Rodeo Riders

by Vonna Harper

  She, her heart pounding like a jackhammer. She, scared and excited, and in awe of the monster.

  The bull’s thick skin shuddered, putting her in mind of a horse trying to dislodge a fly. Rampage pawed the ground.

  “Do you know who I am?” She tapped Rampage’s shoulder. “Maybe not. You have so many grudges against so many humans.”

  Rampage snorted, the sound rumbling up from deep inside his great chest. She thought of thunder rolling through the night.

  “I’m impressed. Got it. I’m impressed. You’re an amazing creature.”

  On the tail of his second bellow, Rampage flung back his head. Because she sensed what he was about to do, she’d leaned away, evading the horns. Shit! Shit.

  “All right,” she whispered once she’d remembered how to breathe. “Duly noted. I won’t take anything for granted.”

  Yet another bellow rolled through him. The sound seemed to press against her. She wondered if an avalanche felt and sounded like this. What would it be like to try to outrun tons of deadly free-falling snow?

  “Magnificent. Absolutely magnificent, big boy.”

  Her legs were starting to ache from being forced into a near split, but she barely paid attention. Rampage’s heat was soaking through her jeans and imprinting her with the reality of his great heart.

  “Maybe you’re all instinct. Sleeping, eating, fucking, attacking what you don’t like. Does that sum it up?”

  Once again, a subtle tightening of his neck muscles alerted her. This time when he flung back his head, his horns came so close she could have grabbed them. She thought of the centuries his kind had been on earth. Someday there might be no more rodeos, but Rampage’s children and grandchildren would still be here—oblivious to man’s self-importance.

  “I envy you. I never thought I’d say that, but I do. No one’s ever going to push you around. You are what you are. You exist, simply exist.”

  Rampage repeatedly pawed the ground. His muscles and skin rolled under her. This was real life—heart, muscle, bone, a brain that wanted nothing to do with humans. The moment the bulls were free of this man-made prison they became aggressors, and sometimes killing machines.

  “I’m thinking too much. Hard to believe, given the need to concentrate, isn’t it? I’d like to be like you, the neighborhood bully. Feed you and leave you alone, and you’re a happy camper. Mess with you, and you take no prisoners.”

  Still pawing, Rampage started rocking from side to side, perhaps trying to smash her legs against the boards. She rested them along the back of his neck, which compromised her balance.

  “End of the ride, old buddy.” With that, she dove for the railing. Just as her hands closed around it, Rampage reared, his front hooves inches from her. His bellow made her ears ring.

  Strong hands gripped her and pulled her out of the way. Her belly dragged over the railing, and she kicked to help propel herself forward. Her boots struck Rampage, but she didn’t stick around to discover where she’d landed a pathetic blow.

  “Had enough?” Cougar asked. With one hand, he clung to the railing. The other held her against him.

  “Oh yeah. Quite enough.”

  A few feet away, Rampage pounded the ground. She’d sat on him! Sat and talked and felt. Discovered.

  “Thank you,” she whispered and rested her head against Cougar’s chest.

  “You learned what you needed to?”

  Straightening, she looked into the eyes of maybe the one man on earth who understood. “Yes.”

  “Now what?”

  “Now I get ready to ride.”

  There was more than one kind of ride. The first had occurred earlier, when she’d ridden Trixie to a second-place finish, secure in the belief that she could coax an even faster time out of her mare during tomorrow night’s final.

  As for the second—

  “Jordan?”

  Cougar’s voice turned her around. The bridle she held started to slide out of her hand, prompting her to clutch it. Believing she wouldn’t see him until after the show was over, she’d bedded Trixie down but had taken the bridle with her so she could work some lubricant into the leather. Instead of going to her place, however, she’d wandered back toward the arena. Although the fans had left, most of the participants were around the concession stand, dissecting each other’s performances.

  “How did you find me?” she asked.

  “Maybe instinct.” Taking the bridle from her, he looped it over his neck. Then, obviously not caring who else saw, he took her in his arms and bent her back until she clung to him to keep from falling. Her legs slid between his, and she felt cradled by him.

  Alive.

  Instinct closed her mouth in on his. The same primitive reaction propelled her pelvis toward his. He was aroused, as turned on as she felt. When he parted his lips, she did the same and welcomed his tongue into her. His tongue circled her mouth, then rolled in and out, igniting memories of another kind of invasion. Familiar heat spun through her.

