Cowboys Last All Night

by Jennifer Ashley

  Each of the brothers has his own story in the Riding Hard series—the next one in line is Grant, and then Carter, going down from oldest to youngest. You’ll also learn more about the Malory brothers, Kyle and Ray, and their sisters, Grace and Lucy, and more about Carter’s past and his daughter, Faith.

  I hope you enjoyed the first look at the Campbells and their friends and family. Thanks for reading!

  For more information about my books, current and forthcoming, in all my series, see my website, http://www.jenniferashley.com. While you’re there, sign up to my newsletter to stay informed about books as they are released.

  Best wishes,

  Jennifer Ashley

  Riding Hard

  Series

  Adam

  Grant

  Carter

  Tyler

  Ross

  Kyle

  Ray

  If you enjoy books about close family ties and small towns, try my Shifters Unbound series

  Pride Mates

  Primal Bonds

  Bodyguard

  Wild Cat

  Hard Mated

  Mate Claimed

  Perfect Mate (novella)

  Lone Wolf

  Tiger Magic

  Feral Heat

  Wild Wolf

  Bear Attraction

  Mate Bond

  Shifter Made (short story “prequel”)

  And more to come!

  New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Jennifer Ashley has written more than 80 published novels and novellas in romance, urban fantasy, and mystery under the names Jennifer Ashley, Allyson James, and Ashley Gardner. Her books have been nominated for and won Romance Writers of America's RITA (given for the best romance novels and novellas of the year), several RT BookReviews Reviewers Choice awards (including Best Urban Fantasy, Best Historical Mystery, and Career Achievement in Historical Romance), and Prism awards for her paranormal romances. Jennifer's books have been translated into more than a dozen languages and have earned starred reviews in Booklist.

  More about Jennifer’s books can be found at http://www.jenniferashley.com.

  Or email Jennifer at jenniferashley@cox.net

  Jennifer Ashley: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Newsletter

  Overnight Love

  By Nicole Edwards

  Chapter One

  Mackenzie Catlay never imagined in all her life that she’d be walking into a backwoods, redneck, country bar to meet a man. Well, not like this, anyway.

  A blind date.

  Blind. Freaking. Date.

  What had her life come to?

  “What could it hurt, Kenzie?” her mother had asked the last time she’d come to visit, two weeks ago. They’d been sitting on Kenzie’s back porch with the propane heater blasting, drinking wine and talking about what it had been like for her mother growing up in that very house and reminiscing about the times Kenzie had visited her grandparents there.

  Between the two of them, they’d finished off two bottles of wine, and that was the first mistake Kenzie had made that night. The second had been turning on her computer.

  At first, Kenzie had shunned the idea that her mother had easily planted in her mind. Laughed at it, even. But then, after perusing the Internet, she’d given in to the curiosity that had plagued her.

  Her mother had mentioned a website that one of her friends had been raving about just a few weeks before. Until that moment, Kenzie had never considered trying to meet anyone, much less trying to find love, online. At twenty-six, she was content being alone, living in her grandparents’ old ranch house, sharing her bed with her cat, and not having to answer to anyone. Yep, no issues whatsoever.

  Or so she’d told herself.

  Okay, so maybe that wasn’t entirely true.

  Until recently, she’d had a relatively busy dating life. It wasn’t until she’d uprooted her life eight months ago and moved to the small town where her mother had grown up that she’d started enjoying the solitude that came with being single. Apparently, too much time by herself, spent only with the company of her cat, Jasper, or the occasional visit from her mother, had been her downfall, and Kenzie had given in to her curiosity, pulling up the website.

  Just to look, she’d told herself.

  “And you’re here, why?” Kenzie ridiculed herself aloud as she made her way to the front door of the small bar, the rough gravel lot causing her to wobble in her three-inch heels a time or two, but thankfully, she didn’t end up on her ass.

