Asking For Trouble (49 page)

In lieu of a social life, Sabrina focuses on
researching her cases, working out to make herself stronger and
staying at the gun range to make sure she is on top of her game.
She knows the life she is living is no life, but doesn't know how
to change it. Since Kenny's death, she doesn't even know who she is
anymore. The only thing she did know was she was never dating a cop
again.

When her new friend, Cassie Bellamy, calls
Sabrina from Bowie, Texas to ask her to be maid of honor in her
wedding, and to help with her horse ranch while she's on her
honeymoon, Sabrina jumps on the opportunity to reevaluate her life
and decompress in the sedate small town.

Almost from the first minute her feet touch
Bowie soil though, Sabrina realizes the small town is far from
sedate, and certainly not a place she is going to be able to
decompress.

Between the infuriatingly sexist, but oh so
sexy, Sheriff Cole Jackson, who treats her like she's incompetent,
and the hair raising events at the wedding, then a surprising call
for help from the older brother she hasn't spoken to in eighteen
months, Sabrina has more action in Bowie than she ever had back in
Phoenix.

After a while, Sabrina starts hoping that
action will include some personal action with the handsome Sheriff,
who lights fires inside of her that have been banked for a long
time.

Cole Jackson has enough on his hands taking
over as Sheriff of his hometown after his friend resigns, without
having to deal with the trouble sexy Sabrina Roberts dumps in his
lap.

Suddenly, his peaceful little town, where
the most he had to look forward to was the rollover of a chicken
truck on the highway, becomes a hotbed of trouble, and it seems
like the beautiful detective he'd met in Phoenix a month ago, is at
the heart of it all. She and her brother are magnets for trouble,
it seems.

To protect his best friend and his new wife,
Cole invites Sabrina and her brother to stay at his house, and
welcomes more than trouble into his life. He finds out the gorgeous
policewoman has depths he can't wait to uncover...and she can cook
better than his mama! The heat she stirs inside of him is
definitely more than the heat in the kitchen though, and soon Cole
wants to sample everything on her menu.

But first, Cole has to rescue her from the
bad guys chasing her brother...and then from herself. He's
determined to convince Sabrina that even though he's a cop, he's
not the risk-taker her late husband was, and that he's worth taking
a risk on.

DOUBLE THE TROUBLE

by Becky McGraw, Texas Trouble Series #3

Copyright @ July 18, 2012

Professional rodeo team roper, Karlie Upton,
is done with arrogant testosterone-soaked cowboys, and she's done
with the rodeo. Worn out from traveling and battling with the
abusive bull rider she'd just broken up with, Karlie heads for
Bowie, Texas to see if her old friend Cassie Bellamy needs help
with her new horse operation. Her identical twin sister, and roping
partner isn't happy about Karlie leaving her high and dry, but
Karlie can't stay, and she can't tell her sister why she's
leaving.

Karlie knows her ex will probably come
looking for her, because not only did she leave, she took his meal
ticket with her, a fifty-pound slack-jawed bulldog named Sarge, who
he got five-thousand dollars a month to care for from his crazy
grandpa's estate. After she saw her ex kick the lovable mutt, there
was no way Karlie was leaving Sarge behind with the neglectful man.
She could only hope her sister kept her mouth shut, and maybe he
won't find her in Bowie.

When she reaches the city limits of Bowie,
Karlie receives a welcome she didn't expect. Not paying attention
to her speed, Karlie had let 'Freddie', the hot rod Lincoln she'd
had since she was sixteen, have his head and he didn't like to go
slow. He liked to blow the stripes off of the road, because she'd
souped him up in automotive class in high school.

So, the first person she met in Bowie,
wasn't the one she went there to see, but he was easy on the eyes
nonetheless.

The handsome deputy gave her a lecture then
a ticket that would empty her pocketbook. Then after she tried to
bargain her way out of the ticket, he arrested her and threatened
to send Sarge to the pound! Karlie knew she would have enjoyed the
frisking, but when the hot lawman took her dog into custody, he
crossed the line, and Karlie showed him she wasn't known as the
'Wild Child' in the pro rodeo circuit for nothing!

Her impulsive nature yet again lands her in
a heap of trouble, but it also gives her a reason to see the good
looking lawman again, when she cuts a community service deal to fix
his police car. Karlie's not looking for a relationship with any
man, her ex may have soured her for life on those, but she sure
could go for a little romp in the hayloft with the tall, dark and
handsome deputy sheriff.

