Dustin Morgan. If possible, he looked better than he had in high school.
Jenna could never forget the guy who flirted with every girl in school—everyone but her.
“Hello, Dustin. It’s been a while.” She offered her hand. So far, so good.
He took her hand for several heartbeats and held it before he finally shook it. She could feel the calluses on his palms and fingers. Dustin stared down at their hands, and so did she.
It was a simple thing, just a handshake, but she felt like a giddy schoolgirl again instead of a rocksolid teacher who was soon to be thirty years old.
“I guess you’re stuck with me,” he said.
She pulled her hand away. Maybe then her brain would work. “I–I guess I am.”
Dear Reader,
How to Lasso a Cowboy continues my GOLD BUCKLE COWBOYS miniseries—stories about bronc riders, bull riders and the cowboy next door.
When I was writing this book, it reminded me of the trials and tribulations of high school and “unrequited love.” I certainly remember my first crush, and so does Jenna Reed, the heroine of this story.
Jenna was drawn to bull rider Dustin Morgan when they were students, and Jenna didn’t go unnoticed by Dustin, either. When they went their separate ways, their attraction smoldered. Reunited years later and virtually living under the same roof, old feelings resurface. Jenna decides that she’s waited long enough for Dustin, so she decides to lasso her cowboy—finally! But does she really know how?
I hope this story will make you smile or even laugh out loud. And I’d love to hear from you. Contact me at PO Box 2000, Cicero, NY, 13039, USA or visit me at www.christinewenger.com.
Christine Wenger
About the Author
CHRISTINE WENGER has worked in the criminal justice field for more years than she cares to remember. She has a master’s degree in probation and parole studies and sociology from Fordham University, but the knowledge gained from such studies certainly has not prepared her for what she loves to do most—write romance! A native central New Yorker, she enjoys watching professional bull riding and rodeo with her favorite cowboy, her husband, Jim.
Chris would love to hear from readers. She can be reached by mail at PO Box 2000, Cicero, NY, 13039, USA or through her website at www.christinewenger.com.
How to Lasso
a Cowboy
Christine Wenger
To my St Margaret’s, Ludden and Powelson buddies,
Janice Egloff DiFant and Patty Tomeny Holgado.
Time sure flies, but we’re still having fun!
Prologue
Jenna Reed studied the new clothes that she’d bought for her long-awaited trip to Europe. They were organized by day, stacked in neat piles on the bed in her guest room and her matched set of tomato-red luggage was open and ready to be filled.
She reread the now dog-eared itinerary that she’d received from Happy Singles Travel, Inc. She knew it by heart, but she still loved looking at it. Their motto was printed in lime green on the top of their letterhead: “Travel with us, meet new friends and discover new places.”
She would have rather traveled with her current friends, but they were all too tied up with their husbands and/or kids. Though she was disappointed, she understood. So, she was going with seventy-five other singles, mostly women, for three glorious weeks in Europe!
Finally, Jenna was going to live it up. She hadn’t had a vacation since she’d started teaching fourth grade after college. When other teachers at Wilson Road Grammar School took the summer off, she worked summer school and tutored kids whenever she was asked. Among her peers, she was the teacher who never said no.
She loved teaching mostly because of the kids. She thought of them as hers and threw her whole being into her work. But they weren’t her kids, and at age twenty-nine, she’d given up looking for Mr. Right. She just wanted Mr. Right Now. Someone special. Someone she could hang out with and who liked to do the same things that she did.
She’d once wanted to settle down and have children, but all that changed when she approached her thirtieth birthday. With no romantic prospects, she decided that she had too much living to do—and now was the time for her to enjoy life. So she cut her workload and began making plans to change her life from a humdrum, staid existence to one of excitement and adventure.
As part of her new life plan, Jenna decided to make a drastic career change and applied for a yearlong position teaching English in China. Every time she thought of her application being accepted and making a move, excitement shot through her.
Even if she didn’t get the position, she’d take a leave of absence and travel, visiting places that she’d only read about. And this European vacation would be the perfect start to her new plan.
Jenna sat on the edge of the bed, holding on to her itinerary, and imagined meeting her knight in shining armor at a bistro in Paris or at the Parthenon in Greece. Maybe he’d strike up a conversation with her as she watched him maneuver his yacht through the glittering waters of Cannes or bump into him on the Rialto Bridge in Venice.
Wherever her mystery man was, she wanted him to know that she’d be landing at Heathrow Airport in London in exactly seven days, ten hours and thirty-two minutes.
The phone rang, startling her our of her daydream. She rushed to pick it up.
“Hey, sis.”
“Tom! How are you?”
Calling her brother was on her list of things to do. She’d planned on letting him know when she was leaving on her trip. Then her excitement dissolved. Her brother only called her when he needed something or if it was bad news. She braced herself.
“I called about Andy—” he began.
She just adored her ten-year-old nephew. “Oh, Tom! Is he okay?”
“Relax, Jenna. He’s fine. He just didn’t do well on his final report card. He’s failing reading and math. He’s going to be held back in fourth grade unless he goes to summer school.”
“That’s too bad.”
“Yup.” There was a moment of silence. “And since he could use some extra help, I thought of you, since you teach fourth grade. I figure if you came down here to Tucson, you could tutor him and babysit at the same time. I’ve been helping him myself, but I’m not doing that great of a job. He’s not getting it.”
“I’m sure he’s getting it, Tom. You’re a very patient father.”
Then something hit her—Tom had said babysit.
“Uh … Tom, why do you need me to babysit? Where are you going to be?”
“As long as you’re going to be here at the Bar R, I figured that I could enter as many bronc- and bull-riding events as I can during the summer. It’d be the perfect opportunity for me to win some extra money, pay for some repairs that I need to do around my ranch. Besides, Andy needs braces, his babysitters are costing me a fortune and Marla just filed for divorce. I need to retain a lawyer.”
Jenna was silent. She knew that Tom was still reeling from his wife leaving him for another man. Marla said that traveling the bull-riding circuits kept him away from home too much.
“When do you need me?” Jenna asked.
“Next