The Cowboy And The Calendar Girl

The Cowboy And The Calendar Girl
Nancy Martin

Opposites Attract100% PURE COWBOY? Ever since calendar publisher Carly Cortazzo had laid eyes on handsome Hank Fowler's photograph, she'd been dreaming about this rugged cowboy. So she finally headed out to the Black Hills of South Dakota to meet him. This tall, lean, mysterious rancher was even better in person. And after spending one-too-many nights held safely in his strong arms, Carly knew she'd found the man of her dreams… .Problem was, Hank wasn't quite who she thought he was. Unexpectedly, he'd fallen hard for the pretty, trusting romantic. But once he told her the truth, how could he convince her he was still the cowboy she wanted… forever? Can these opposites attract?

A Cowboy Came With Fewer Complications Than A Man From The City.... (#ue0fb1a5b-2b6d-5db7-a865-1b13773a1938)Letter to Reader (#u6d820a99-7804-5667-8169-c6d32d87a938)Title Page (#uc3271a1e-6bdc-557a-8712-c382e6780f38)About the Author (#u03d197f9-4a2b-5bee-824a-f7a1e92b78bd)Chapter One (#u01d87889-d853-50ce-90c9-31b76babbfb8)Chapter Two (#uc6eb555c-7ba3-5bb0-9dec-9e435f8f5c4a)Chapter Three (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

A Cowboy Came With Fewer Complications Than A Man From The City....

Or so Carly thought. He ought to be easy to get along with. He didn’t come with a lot of excess baggage. He rode his horse, drove a pickup truck while listening to country-western music, looked after his cattle and didn’t worry about issues that plagued the rest of the world. The fantasy man had spun around in Carly’s imagination for weeks.

But is that Hank? Carly frowned to herself. Is he the fantasy cowboy I dreamed up?

Maybe not, she reasoned. He wasn’t a cardboard cutout of a man. He wasn’t shallow and empty-headed.

He was real. He was smart and capable, not to mention definitely an accomplished lover....

Dear Reader,

This month Silhouette Desire brings you six brand-new, emotional and sensual novels by some of the bestselling—and most beloved—authors in the romance genre.

Cait London continues her hugely popular miniseries THE TALLCHIEFS with The Seduction of Fiona Tallchief, April’s MAN OF THE MONTH. Next, Elizabeth Bevarly concludes her BLAME IT ON BOB series with The Virgin and the Vagabond And when a socialite confesses her virginity to a cowboy, she just might be Taken by a Texan, in Lass Small’s THE KEEPERS OF TEXAS miniseries.

Plus, we have Maureen Child’s Maternity Bride, The Cowboy and the Calendar Girl, the last in the OPPOSITES ATTRACT series by Nancy Martin, and Kathryn Taylor’s tale of domesticating an office-bound hunk in Taming the Tycoon.

I hope you enjoy all six of Silhouette Desire’s selections this month—and every month!

Regards,

Senior Editor

Silhouette Books

Please address questions and book requests to:

Silhouette Reader Service

U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

The Cowboy And The Calendar Girl

Nancy Martin

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

NANCY MARTIN has lived in a succession of small towns in Pennsylvania, though she loves to travel to find locations for romance novels in larger cities—in this country and abroad. Now she lives with her husband and two daughters in a house they’ve restored and are constantly tinkering with.

If Nancy’s not sitting at her word processor with a stack of records on the stereo, you might find her cavorting with her children, skiing with her husband or relaxing by the pool. She loves writing romance fiction and has also written as Elissa Curry.

One

“Every woman falls for a cowboy at least once in her life,” said Bert Detwiler, tossing the sheaf of black-and-white photos down on his immaculate black acrylic desk. “Looks like your number’s up this time, Carly.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

Carly Cortazzo blew cigarette smoke as she paced the tenth-floor office she shared with Bert, her partner at Twilight Calendars. In their slickly modern headquarters, Bert and Carly had created some of the bestselling provocative pinup calendars that ever graced America’s gas stations, office water coolers and teacher lounges. But their success, Bert claimed, came from their mutual cold-bloodedness when it came to choosing the sexy photographs featured in Twilight’s calendars.

Except Carly wasn’t feeling very cold-blooded these days.

“I’m not going to fall for the guy,” Carly insisted, trying to sound sincere. “I just think he’s photogenic, that’s all. Look at those sample shots again. He’s dripping with sex appeal!”

Bert studied the photos once more, then raised his brows fastidiously and shot a piercing glance up at Carly. “He’s dripping with sweat, dear.”

“Well, sweat is always a hit with our customers—and the mustache and muscles don’t hurt, either. And look at that horse! He’s magnificent!”

“How Freudian,” Bert observed coolly. “Look, it’s too expensive to do location shoots. We’ve always agreed on that.”

“Well, I think we need to spend the extra money. Our calendars are getting stale. If we’re going to compete with Fabio and that basketball player with the purple hair, it’s time we wowed our customers again.”

“And you think this cowboy can do the wowing?”

“Absolutely. If we take the photos on his ranch with horses and that beautiful sky to counterpoint his look.”

Bert bent closer to examine the photos. “He’s not bad, I guess.”

“Not bad! He’s incredible!”

“I’ve never seen you so taken with someone.” Bert glanced up at Carly, his eyes twinkling. “Should I be jealous?”

Carly sighed impatiently and hastily snatched up the top picture, the one she liked most. “Bert, you and I haven’t been an item for three years.”

Bert turned up the wattage on his smile. “Still, I get pangs now and then. You’re looking terrific these days, Carly. I love the new haircut.”

“It isn’t new, Bert,” she returned, automatically brushing the straight blond tendrils behind her ears. “But thanks for noticing.”

“I notice more than you think.” Bert put one elbow on his desk and leaned toward her. “Like how you’ve been feeling lately.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean.”

Carly turned away from her partner, lest he see her reaction. Better to keep this relationship with Bert strictly professional, she thought. After their mercifully short affair three years ago, Carly decided to keep her feelings to herself to insure Twilight Calendars continued to run successfully. Back then business had been far more important to Carly than a love life. But Bert had apparently picked up on her current state of mind.

It must have become obvious that Carly had recently begun to feel—well, jaded. Cynical. The calendar business could have that effect on a girl A few years of looking at every man in terms of how he’d photograph without his clothes on under some good studio lighting has turned me into just another L.A. vulture.

She crushed out her cigarette with a vengeance in the cut-crystal ashtray on Bert’s desk.

Looking at the mess she’d made in his ashtray, Bert said, “I think this cowboy thing has really affected you, Carly. You truly want to get this guy’s shirt off, don’t you?”