  “Get a room!” a man yelled.

  “Do it fast,” another added. “Looks like the two of you are going to be busy all night.”

  “Are we?” Cougar asked as he helped her straighten. Instead of releasing her, he pressed on her buttocks and kept her close. “Going to be busy all night?”

  Taking his face in her hands, she looked up at him. Even as her body gave out the message that she intended to explore for as long as the two of them lasted, she faced the world beyond this moment. “You’re going to be leaving as soon as things wind up tomorrow, aren’t you?”

  “I have to. The bulls are—”

  “Committed to the next rodeo. I know.”

  “Not just that one. They’re booked clear up to the finals. And depending on how they perform through the rest of the season, I might be taking a couple of them to the finals.”

  “Living on the road.”

  “It’ll quiet down during the off-season, but I’m going need to replace some of the stock, which means some travel.”

  “Not Rampage?”

  “No.” His smile lasted no more than a second. “He’ll be around for several more years. What about you? Are you going to try to qualify for the finals?”

  A few days ago, she hadn’t dared look beyond trying to face her demons. She’d accomplished her goal. If she was ever going to make her mark in the barrel-racing world, this was the time to do it.

  If.

  Not caring who saw, she rested her hands on his hips. They hadn’t said anything about a future together. This thing between them was too new, and she’d had too much personal baggage to get rid of.

  “Don’t,” he warned and removed her hands.

  “You don’t want—”

  “I don’t trust myself where you’re concerned.”

  “You don’t want—”

  “Oh, I do.” His hard and hot gaze left no doubt of his meaning. “But if I go to one rodeo and you another, the only way I’m going to handle it is by walking away from you now. I’m not going to try to discourage you from competing. I pulled my life back together, so I think I know what you’ve just done. I don’t want your effort to be for nothing.”

  “You think I should—”

  “I think you should do what you want with your life and not be pulled away from it by what’s been going on between us. If you do, the time will come when you regret it—and resent me.”

  Chapter Nine

  It was probably close to three a.m. Because she hadn’t bothered with shoes, Jordan’s feet were silent on the packed gravel. Small rocks dug into her, but she gave the discomfort scant attention.

  She’d tried to sleep, she really had, but the answers she’d been seeking had kept her awake. As for whether she’d learn more now—

  Cougar wasn’t in his rig. Instead, he was sitting in a lawn chair near it. On
ly a few lights had been left on to illuminate the grounds. As a consequence, if she hadn’t memorized his contours, she wouldn’t have known the shadow belonged to him.

  Maybe he knew the same thing about her, because he nodded when she drew close and indicated she could sit in the chair next to him. He was barefoot and shirtless.

  Had he put the other chair out because he knew she’d come? Maybe he’d only been hoping.

  “I love this time of night,” she said, sitting down and stretching her weary legs. “The world has gone away, leaving me with my thoughts.”

  “You aren’t the only one who’s been thinking.”

  “And?” How she wanted to touch him! But not yet.

  “No matter what I want, the decision is yours.”

  “Which gets down to what do I want to do with my life.”

  “Right. You faced the past. You can go forward.”

  “Thanks to you. If you hadn’t let me get on Rampage’s back—”

  “I believe you would have gotten to this point without me or Rampage. All he and I did, maybe, was get you there faster.”

  “You really believe that?”

  He didn’t answer. Unless she’d been mistaken, he hadn’t moved a muscle since inviting her to join him in the dark.

  “It’s strange,” she said. “Ever since Rampage rearranged my leg bone, I’ve thought of little else. But not tonight while I was trying to fall asleep.” Although her legs threatened to collapse, she stood and moved in front of Cougar. “Tonight I thought about you. Us.”

  Gazing into the eyes of the man lost in the night, she unsnapped her shirt and pulled it off her shoulders. Then she held it out, not breathing until he accepted the gift. She hadn’t bothered to put back on her bra after getting out of bed. Neither had she bothered with panties, a fact made clear as she stepped out of her jeans.

  “I’ve been doing the same thing,” he said and took the jeans from her.

  “If you want me, if you want to explore this thing between us, I’d love to follow you and the bulls.” Her voice was thick with unspent tears and fear more powerful than she’d ever felt. What if he didn’t want what she did?

  He dropped her clothes to the ground. “What about competing?”

  “If I can get entered in time, I will. But it isn’t a priority.”

