Never trust a man!
Thatâs what Dixie Cash learned from her mother. That and fathers donât stick around. Sheâs pretty independent, and doesnât need help from her babyâs daddy, sexy rodeo rider and ex-soldier Gavin Tucker. But he seems determined to do right by her. Just as Dixie starts to imagine that together they might be a family, tragedy strikesâand Gavin shows his true colors. She knew he wasnât honorable!
After what Gavin went through in Afghanistan, he was more than happy to lose himself in the rodeo circuitâand in sweet Dixieâs arms. But doing the right thing can be hard sometimes, and when DixieâGavinâs lifelineâdoesnât need him anymore, heâs at a loss. His heart still longs for Dixie, though heâs not sure he deserves a second chance....
After a lengthy silence, Gavin said, âWe need to discuss what happens next.â
Dixieâs throat swelled with panic and she swallowed hard. Sheâd known from the get-go that Gavin was an honorable man and once he learned heâd fathered her baby heâd insist on doing his duty and marrying her.
âGavinââ
âDixieââ
âYou go first,â she said, bracing herself for a marriage proposal.
âIâm not sure what the answer to our predicament is, but I do know that Iâm not ready to marry and settle down.â
Stunned by his confession, Dixie leaned against the workbench and stared unseeingly at the scattered supplies.
âI want to do right by the baby, so I intend to help you financially.â
Her face warmed with embarrassment. What an idiot sheâd been to believe Gavin wanted to marry her. Shoving her bruised pride aside, she focused on the positiveâhe didnât want to be involved in her life.
Dear Reader,
Welcome back to Stagecoach, Arizona! In A Cowboyâs Duty youâll meet Dixie Cash and her six brothersâeach named after a country-and-western singer. Youâll get a kick out of the crazy Cash brothers, but the cowboy who will steal your heart is Gavin Tucker. Heâs a soldier cowboyâa special breed of man whoâs paid a high price for defending his country.
Many soldiers return from war suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Gavinâs an adrenaline junkieâfeeding his addiction by competing in rodeo. The high he gets from busting broncs gives him the strength to keep running from his past, and as long as the past never catches up to him Gavin is able to keep his PTSD under control. A chance encounter with a female bull rider named Dixie Cash threatens the status quo. When Dixie turns up pregnant, Gavin must face his past before he can seek the future heâd always believed to be out of reach for him.
Dixie and Gavinâs love story is about courage, trust and taking a leap of faith. I hope you enjoy accompanying them on their rocky road to Happy Ever After.
For more information about other books in my Rodeo Rebels series, please visit www.marinthomas.com and drop by my blog, All My Heroes Are Cowboys, www.marinthomas.blogspot.com, where I always have something to say about the guys who wear Wranglers and Stetsons.
Happy Ever After...The Cowboy Way!
Marin
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marin Thomas grew up in Janesville, Wisconsin. She left the Midwest to attend college in Tucson, Arizona, where she earned a B.A. in radio-TV. Following graduation she married her college sweetheart in a five-minute ceremony at the historic Little Chapel of the West in Las Vegas, Nevada. Over the years she and her family have lived in seven different states, but theyâve now come full circle and returned to Arizona, where the rugged desert and breathtaking sunsets provide plenty of inspiration for Marinâs cowboy books.
To Lauren
When we first met, you were quiet and shy. It wasnât until I got to know you better that I began to see a strong, determined and resourceful young woman. A woman who is not afraid to rely on herself or face the unknown without flinching. Hold fast to your dreamsâ
no matter how long they take to realize or what roads you must travel to achieve them. Believe in yourself, and there will be no limit to what you can achieve.
Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out.
âArt Linkletter
Prologue
July
Boot Hill Rodeo, Boot Hill, Arizona
âReady?â
âIâll never be as ready as you are.â Dixie Cash grimaced at her friend Shannon Douglasâone of the top female bull riders in the country.
Shannon was forever on the lookout for a rough stock competition and when Five Star Rodeos had agreed to sponsor womenâs bull riding in three summer events, Shannon had promised to find five women crazy enough to ride with herâDixie being one of them.
âHere.â Shannon held out a bank draft.
âI feel bad taking your money.â Dixie shoved the check into the front pocket of her jeans.