But then she finds out he has issues, deep
dark issues, which meant he was a 'fixer-upper'. Karlie knew she
was in trouble then, because if there was one thing she had a
problem avoiding, it was projects. From cars to men, the more they
needed fixing, the more they interested her.

Bowie's Chief Deputy, Gabe Kelley, had never
encountered a woman like the red hot redhead he stopped for
speeding, while filling in for his patrolman Elmer on traffic duty.
Sitting at the city limit sign, minding his own business, almost
dozing off, because he was so bored, Gabe was jolted out of his
lethargy when a black Lincoln went past him doing at least one
ten.

When he finally caught up to the sassy
redhead, she gave him lip, then he gave her a hefty ticket, and a
stern warning about driving through his town recklessly. He never
expected the beautiful cowgirl to proposition him to get out of the
ticket! He was so shocked, he arrested her, then called the dog
pound to come get her ugly dog.

The next thing Gabe knew, he was laying on
his stomach on the hot Texas roadway, hogtied, and mad as hell,
watching the hotheaded woman drive off leaving him there. He was
going to get untied, and when he did, there would be hell to pay,
and the one paying it would be Miss Karlie Upton. It might take him
a while to find her, but he would, if it was the last thing he ever
did. One way or another, Gabe was going to teach the bratty woman
he wasn't a man to be messed with...if it took spanking her shapely
ass to drive that point home.

Gabe would have to be careful though,
because although he liked his women with a little edge, he knew
this beautiful redhead had enough of it to cut his throat, if he
wasn't careful. Her ex was after her, and the only thing standing
between the rough bull rider and her is Gabe, and this guy is
playing for keeps, but so is Gabe.

LOOKING FOR TROUBLE

by Becky McGraw, Texas Trouble Series #4

Copyright @ August, 2012

Country singer, Jess Sparks, is finally
watching her star rise, after shedding the weight of a thieving
manager and boyfriend three years ago. Jess has worked her butt off
since to recover from it, and it's finally paying off, because
she's on the verge of signing a big recording contract.
Someone from Bowie, Texas calls and asks her to sing at a wedding
reception, and she agrees to do it as a final hoorah. While she's
performing, Jess notices a good looking cowboy in the crowd staring
her down and can't take her eyes off of him either. Her best
friend, and band mate, thinks Jess needs to loosen up and have some
fun, so she issues a dare that Jess can't refuse...make him her
'Angel' for the night.

Back in Dallas, Jess discovers that her fun pays off a little too
well, when the stick with the pink plus sign tells her she's a
member of the elite 'less than two percent club' they warn about on
the back of condom boxes. She's pregnant, and doesn't have a clue
what the cowboy's name is, because honey, baby or sugar worked just
fine for them that night.
After the baby is born, she gets another call from the client in
Bowie for an encore performance at the couple's one-year
anniversary party. Although Jess is hesitant to accept, because
she's scared she'll run into the cowboy again, who would do nothing
but complicate her life, she accepts, because she needs the
money.

Once she gets to Bowie, Jess realizes her
luck is still running, in the wrong direction. Not only is the
cowboy there, he's the manager of the ranch, and she's going to be
seeing a lot of him, because she and the band get stuck there.
Although she didn't intend on telling him about her little angel,
he finds out, and wants to be a daddy. After Jess gets to know him
better, she discovers she wants the sexy cowboy to be a lot more
than that.
Professional rodeo rider, Wade Roberts never expected his career to
end with an fall from a wild horse he pulled in his last rodeo, but
that's exactly what happened. Luck was on his side though, when he
found out the manager of the Double B Ranch in Bowie, Texas was
retiring, and they hired him as a replacement.

When the beautiful country singer he'd had one night of wild
passion with a year ago after a wedding, shows up at the ranch to
play a command performance for the anniversary party, Wade is
surprised. She was supposed to be in the big leagues now, so he
wonders what she's doing back in Bowie.
When Jess Sparks gives him the cold shoulder, Wade is confused,
because to his knowledge, they'd both been blown away by their time
together, and had been on the same page the next morning, when they
parted without exchanging phone numbers.

The reason for her attitude becomes clear to Wade though, when he
sees a car seat and toys in the back of the van she arrived in. He
has a daughter, and Jess doesn't want him to be a part of her life.
That's not okay with Wade, and he is determined to convince the
beautiful songbird, that he will be a part of his daughter's life
and take care of them both.