  When Kenzie opened the door, cigarette smoke and the dull drone of conversation drifted out. Taking a step inside, she tried not to draw the attention of the people who were standing around, talking and laughing and having a good time. Although plenty of eyes slid her way, no one seemed to care that she was there. She wasn’t sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

  The place was rustic, if that was the right word. Wood walls, wood floor, some animal heads and beer signs decorating the space, but mostly it was filled with men and women sharing conversation, a few dancing to the slow country tune playing on the jukebox.

  A far cry from the bars Kenzie was used to visiting back in Houston.

  “What can I getcha, honey?”

  Kenzie glanced at the big-haired woman who was currently smacking gum and smiling like she knew a secret that Kenzie didn’t.

  She probably did.

  These days, Kenzie felt out of the loop wherever she went, whether it was the grocery store or the bank. According to her mother, people in small towns prided themselves on knowing everyone, and until Kenzie made an effort to get to know people there, she was going to look like an outsider.

  I’m here now, she thought to herself.

  “Bud Light,” Kenzie told the bartender, mentioning the first thing that came to mind. Since she didn’t drink beer, she figured it didn’t really matter what the label said. She’d merely be using it as a prop. Her drink of choice would’ve been a nice glass of wine, maybe a shot of something stronger, but definitely not beer. Considering she was meeting a man she’d only talked to on the Internet over the course of a week, keeping all her wits about her was the most important thing, as far as she was concerned. So, the beer was just an accessory. Something to say that she belonged there, when, in truth, based on the people standing around, she knew otherwise.

  Amongst the cowboys in their western gear and the women in their rhinestone-encrusted outfits, Kenzie knew she looked out of place. She’d put on her favorite little black dress at the last minute, not wanting to spend more time than necessary digging through the boxes she had yet to unpack. The ones that contained her nice clothes, the outfits she’d worn when she’d had an active social life and not spending most of her time doing little more than take care of a few cows, a couple of horses, and a handful of chickens. Something she still had no idea how to do. Not well, anyway. Then again, that was why she still had Ralph, the ranch hand who’d been with her grandparents for longer than Kenzie could remember.

  Nope, her black dress and killer heels stood out like a neon sign. This was a redneck bar, and Kenzie was a big-city transplant who was having a hard time fitting in no matter what she did.

  Ever since moving to Embers Ridge, she’d settled on being a loner, hanging out at home with her cat and her livestock. Considering that the only reason she’d moved there was because her grandfather had left his small ranch to her when he’d passed away nine months ago, she wasn’t surprised. The only human contact she’d had recently were the sporadic phone calls to a few of her friends in Houston, her mother’s frequent visits, her late-night chats with her cat, and a couple of brief conversations with a guy named Joe. On the Internet.

  “Here ya go, honey,” the woman said as she set the bottle on the scarred bar top in front of Kenzie. “Haven’t seen you ’round these parts.”

  Kenzie shook her head. “I’m not from around here.”

  “Couldn’t tell,” the other woman said facetiously, a wide smile on her bright r
ed lips. “Name’s Marla. Just holler if you need anything else.”

  Kenzie nodded, reaching for the bottle and pulling it closer to her. Glancing around the room, she tried to figure out whether or not her date had already arrived. Maybe he was hiding out so he could check her out first. She’d thought about doing that, arriving half an hour early so she could try and spy on him first, except she’d chickened out before she’d ever stepped out her front door.

  It was actually a wonder she was there at all, but her conscience had gotten the best of her. She didn’t want to stand Joe up. He’d been nice the few times they’d chatted online.

  Neither of them had shared pictures of themselves, mainly because Kenzie hadn’t been comfortable. It wasn’t like there was any way to prove that he was who he said he was by a picture anyway. For whatever reason, she’d thought that meeting in person, in a public place, would be the way to go.

  Crazy, she knew.

  Yet here she was, and it looked like maybe she was the one who’d been stood up.

  “Anyone sittin’ here?”

