Winning the bet should be easy. Keeping their hands off each other is a lot harder…

After losing everything, socialite Lola St. James moves to Texas to convert her only possession, Red Oak Ranch, into a luxury bed and breakfast. After all it can’t be that hard to trade in a pair of stilettos for cowboy boots.

Jack Canyon, her estranged husband and co-owner of the ranch, vows to stop her from turning his home into Barbie’s country hotel. He knows her promises are meaningless, and he needs the land’s mineral rights to expand his business. He bets everything she won’t last a week as a cowgirl. She agrees—if he’ll turn over his half of the land. No problem.

Except now they’re forced to live together. New flames reignite until Lola and Jack can’t deny the red hot sexual tension between them. But when old betrayals resurrect, Lola must choose between running away or staying in Jack’s arms…

What does a guy do when his estranged wife shows up at their ranch intending to make changes? He bets her she can’t pull off her plans and if she loses she leaves. There is another hitch though, no one in town knows they are married. That part of their lives took place in another state, in another time.

Unfortunately for both of them that information will be real quick to leak. Especially since they still have a wild attraction to each other.

Lola is determined to turn the ranch she co-owns with Jack into a bed and breakfast. For once she will see something through and make it a success.

Jack knowing her penchant for not finishing anything she starts allows her to begin transformation of the ranch house.

Although this starts off with both arguments and heat sparking, One of my favorites scene is when the car Lola bought won’t start. Used cars are fun like that and she really doesn’t have the extra money to spend on it.

He left the kitchen, but a few moments later, he realized he wasn’t ready for the sight in front of him. Lola St. James, her delectable ass up in the air as she leaned over the engine.
Libido stirred strong and hard inside him, and he had to evoke all kinds of cockblocking images to wipe the very real one just before his eyes. Time to think about Dad, politicians and buckets of icy water. Anything to yank the blood pounding thoughts invading his brain, and corrupting his soul. But no descriptions surpassed the cold truth, no matter how much he’d tried to fool himself. We aren’t done. Not yet.

Straightening his nearly sagging shoulders, like he’d just been punched in the gut, he crunched the dry leaves under his boots, and walked over to her.

Perhaps sensing his nearness, she arched back, easing the kinks out of her back.

A hot pink shirt outlined her voluptuous breasts and indented the sensual curve of her stomach; the same shorts he’d seen her wearing on the horseback ride showcased her sinful long legs. The thread of sweat on her face and glistening between her breasts assured him she’d been under the sun for a while.

He cleared his throat. “What are you doing?”

She jammed both hands in her pockets, a pang of frustration in her eyes. “Trying to get this sucker to work.”

He gave a sideways glance to the bare engine. “What’s the problem?” “It won’t start. I popped the hood and hoped to see some smoke or something to clue me in as to why this is happening.”

Turning his attention to her, he placed his hand over his eyes to fight the blinding sun. Bad idea. Rays hit her head and shone around, producing a halo effect, outlining the curly ends of her hair—that would look glorious, spread on his pillow. With a shudder, he curled his fists into balls. “And what would you do if it smoked?”

She chewed on her lower lip. “Besides praying my skin wouldn’t get oily? I hoped to find an open lid I could close. It seems easy enough in the movies.”

Smothering a chuckle, he leaned onto the engine. After a quick survey, he shook his hands. “You need a new alternator. It won’t start like this.”

She slapped her forehead and sighed. “Of course.”

He closed the hood and tapped the metal. “I can ask Earl to sort this out, but it’ll take at least a few hours to get it done,” he said, describing the best case scenario. Earl would have to stop his work and go into town to buy a new alternator and hire a mechanic to change it.

“How much will it cost?”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it.”

“No. No. I’ll do it.” She stepped closer to him, and her face sobered. “Not right away, obviously, because I’m broke, but can I pay you back in the future?”

“It’s nothing.” She touched his wrist, demanding his full attention. Heat coiled in his stomach. “Please?”

“Okay.” He choked out the word, and took a step back, taking his tingling wrist away from her.

What to say next? He wouldn’t, couldn’t let her see his control slipped from him. “But weren’t you supposed to go see your dad’s cousin today?”

She shuffled her weight from foot to foot, and lifted her hand over her eyes to look at him. “That’s where I was going.”

“I’ll take you,” he said, and when he heard himself, the spontaneous offer echoed in his ears. He stretched to his full height. She couldn’t drive that piece of junk, and if she found a ride to get there and then needed to return at the end of the day… who would she call? Him. So. He might as well bite the bullet. That’s all this was—a way to avoid more inconvenience later on.

Lola settled for a closed lip smiling, her shift changing from one leg to another. “Your driving me is too much. I’ve been trying to do things on my own.”

“You have, Lola. I’ll just be doing this as… a friend. Maybe you shouldn’t be alone.”

“Thanks, Jack.” The sweetness in her voice, lacking any sexual connotation, cut into his heart.

Friends helped each other. However, how could he be her friend when dirty images and thoughts filled his mind at every turn? The words pounded in his ears, in staccato.

Not. Done. With. Her.

Carmen Falcone. The Cowboy’s Socialite (Kindle Location 1136-1172). Kindle Edition.

With much quarreling and off the charts sex these two just can’t seem to keep their hands off each other. But there is of course a few wrenches thrown into the mix as Lola tries to find her birth parents. Nothing like some added angst when you’re starting a business.

A fun read with lots of twists and turns in the relationship.

5 Contented Purrs for Carmen!

  Carmen Falcone

Carmen Falcone learned at an early age that fantasizing about fictional characters beat doing math homework any day. Brazilian by birth and traveler by nature, she moved to Central Texas after college and met her broody Swiss husband–living proof that opposites attract.

She found in writing her deepest passion and the best excuse to avoid the healthy lifestyle everyone keeps talking about. When she’s not lost in the world of romance, she enjoys spending time with her two kids, being walked by her three crazy pugs, reading, catching up with friends, and chatting with random people in the checkout line.

She loves to procrastinate, so please indulge her and drop her a line. For more info, visit her website.