief off the hook or give away the
fact that she was having a hard time not looking at his
chest. “I won’t know for sure until the vet checks him
out.” There.
“Let me know.”
She nodded in agreement and waited for him to move back,
but he didn’t. “Yes?”
The corner of his mouth curved up into the kind of smile
women like her didn’t often get from men like him—
confident and sensual and interested. If Lacy had been a
normal single woman, it was the kind of smile that would
make her want to melt into his arms and kiss him.
But she wasn’t a normal single woman. She had
responsibilities.
“We got off on the wrong foot. I’m Ian Tall Chief.” He
stuck out his hand.
And waited while Lacy looked at it. “Are you serious?”
He dropped his hand, looking offended. “Did I look like I
was joking?”
Oh, hell—had that come out wrong? She wasn’t trying to
make fun of his name. Actually, given that everyone
called him Chief, she was relieved to hear that was not
some sort of derogatory nickname.
So she clarified, “I’m not interested. I don’t hook up.”
That got both eyebrows up and moving as his face relaxed.
“Are you serious?”
“Look,” she said in exasperation, “I know how this goes.
There are two kinds of men here. The first doesn’t think
a woman like me should be anywhere near a bull because we
might do better than them and that would obviously be the
end of the world. The second thinks I’m nothing but a
one-night stand that hasn’t happened yet.” She pointed a
finger at him. “Guess which one you are.”
His lips—nice lips, rounded and full and—no, stop it,
Lacy. She was not going to start thinking about his lips,
which were twisting as if he was thinking about laughing
at her but trying not to.
Unfortunately, in trying so hard not to stare at his
mouth, her gaze drifted back down to his chest. The wet
t-shirt left nothing to the imagination. Pecs, nipples—
She snapped her gaze to the front windshield. She
wouldn’t look at him. That was the best solution.
“Have you considered,” Ian Tall Chief said in an amused
drawl, “that there might be another kind of man here?”
“No.”
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