  He took her hands and pulled her close. “It’s an insane life. I don’t really have a home.”

  “I don’t need one.” Tears trickled down her cheeks. “Just—just you.”

  “What about your life?”

  “You are my life. As long as I have that, everything else will fall into place.”

  Standing, he lifted her in his arms. Clinging to his neck, she pressed her cheek against his chest as he carried her into his sleeping quarters. A night-light in the bathroom was the only illumination.

  “Welcome home,” he said and deposited her on his bed.

  About the Author

  A fast-fingered writer of erotica, Vonna Harper loves penning stories set in remote locations where her characters can give in to primitive impulses. Throw in a little capture and/or bondage and she’s a happy camper. Her website is www.vonnaharper.com. She’s also on Twitter and Facebook and loves connecting with readers.

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  True to her Hopi mother’s restless spirit, Terena Rothrock follows news stories all over the Southwest. Lately, though, her heart is calling her back to the rez. But not before she swings through Phoenix to see her cousin race his amazingly fast new horse.

  At the track, two powerful men watch the horse with suspicion in their eyes. Watch Terena with the drive to possess her oozing from every pore. When they seem to shift into stallions in her mind’s eye, shock—and arousal—flood her body.

  Far from home and their herd, Nokoni and Hah-Tee can’t afford to draw attention to themselves. Instant attraction to Terena complicates their already competitive relationship, but she’s their one connection to the man they suspect stole one of their mares.

  Overcome by instincts as ancient as time, the urge to mate rolls over them with the speed and ferocity of a desert storm. Yet even as Terena struggles to make sense of her desire for the swift, mysterious shifters, danger lurks. Someone is out to collect every last one of the horses born with wings on their feet—even if it means bullets must fly.

  Warning: Studs doing what studs do, hormones raging, and of course the whole complex threesome thing.

  She needs their courage—and their bodies. The feeling is mutual…

  Law enforcement warnings be damned, nothing will stop Rane from returning to the Chinook Mountains to discover who murdered her mother, a fellow forest ranger. Except maybe the fact that her elk shifter lover, Songan, is in the middle of rut season.

  The delay is just long enough for a newcomer from the far north, Ber, to enter the picture. A massive grizzly shifter with his own need—for Rane. His dark, brooding presence feeds dreams so erotic, she feels like she’s losing her mind. Yet keeping him at arm’s length isn’t an option. She needs his heightened senses, along with Songan’s, to follow the cold trail of her mother’s final hours.

  With winter closing in, the threesome heads for the mountains, where, in a cramped cabin, their mutual lust explodes. But the mountains can’t shield them from deadly danger.

  Warning: Menage with complications. Shape-shifting with complications. Outdoor sex, cabin sex, dream sex with ropes. Woman on a mission, and men with muscles upon muscles answering the call of the wild.

  Desire is their only connection. Love may be his only salvation…

  Locals call the highway Alligator Alley. Emerging jeweler Mala Bey sees it as a storm-tossed road to a bright future. When a black-clad motorcyclist pulls alongside, thrilling her with dark eyes that promise raw, wild sex, her system goes into overload. Moments later, the stranger loses control and crashes into the Everglades.

  Horrified, Mala desperately searches for the compelling man, but it’s as if the thick vegetation swallowed him whole. Yet she hears his voice calling for her—only his voice.

  Caught in a portal filled with disembodied voices calling him backward in time, Laird Jaeger clings to his only lifeline to the present—the woman with gray-green eyes. A mystical thread connects their thoughts as ancient forces drag him deeper into a nightmare, farther back into a past only his Seminole blood remembers.

  A mysterious, panther-like creature guides Jaeger toward a past life as Thunder, the ancient tribe’s one hope of survival. Even as the past wraps tendrils around his soul, his and Mala’s connection endures. Its power is enough burn a fiery path of desire through time, but their growing love may not be strong enough to break destiny’s spell.

  Warning: Sex in a bugless Everglade. Lots of hot sex with no bugs. Or snakes. But some rather judgmental Seminoles.

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  They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

  11821 Mason Montgomery Road Suite 4B

  Cincinnati OH 45249

  Rodeo Riders

  Copyright © 2015 by Vonna Harper

  ISBN: 978-1-61922-887-0

  Edited by Linda Ingmanson

  Cover by Angela Waters

  All Rights Are Reserved. No
part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: May 2015

  www.samhainpublishing.com