Fate appears to give him time to convince her, when Jess gets hurt
and the band's van burns up, but then her ex-boyfriend shows up in
town, representing a record company that wants to sign her. Now, if
she wants a contract, she's going to have to deal with the man who
robbed her blind, while he managed her career. Her ex incites Wade
into a fight at the bar, which lands him in jail. Using the charges
against Wade as leverage, the guy coerces Jess into signing with
him to get Wade out of his legal trouble.
Determined to make up for the mess he'd made, and get Jess out of
the contract, Wade enters a charity rodeo competition, with a big
purse, because he knows he can win it, even though it might change
his life forever, if he gets injured again.
Wade isn't looking for trouble, but if he wants to keep the two
angels in his life permanently, he knows he's going to have to face
a hell of a lot of it to make that happen.

TROUBLE IN DIXIE

by Becky McGraw, Texas Trouble Series #5

Copyright @ August, 2012

Professional rodeo team roper, Katie Upton,
is tired of being called the "Mild Child" in relation to her less
inhibited twin sister. She's spent a lifetime cleaning up her
sister's messes, the last of which landed her working for the
handsome, but standoffish, owner of the Rockin' D ranch in
Amarillo.
Katie whips the ranch and ranch hands into shape in no time, and
tries to help Tommy corral his spoiled little princess of a
daughter, Dixie, too. Stubborn little Dixie doesn't like that much
and tells her daddy that Katie is boring, and that she wants
Katie's twin sister back at the ranch, because she's fun. Katie
realizes Dixie feels that way, because the little hellion is just
like her sister!
When Tommy talks to Katie about Dixie, he basically tells her he
thinks she's boring too. Katie is tired of living in her vibrant
twin's shadow, so she leaves the ranch determined to redefine
herself according to her twin sister's rules, and find out what all
the hoopla is about being uninhibited.
One she-devil tattoo, a new blond hairdo, and a hot red motorcycle
later, Katie sees what it's all about, and feels freedom like she's
never known before. Unfortunately, that freedom leads her back to
Tommy Tucker, and a hot night of truck sex, which lands her in a
lot of trouble--the kind of trouble that makes her want to want to
find more of it with the oh so sexy widowed rancher. Katie thinks
he needs to loosen up and live his life again, and she is
determined to show him how to do that...with her.
At only twenty-four years old, Tommy Tucker had been forced to make
a decision that no husband or expectant father should ever have to
make, to either save his wife, or his daughter, after a horrific
truck accident. He chose his daughter, because that's what he felt
his wife would have wanted him to do, but his mother-in-law felt
differently, and blamed him for her death. The woman hadn't spoken
to him in ten years, and refused to have anything to do with her
granddaughter, either. But his former mother-in-law couldn't blame
Tommy any more than he blamed himself. Every day, he had to live
with the incredible guilt, as he did the best he could to raise his
daughter alone, and make his quarter horse ranch successful.
Although it was dull, his life had settled into comfortable
territory, until a set of beautiful redheaded twins show up at the
ranch. Even thought they're identical twins, he finds out the two
women were as different as night and day. One is a hellion who
courts trouble at every turn, and the other is a sensible,
responsible woman who tries to keep her sister out of trouble,
someone he thought would be perfect for him.
No matter how much he wants Katie Upton though, Tommy can't get
involved with her. For ten years, he'd avoided relationships, so he
didn't cause his mother-in-law more grief, or have to explain to
his daughter that he'd killed her mother. He'd hired her to work at
his ranch, but where she was concerned, it was hands off.
After Katie hears some misspoken words between him and his
daughter, she runs from him and the Rockin' D, hurt and angry at
him. Feeling guilty, Tommy tracks her down to apologize. Instead of
the nice, sweet woman who'd left the ranch a week prior, he finds
someone he doesn't even recognize, a hellion twice as bad as her
sister, riding a damned motorcycle.
When the hot blond sets out to seduce him in his pickup, Tommy is
powerless to resist her. He quickly finds out that sweet Katie
Upton isn't so sweet after all, she's hotter than habaneras in
July, and she is determined to give him an education, one in which
he wants to earn a masters degree.
Before he can explore the possibilities with her however, Tommy has
to fend off his wealthy and connected mother-in-law, who is somehow
getting information on the goings on at his ranch. The woman is
determined he isn't going replace her daughter in his life, or he
is going to pay the price, by losing his own daughter.