Book Description

A woman afraid to risk everything needs a man who can teach her to act like she has nothing to lose. When wealthy rancher Bill Carothers sends his daughter to Dallas to meet a suitable husband, Anna wants to rebel, but what choice does she have? Bristling with angry defeat, she climbs aboard a stagecoach for the two day ride north with her father's most trusted ranch hand, Jack, a civil war veteran with a mysterious past and alluring blue eyes. But things go south when a ferocious thunderstorm sweeps across the prairie. When the coach is destroyed in the floodwaters of the Brazos, Jack and Anna take shelter beneath a rock overhang. As the floodwaters rise, Anna realizes that life is too short to take the safe trail... or deny herself the comforts of a man. Warning: This 7,100 word story contains explicit adult content, including an innocent young woman's first time with a cowboy. Excerpt: Anna thought of what awaited her in Dallas. Courting. High society. Marriage to some city slicker. Bearing his children and living on a postage stamp lot in a crowded city. "I wish I had your courage," she said. "I wish I could run away and leave my father's expectations behind." "And where would you run?" Jack asked. "What would you do?" Anna opened her mouth to reply, and realized that no one had ever asked her those questions. Her father hadn't cared what she wanted. He had only cared that she did what was expected of her. "New York City," she said. "I want to be in the theatre. I want to sing." She braced herself, waiting for Jack Travis to burst out in laughter, to mock her for her foolish dreams. Instead, he nodded thoughtfully. "I was there once," he said, and his voice took on a faraway quality. "I didn't go into any of the big fancy theatres, but there was a saloon - they call them taverns up there - where this Irish girl was singing with a little band. She was up on a stage behind the bar, and nobody was talking, as though they hadn't gone there to drink at all; they'd just come to hear her sing. I could hardly understand a word of it, but it was hard to take my eyes off her." Jack glanced down and saw Anna smirking up at him, and he cleared his throat, embarrassed. "Takes a lot of money to get by in a big city like that," he said. "It doesn't matter," she sighed. "I could never really do it." She burrowed deeper against his shoulder, savoring the warm feel of his body. Jack rubbed her shoulder, a comforting touch in the darkness. They sat together for a long while, and gradually Anna realized that Jack's body felt tense. He shifted uncomfortably, as though something prevented him from relaxing. Anna's eyes widened with shock as a wild thought flashed across her mind like a bolt of lightning. Don't be ridiculous, she told herself. He can't possibly be attracted to you. And even if he was, his loyalty to your father... But Jack Travis was a man, with a man's needs. How far would loyalty go? Anna raised one trembling hand and rested it against the warm, smooth skin of his belly. His stomach muscles were tight and hard, and he jumped in surprise when she touched him, like a wild stallion at the first touch of a bridle. She moved her hand upward, tracing the firm lines of his torso with her fingertips. His heart throbbed against her ear, and she felt his pulse quicken as her hand moved up his chest. "Anna, no, I..." "I've always hoped you would notice me someday," Anna said, terrified even now that he might do the honorable thing and refuse her. She terrified herself; a woman shouldn't be so forward, but the brush with death had given her a new perspective on life. She might go to Dallas, but her fall into the river had taught her not to leave risks untaken. virgin sex, deflowering, rough sex, cowboy romance, cowboy erotica, cowboy sex