  Kenzie glanced up to look at the man who owned the smooth, rich voice. He was wearing a black Stetson and a navy blue button-down shirt, the sleeves rolled up to show thick, tanned forearms covered in crisp, dark hair. Thanks to the black Stetson resting on his head, she couldn’t see his face. At least nothing other than chiseled cheekbones, lips that weren’t smiling, and a five-o’clock shadow on his stubbornly set jaw.

  He was handsome, she could tell that much. She just wished she could see his eyes.

  “Not yet,” she said absently, shifting on her stool to allow the man room to sit.

  There was no way that this guy was Joe; even she knew that much. She just didn’t get that lucky.

  This guy didn’t look like he needed to resort to an Internet dating site to meet women. Hell, for all she knew, he was married. As she reached for her beer, pretending to have a reason to be there, she glanced down at his hands when he set them on the wooden top. Nope. No ring.

  Good sign.

  No. Wait. That was not a good sign. That wasn’t a sign at all. Kenzie wasn’t there to meet a cowboy. She had no interest in cowboys, and this guy … he was all cowboy.

  Not wanting to disturb him, she glanced in the mirror above the bar, searching the room for someone who might possibly be her date.

  “Hey, Lucas,” Marla greeted the man now sitting to her left.

  Kenzie noticed Marla hadn’t asked him what he wanted. Instead, she offered him a big grin as she slid over a short glass with amber liquid and ice.

  “Hey, Marla. You’re lookin’ good tonight, honey,” he said, that rich baritone of his making the hair on the back of Kenzie’s neck stand up and take notice.

  “You sweet-talkin’ devil, you. Don’t let Carl hear you say that.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it,” Lucas replied with a gruff, far-too-sexy chuckle. “Wouldn’t want your ol’ man scalpin’ me.”

  Kenzie found herself watching the cowboy in the mirror. He was tall, probably over six feet. Even sitting down, he made her feel significantly smaller by comparison, and that was saying something since Kenzie was tall herself. He was handsome, what she could see of him, anyway. For someone who was not her type. As she studied the angles of his face, the fullness of his lips, Kenzie tried to pretend to be looking elsewhere. When their eyes met in the mirror, she knew she’d been busted. The slight tilt of his lips was proof.

  “Whose heart you gonna break tonight, darlin’?” Lucas asked, his eyes moving away from hers and down to the drink in front of him.

  “Excuse me?” Kenzie wasn’t sure whether he was talking to her or not, but there wasn’t anyone else around, so she figured he might be.

  “Nothin’. Ignore me,” he said gruffly.

  Kenzie nodded her head before taking a sip of her beer.

  Yuck.

  God, that tasted like shit.

  A ruckus near the door had Kenzie turning on her stool, her back to Lucas. A man was walking in, and he looked as though he’d already tied one on. He was staggering and grabbing hold of anything he could reach just to keep himself upright, including an unlucky blonde standing near the door.

  “Hey, girlie. You Mackenzie?” he asked one of the women he wrapped his arms around.

  “Oh, God,” Kenzie muttered.

  “Know him?” Lucas asked.

  Kenzie could feel the heat of Lucas’s body against her back, causing a chill to race down her spine.

  “I hope not,” she answered honestly, glancing behind her to see that the good-looking cowboy was staring over her shoulder.

  “Are you Mackenzie?” the drunk guy asked the next woman he encountered.

  The way he stretched her name into way too many syllables made Kenzie cringe.

  “I take it you’re Mackenzie?” Lucas stated. His smoky voice, mixed with the warmth of his breath on her neck, was not doing her any favors.

  “Can I lie and say no?” she asked frankly.

  Lucas chuckled, but then his body heat left her as he turned back around to face the bar.

  Crap.

  What was she supposed to do about this guy? The drunk one. If he was, in fact, her date, which, unfortunately, she was pretty sure he was, there was no way this was going to go well. Joe something or other, who lived in Austin, sold real estate, and drove a Porsche that he prized more than anything — or so he’d told her online — was rip-roaring drunk. She obviously couldn’t have a conversation with him. He could hardly stand up, much less talk.

