Charity: A Cowboy Romance for Thanksgiving

The holiday season is approaching fast, but before you break into the Christmas romances there's still Thanksgiving. Luckily, I have a book for that, too - Charity, a short erotic-romance for the turkey season!

Charity Miller has spent her whole life in an urban island surrounded by the wilds of Montana where she’s never ventured too far from her plans. But when she heads into the Big Snowy Mountains to square a land deal one chilly November, her normally-professional self fades away. Maybe it’s the mountain air or finally quitting her diet. Or maybe it’s “real-live-cowboy” Joshua Rollings and his many attractions that has her off balance.

Whatever it is, this Thanksgiving could give her a reason to be thankful for the rest of her life.

"It will definitely put you in the Thanksgiving mood!" 
- You Gotta Read Reviews.


Excerpt:

The next morning broke bright and clear, and Charity’s mood was considerably lighter than the day before. Despite being awakened by what sounded like a very chipper Kate Rollings singing an ear-splitting song to her housekeeper about a bicycle built for two, Charity had slept quite well.

She had an odd, heavy sensation that made her limbs feel like they were filled with warm syrup, but it wasn’t unpleasant. And she had faint memories of several dreams that were less than PG-13. When Joshua showed her to the room the night before, Charity noticed the odd way he’d looked from her to the bed and then averted his eyes. Clearly it must have put some very scandalous ideas in her head. Nevertheless, the fresh, cool air inspired sleep and the dreams were satisfying enough.

The bed was huge and comfortable and the room cheerful and airy. Charity was grateful to have her own bathroom and shower and paused a moment to look out the big windows over the pasture lands while drying her hair. It wasn’t snowing and there was barely a wisp of cloud in the sky, so viewing the property in question might even be a pleasant task. When Joshua informed her that the Retreat was accessible by Jeep, instead of horseback as she’d initially feared, she almost started to look forward to it.

Over a mountainous breakfast of eggs and ham that would have made her personal trainer gag, Joshua related some of the land’s history to Charity while his mother concentrated on buttering enough toast to fill an army.

There was a lodge located on the property dating back to 1946. It had replaced the first cabin built by Eli Rollings in 1869, which, by then, had been used as a hunting camp by generations of Rollings men. Joshua told her that there wasn’t much left of the original site aside from an old stone well. It seemed the previous masters of the Rollings spread, Joshua’s grandfather and father, always suspected times would force them to sell the valuable land at some point, so they’d made sure the only thing left there was the new lodge and fond memories.

“There’s still the old grown-over sinkhole where the original outhouse used to be,” Joshua teased with a chuckle as she climbed into his four wheeled truck, “if you’d like to tour that.”

“I think I can do without that, thanks,” Charity responded with a laugh. “I’m a bit of a history buff, but more of the public television variety than the kind that snoop into pioneer plumbing or lack thereof.”

“City girl,” he teased, slamming the truck door and reaching for his seatbelt. She smiled when he finally tossed a Stetson on, thinking the image was now complete.

~*~

Available now on Kindle, Nook, and other ebook formats, for only $1.99.

Find it on GoodReads!

Charity is also available in my ebook/paperback collection, ALL I WANT: The Anne Holly-Day Collection. 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Thanksgiving #SampleSunday with a Giveaway!

An Sample of my contemporary western erotic-romance for Thanksgiving, Charity.

Charity Miller has spent her whole life in an urban island surrounded by the wilds of Montana where she’s never ventured too far from her plans. But when she heads into the Big Snowy Mountains to square a land deal one chilly November, her normally-professional self fades away. Maybe it’s the mountain air or finally quitting her diet. Or maybe it’s “real-live-cowboy” Joshua Rollings and his many attractions that has her off balance. Whatever it is, this Thanksgiving could give her a reason to be thankful for the rest of her life.

Excerpt:

“Real estate, huh?”

The sour-faced manageress, who'd started out with something of a neutral scowl, was now pinning ‘Charity Miller, Commercial Realtor’, with a look of open distain since looking at the Billings real estate agency business card she demanded before she’d book Charity a room.

“That’s right,” Charity confirmed, wanting desperately to sign the register and be done. It had been a long drive up into the November chill of the Big Snowy Mountains to find her way to Limping Horse, Montana, a place she’d been forced to add to her state road map by hand. By the quick glimpse of the place, there wasn’t much aside from the motel/gift shop, the gas station and a diner/tavern. Everything else must've been swallowed up by the big box stores out by the highway.

“Here to see Joshua Rollings, I suppose?” the nosy woman, whose name tag identified her as Margie, pried further.

Charity bristled at the woman’s tone and her questions. She knew small towns were notorious for their lack of privacy, but this was really going overboard. It wasn’t like her business was hyper-secretive, but she wasn’t used to having her clients’ personal activities spread over the grapevines so overtly. She settled on a bland smile, deciding the woman likely already knew Mr. Rollings had contacted her about selling off a rich portion of his 12,000-acre property. According to the report, the lot in question, known as the Hobble Gulch Retreat, boasted access to a pristine lake and the adjacent mountain range, which would surely make it attractive to the company Charity had in mind, a firm known for its trendy resorts.

Clearly the rude woman assisting her realized its sparse business would become even spottier with such a place going up in its midst, which left Charity to feel it wise not to respond either way.

“Sorry,” Margie grunted, snapping the guestbook closed. “Full up.”

“What?”

“Plumbing problems,” Margie chirped with a sniff. It was clear she was lying, but equally clear she didn’t plan on recanting.

“I called in advance!” Charity insisted. “I was told you guys don’t even take official reservations, since there’s always room.”

“Who’d you talk to?”

“I don’t know,” Charity huffed in frustration. “My assistant called. Last week.”

