Love Under Two Cowboys
The Lusty, Texas Collection
Love Under Two Cowboys
Carrie Rhodes doesn’t plan to fall for Chase and Brian Benedict. The past has taught her she’s better off alone. But once her heart opens to these two cowboys, she yearns to live her own happy-ever-after.
Chase and Brian demand that Carrie shares her soul before they share her body. Surrounded by the loving families of her new coworkers and friends, Carrie dares to do as they ask, and reach for her very own happy-ever-after. But a monster from her past threatens that happiness, and it’s up to the entire town of Lusty, led by her two cowboys, to keep her safe.
Julian Alvarez makes his way to Lusty, seeking to make amends with his estranged brother and find his place in the world. Even as he agrees to help Brian and Chase with their ranch, he wonders why fate keeps drawing him down the road, toward a city called Divine, Texas.
Note: There is no sexual relationship or touching for titillation between or among siblings.
Genre:
Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Western/Cowboys
Length:
86,898 words
The Lusty, Texas Collection
Cara Covington
MENAGE EVERLASTING
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting
LOVE UNDER TWO COWBOYS
E-book ISBN:
978-1-62241-781-0
First E-book Publication: November 2012
Cover design by Les Byerley
All art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED:
This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
Dear Readers,
If you have purchased this copy of
Love Under Two Cowboys
by Cara Covington from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.
Regarding E-book Piracy
This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.
The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.
This is Cara Covington’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Covington’s right to earn a living from her work.
Amanda Hilton, Publisher
This story was an absolute blast to write, and for that, I have only one person to thank.
Heather Rainier, thank you for allowing me to come to Divine, and to be a part of your world, and for joining me in mine.
I fell in love with your characters when I read your Divine Creek Ranch series, and that love affair continues with each new book you write. When we started chatting about how far it was from Divine to Lusty, and the idea was born to cross our stories, I was beyond thrilled.
As I’ve gotten to know you over these last several months both online and face-to-face, I’ve been impressed and humbled by your talent, your professionalism, and your character.
I am honored more than I can say to call you friend.
With much love,
Morgan Ashbury
Paris, Ontario
September, 2012
LOVE UNDER TWO COWBOYS
The Lusty, Texas Collection
CARA COVINGTON
Copyright © 2012
Carrie Rhodes had always thought the smartest thing she could do was to lose herself in the anonymity of a large city. But just lately she’d begun to wonder if this small town wouldn’t prove to be an even better place to do that, instead.
She’d never even
heard
of Lusty, Texas, until she’d answered that want ad nearly two months ago. She’d scanned the Waco paper, hoping to find a position in that city, having decided it was time to move out of Dallas.
But she had answered that ad, securing the position of cook at the only restaurant in town,
Lusty Appetites
. She really liked her boss, an uncommon occurrence in her experience. Kelsey Benedict was actually the best boss Carrie had ever had. The lady was also five months pregnant.
Carrie frowned. There seemed to be an awful lot of that sort of thing—pregnancy—going around in this small town,
particularly
at the restaurant.
I hope it isn’t contagious
.
Carrie pushed aside the irreverent thought. In all likelihood, if Kelsey hadn’t been expecting a baby, then she, Carrie, would never have been hired in the first place, and certainly wouldn’t be here now.
She’d only been on the job for about six weeks, but already she felt something she’d never felt anyplace else before.
Carrie Rhodes felt at home right here in Lusty, Texas.
Maybe, all things considered, that wasn’t such a good thing. She had to stay on guard. She had to be ready.
And to hell with that kind of thinking
. Really, was she going to let that deviant son of a bitch destroy her entire life?
Carrie nodded to herself once. She could let herself feel at home and still remain vigilant, and that bastard could just…just…go piss up a tree.
“You look pretty fierce, there, Carrie. Is there something about the setup you don’t like?”
Carrie mentally shook her head, put a grin on her face, and turned to one of her coworkers, Michelle Grant. It wasn’t just the boss of
Lusty Appetites
Carrie liked. She liked everyone she worked with.
Michelle, Carla, and Ginny were not only very efficient waitresses, they were easy to get along with. Tracy, who’d started out as Kelsey’s sous-chef, but had taken over the dessert end of the menu, was a real sweetheart.
Today was Ginny’s wedding day, which was why they were all here at the community center, setting up the buffet. It totally floored Carrie that Kelsey would close the restaurant for the day. Apparently, she did so every time there was a family wedding in town.
Guests had already begun to arrive in advance of the ceremony that would take place here in—she checked her watch—just under an hour.
“Everything looks fabulous here, Michelle. I let my mind wander to an unhappy place, that’s all.”
Michelle took on a grin Carrie already recognized. It was her teasing grin. “Near as like your thoughts wandered to those two pesky cowboys who’ve been flirting with you ever since you hired on.”
Carrie laughed. She didn’t want to talk about what she’d
really
been thinking about. No one knew about her past, and as far as she was concerned, no one needed to.
Those two outrageous cowboys might as well serve as her personal red herring. She figured it more than her due considering all the times they’d been teasing her and flirting with her since she’d come to town.
“There you go,” Carrie said. “But I’m not going to think of them anymore, at least not for the next little while. I’m just going to live in this moment, and help everyone celebrate Ginny and Adam and Jake.” This was a happier place for her mind to be, despite the fact that she still didn’t quite get the whole ménage marriage thing.
Michelle sighed. “Me, too. I was thinking back, earlier, about when Ginny Rose first came to work at the restaurant. She was so…
wounded
. Yet with everything she’d been through, she was still so sweet and nice to everyone. And shy! I’d never met a woman as shy as her.” Michelle grinned. “That little boy of hers, on the other hand, certainly made up for his momma’s shyness.” Michelle sighed. “Everyone could see, right from the get-go that Benny was the center of Ginny’s universe. Still is, come to that.”
Michelle blinked and Carrie realized she was blinking back tears. Then she continued with her reminiscences. “When I think of the way that Adam and Jake fell for the both of them, the way they courted her…it’s just
so
romantic. And they’re so happy together, all three of them. Makes me want to cry, I’m so happy for them all.”
Carrie just shook her head. “You want to talk about romance? You and that handsome G-man husband of yours are the most romantic newlyweds
I’ve
ever known.”
“I still can’t believe that he loves me, and that he married me.”
The truth was,
every
couple Carrie had met it this small town—and she used the term “couple”
very
loosely—oozed romance.
I wonder if there’s something in the water here that needs to be investigated by the EPA?
This seemed like as good a time as any to ask Michelle something that had kind of been bugging her for a while.
“Michelle, do you mind if I ask you a personal question?”
“Of course not. You can ask me anything you like.”
Carrie frowned. How to ask the question without offending? “So many of the families I’ve met here are living what I’d always thought of as ‘alternate lifestyles’…”
“You’re referring to the ménage families.”
“Yes! And yet you and Joe…”
Michelle smiled and shook her head. “Joe and I are just the two of us, and that suits
us
both perfectly. Even though I grew up here in Lusty, I never really dreamed of having more than one husband. Is that because my parents are also just two? I don’t know. Tracy’s parents are just two, and yet she married Peter and Jordan, who were a couple themselves.” Michelle fussed a little with the placement of the condiments and the napkins that had been set out on the large buffet. “Other families are three or four, and that suits
them
perfectly. I guess that’s what makes Lusty so great. A lot of people everywhere give lip service to the concept of ‘to each his own’, but here, we
really
mean it.”