Sunday Snippet: The Yup, It’s a Real Snippet Edition

We’ve been yard focused this weekend–weeding, cutting back old fall stuff, etc. You know, spring cleaning the yard. Son and Grandboy came over and helped us out with edging and weeding and checking gutters because I’ve declared a moratorium on Husband being on ladders. Grandboy even reset some of the garden edging blocks for me–freezing and thawing cause them to get out of alignment. He also helped me put the hoops around the peonies, which is a study in frustration for one person, but he zipped right through it. We haven’t done everything–there’s still mulching to do, and today, Husband and I will do the weed-and-feed–a lot of walking back and forth with the spreader.

In the midst of all this yard work, we’ve been in deep discussions about getting a new deck put on the lake cottage. A huge decision because there are more factors to consider than one might think. I’m not going into all of it here because honestly, I’m tired of thinking about it. Suffice to say, we’ve pretty much made our decision about the route we want to take. So heavy stuff happening at Casa Reinhardt or should I say Las Casas Reinhardt?

I’m also working more than usual–scheduled editing gigs are coming in, I have a book to finish by mid-June, a proposal to get written, and preparations for a huge book event coming up in early June continue. Sometimes, I think maybe I’m getting too old for such a full plate, but what would I shove off my piled-up plate? If you know the answer to that question, I’m listening.

All this to say, topics for the Sunday Snippet are scarce today. So you get a snippet from my upcoming cowboy romance–Help Wanted, Cowboy, book 3 in my Juniper Falls Ranch series. The book releases July 7 and I can hardly wait to share this one with y’all. Here’s the blurb and I gotta tell you, I really love these characters. Nurse/Midwife Millie is sharp and funny and yet a little lost in some significant ways. Bull rider Rory is a sweetheart, smart, kind, a true renaissance man who suddenly falls head over heels with a woman who isn’t looking for love. Plus, there’s a little mystery for them to solve together.

A Montana bull rider temporarily working as a ranch hand. An OB nurse who wants “a favor.” Two opposites thrown together. A treasure hunt adds to autumn magic. 

When a family emergency brings cowboy Rory Pearson home to Marietta, he hires on to Juniper Falls Ranch for seasonal work. He’s hoping to explore an intriguing family legend. Armed with research and his grandfather’s stories, Rory thinks he’s ready, but nothing goes as planned. Then a sweetly sexy nurse propositions him.

Nurse Millie Sparks is tired of playing it safe. She’s been too focused on her education and career and romance and adventure have passed her by. Staying on the ranch to care for a patient with a tricky pregnancy, Millie’s interest in Rory is immediate. He offers to teach her to ride, and she wonders if the lessons could extend to something else she’s been hiding.

It’s a game of flirtation and fun. Feelings can’t be serious. But as the clock ticks down, hearts interfere, and saying goodbye just got way more complicated.

Here’s a quick snippet from the opening scene of Help Wanted, Cowboy:

Bo led him into the big kitchen that was obviously just renovated. Somehow they’d managed to bring everything up-to-date and yet maintain a very early 1900s feel with a wide-plank floor, a big farmhouse scrubbed-top pine table that seated at least ten people, and a huge old-fashioned stove like ones Rory had seen in the old westerns that his mom watched endlessly. “Sit.”

Rory started to sit when a woman, the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, came into the kitchen. No, not beautiful—that wasn’t the right word. It wasn’t enough. She was … ravishing. Petite, but curvaceous with a body that would make strong men go weak in the knees—as he was now, so he sat. But he couldn’t stop staring. Clad in a crisp white shirt tucked into form-fitting black trousers that showed off her shapely curves, she stopped dead, head tipped to one side in clear curiosity. Her dark-brown ringlets fell well below her shoulders, but were held off her face by a pair of glasses pushed up on her head. The kitchen light gave an almost mahogany sheen to the thick tresses. He took in everything about her features—whiskey-brown eyes fringed with even darker lashes, tanned and rosy cheeks, and plump full lips that would tempt a saint. Which he wasn’t.

She gave the three of them a quick appraising glance. “What?”

“Medical emergency,” Bo said and tilted his head toward Rory, who hadn’t taken a breath since she’d appeared.

He opened his mouth to speak, but at first, nothing came out. Finally, he choked out. “I-I hurt my leg.”

Bo frowned but added, “Fence wire broke and hit his shin.” He crooked a finger. “Can you take a look and see if we need to take him down to the ER?”