“Must’ve been my brother, Owen,” Margie told her as if that meant something and shrugged. “Well, I don’t know what to tell you, but the rooms I have are full and the others are out for plumbing troubles. Sorry, I can’t help you.” The woman pocketed the business card in her hideous mauve cardigan and turned away.

This time tomorrow, likely everyone in town would have seen that card, Charity thought with a frown. Women like the manager loved to collect gossip materials and Charity had a feeling she’d soon be on the nasty end of a small-but-mighty Limping Horse Chamber of Commerce informal boycott as soon as Margie had a chance to spew her venom. One thing was certain; this town didn’t seem to like realtors much.

“Thanks ever so much,” Charity grumbled, pulling out the handle of her wheeled overnight bag and grabbing up her laptop and briefcase. “For nothing,” she added under her breath as she faced the icy double doors again.

No room at the inn, she thought with a sigh. So, Mr. Joshua Rollings will just have to supply room and board for the night. There was no way on earth she was going to add extra days on this trip to the middle of Godforsaken-nowhere by staying in a nearby town. She’d see the property and the paperwork, arrange for the surveyor, assess a reasonable price with the owner, and draft the listing – and then she’d be gone, back to metropolitan Billings where she belonged.

She could only hope Joshua Rollings had better manners than the old biddy who’d just tossed her out on her metaphorical fanny.

*
All weekend long: In honour of Canada's Thanksgiving (celebrated on the second Monday of October), I'm giving away a PDF copy of Charity! Leave a comment on any or all of the posts this weekend (if you're over 18) for your chance to win.

 

Charity is available as a single short in ebook, and is one of the six stories found in my new anthology All I Want: The Anne Holly-Day Collection.

ETA: Congrats, Melissa, for winning a copy of Charity in PDF. Thanks for commenting!

Celebrating Thanksgiving with a Giveaway!

Here in Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated in October, so Monday I will be enjoying my tators and soy chicken with a side of cranberry sauce. I'll likely even submit to my yearly pumpkin intake (gross, I know, but tradition, tradition...).

Here on the blog, I'm celebrating all weekend by flogging my Thanksgiving title, Charity, an erotic-romance (with a cowboy) - and I'm also giving away a copy as a thanks to you!

"Charity Miller has spent her whole life in an urban island surrounded by the wilds of Montana where she’s never ventured too far from her plans. But when she heads into the Big Snowy Mountains to square a land deal one chilly November, her normally-professional self fades away. Maybe it’s the mountain air or finally quitting her diet. Or maybe it’s “real-live-cowboy” Joshua Rollings and his many attractions that has her off balance. Whatever it is, this Thanksgiving could give her a reason to be thankful for the rest of her life."

If you're interested in winning a copy of Charity in PDF (and you're 18+), please leave a comment at any point between now and Monday night (I'll have a sample on Sunday), and you'll be entered (once per comment!). Your comment(s) can be anything you want - your favourite Thanksgiving food (even if it's pumpkin, you weirdo), or just plain "Hey, I'd love to read that!"

A book about family, love, gratitude, and giving, You Gotta Read said of Charity that it's "a perfect way to get in the holiday spirit", and I hope the book will work for you as we roll into the Holidays once again.

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!

Charity is available as a single short in ebook, and is one of the six stories found in my new anthology All I Want: The Anne Holly-Day Collection, available now in ebook and coming soon to paperback!

Charity is also available for review. If you're interested in receiving a review copy, please email me!

Sample Sunday: Charity

As we say goodbye to Thanksgiving and hello to Christmas-time, here's one last snippet of my Thanksgiving book, Charity.

Charity Miller has spent her whole life in an urban island surrounded by the wilds of Montana where she’s never ventured too far from her plans. But when she heads into the Big Snowy Mountains to square a land deal one chilly November, her normally-professional self fades away. Maybe it’s the mountain air or finally quitting her diet. Or maybe it’s “real-live-cowboy” Joshua Rollings and his many attractions that has her off balance.

Whatever it is, this Thanksgiving could give her a reason to be thankful for the rest of her life.

“Sorry,” Joshua said softly, as her eyes opened the next morning.

“Hmmm?” she asked as she stretched. Her muscles bore a new soreness that hadn’t been there before. His sex had been rough, manful, and even she felt delicate in its wake.

He traced a small, blue mark on the inside of her arm with a fingertip, his touch now lighter than a feather on her ravaged body.

“I shouldn’t have...”

“Shhhh,” she said, pressing a kiss to his beloved lips. “I certainly didn’t mind,” she offered, smiling. “It was your turn to use me.” The gentle whisper of her voice took the bitterness out of the words and she put an arm behind his head to pull him into a hug.

“I should’ve treated you more gently,” he said, but the self-condemnation in his voice was easing. He bent over her and without meaning to, she knew their need was rising again, only this time like a soft breeze instead of a storm.

“I hate to ruin the mood,” she whispered into his neck, “but I really gotta pee.”

Laughing, he rolled back over on to the mattress and let her up.

“Good God, girl,” he groaned, his eyes pinned on her nude body padding towards the bathroom. “You’re good enough to eat – you better get back to this bed, pronto. I’ve got another need.”

Giggling at his compliments, Charity hurried to the washroom, “You better save some of that appetite for turkey,” she tossed over her shoulder as an afterthought.

“Oh, shit,” he groaned. “It’s Thanksgiving, isn’t it?”

She laughed as she closed the bathroom door, knowing he was contemplating lunch with a whole house filled with old biddies invited by Daisy and Kate which meant having to mind his manners when he least felt like it.

They’d have their morning in bed but she had some work to do. Whether Joshua liked it or not, Charity was going to help save him from himself.

You can see more on my holiday tales website and read the opening on D. Renee Bagby Presents First Chapters this past week. You can also sample via Kindle.