  Another woman shoved him off, and then a couple of guys moved him along until the man she assumed was Joe stumbled over to the bar. He planted himself on the barstool closest to Kenzie, and she suddenly wished she could click her heels together and disappear.

  “Hey!” he hollered at Marla.

  Marla shot a glare down toward his end of the bar, but she didn’t move to serve him.

  Kenzie turned back around and faced the wall lined with bottles, tipping her beer to her lips. Maybe if she didn’t look at him, he wouldn’t see her. God, she hoped he didn’t see her.

  “Hey! Can I get a beer down here?” Joe yelled at Marla again.

  This time Lucas growled. The deep rumble coming from his chest had Kenzie jerking her head to look at him.

  “I suggest you send him on his way before he gets himself hurt,” Lucas said beneath his breath, his attention on the glass with the amber liquid sitting in front of him, his Stetson casting his ruggedly handsome face in shadow. “We practice these things called manners ’round these parts.”

  “He’s not mine to deal with,” Kenzie said defensively, trying not to move her lips too much, not wanting to draw Joe’s attention to her.

  “Are you Mackenzie?” Joe finally asked, and Kenzie glanced over at him. Yep, he was talking to her.

  Crap.

  She’d never been a good liar. And really, what good would it do to pretend she wasn’t the date he’d come to meet? It wasn’t like her night was going to get any better either way.

  Chapter Two

  Lucas Burch didn’t want to pay attention to the blonde beauty sitting beside him, but from the moment he’d laid eyes on her, he hadn’t been able to look away. When their gazes had met in the mirror above the bar, he’d feared she’d seen his interest written across his face.

  He wasn’t interested.

  No damn way.

  At thirty-eight years old, he had no use for women in his life, not even for one night. Especially not the young woman in the sexy black dress. Not after the number that’d been done on him by the woman whose name he refused to speak. The woman he’d spent the last thirteen years with. The same one who’d left him high and dry when she’d traded him in for a younger version.

  But no matter how many times he told himself to get up and just go home, his legs weren’t listening to the instruction. Stopping in to grab a drink had seemed like a good idea, right up to the point he’d come in and seen her. And now his ass was p
lanted on the barstool right next to the blonde in the slinky black dress, and for the first time in months, his body was insisting that he get to know her a little better.

  She couldn’t have stood out more if she’d been wearing a flashing sign on her head. Hell, Lucas wasn’t sure he’d ever seen a woman dressed like that come into the place he considered his second home, aptly named Marla’s Bar after the owner, Marla White. Never.

  Not that he had anything against that damn dress. The black number clung to every delicious curve, accentuating her narrow waist and rounded ass. And her legs… Son of a bitch, her legs had to be at least a mile long. He could imagine them wrapped around his hips while he...

  No, you can’t, dumbass.

  Lucas shook his head, trying to dislodge the image. His body was already responding, and he knew there wasn’t enough alcohol in the place to soothe him if he let his lust get the best of him.

  It’d been six damn months since he’d been with any woman. Period.

  Lucas sipped his scotch, pretending that Makenzie wasn’t sitting next to him and that her sweet perfume wasn’t making his head spin. It was subtle, not quite what he expected from the likes of her.

  When the drunk bastard at the end of the bar asked whether she was Mackenzie, Lucas shifted his head ever so slightly so he could look at her.

  Her eyes widened, and he knew without a doubt she wished she wasn’t.

  What surprised him was the numerous expressions that crossed her pretty face. She wasn’t going to lie to the man, and Lucas wondered why that was. They clearly didn’t know each other. Hell, the guy didn’t even know what she looked like. Either that or he was just that drunk and had confused every woman, no matter their hair color, for the woman sitting at the bar.

  “Blind date?” Lucas asked, keeping his voice low enough that only she could hear.

  “Unfortunately,” Makenzie said just as softly.