She walked briskly to where he sat and Rory’s heart sped up as the scent of flowers and citrus and something indefinable, but enticing, assaulted his senses. She pointed to a chair next to him. “Stick your leg up here.”

He couldn’t even lift his leg. He was gobsmacked, bowled over, utterly mesmerized. “I’m Rory.”

~*~*~*~

Millie furrowed her brow at the young man with the bloody bandanna wrapped around his left calf. I’m Rory? Was he also suffering from a concussion? “I’m sorry?”

She didn’t recognize him—not a surprise. She’d only been at Juniper Falls for a couple of weeks, and she hadn’t met all the hands yet. A couple of them were day workers who went home at the end of the day. “Will you let me look at it?”

He blinked and gave a little nod when she knelt down in front of him. “I’m going to take this bandanna off. Okay, Rory?” Oh, God, she was talking to him like he was a child and he wasn’t a child. The man was probably older than he looked, although right then, except for the neatly trimmed beard he wore, he looked like dazed teenager…

…“You okay?” Millie snapped on the gloves and tried again to roll up his pant leg.

“Yeah.” He didn’t sound at all convincing. “Here, I can roll it up.” But he didn’t. Instead he lowered his eyes, which Millie had already noted were green—emerald green. That made sense. The hair peeking out from under his Resistol was dark red, and he had an Irishman’s fair skin with a smattering of freckles on his very handsome face. He was a damn good-looking man, even when slightly ill.

“Rory, put your head down between your knees for a minute.” Millie glanced up at Bo, who just shook his head.

“This guy delivered a calf last night and was covered in all kinds of bodily fluids,” he commented. “But he can’t take the sight of his own blood?”

“That’s not unusual. Del’s the same way. He can handle any blood but his own,” Beth commiserated and got up, got a bottle of water from the fridge, and set it on the table beside Rory.

Millie kept a gentle hand on the back of the cowboy’s neck until he took a deep breath and raised his head. “I’m okay now, thanks.” He opened the bottle of water and took a long drink.

“Good,” Millie said, “because you’re going to have to stand up and drop your pants.”

His green eyes widened. “What?”

She rose from where she was stooped next to his knees. “Yeah, we’re not going to get those jeans rolled up from the bottom.” She held out a hand. “Here, stand up and—”

He set the bottle on the table and raised both palms. “I’m not dropping trou. I’ll drive myself to the hospital.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake.” Millie sighed and blew a breath into her bangs. “Everybody out. Beth, scoot.” She turned to Bo and Gus, both of whom were trying very hard not to laugh, and jerked her head toward the back door.

Rory sat quietly in his chair as they left, a look of grim determination on his face.

When everyone was gone, she set her hands on her hips and gazed at him. “Okay, it’s just you and me, cowboy. You can either bleed out or unzip and let me fix your damn leg.”

When he still hesitated, she smiled at him. “I’ve seen plenty of guys in their underwear. I’m guessing you don’t have anything going on that I haven’t seen before.”

He rose and slowly unbuckled his belt and opened the five buttons on his jeans to reveal a pair of tight, black, knit boxer briefs. Staring at something above her head, Rory lowered his pants, hissing a breath as he pushed them carefully past the wound. It was still bleeding, but not as profusely.

Millie put one hand on his chest. “Sit.”

He sat and allowed her to clean the wound with betadine wipes from the first-aid kit and examine the slice across his shin. “Like I thought. Mostly bluster.”

“Bluster?”

“Not as bad as the bleeding made it seem. Shins bleed a lot, like mouths and scalps. But this can’t be stitched, the skin over your shin is too thin for that. So I’m going to close it with steri-strips, smear it up with antibiotic ointment, and cover with a light bandage. Or you can go to the ER and let them do it and charge you a thousand dollars. Your call.”

“No.” He shook his head and looked a little less nauseated. “You do it, if you don’t mind. I gotta get back to work.”

Just the beginning of Rory and Millie–she’s doing him a favor fixing his cut leg, but she needs a much bigger favor from him… Stay tuned! Book releases July 7, but in another couple of weeks I’ll have ARCs to share!

Gratitude for This Week: Son and Grandboy came to help us with some outdoor work; things are greening up like crazy; got two Boston ferns for the planters on the back deck and we got out the outdoor furniture; had lunch on the deck for the first time; Sunshine, sunshine!

Stay well, stay engaged–I know the news is exhausting, but find good, honest sources so you’ll know the truth about what’s happening, always choose kindness, and most of all, mes amis, stay grateful!