Gina Wilkins - It Takes a Cowboy

The Lost Springs Ranch for troubled boys is at stake, and it’s a man’s duty to give back…

So there’s going to be an auction!

Bachelor #5

Name: Scott McKay, 33

Occupation: Gentleman rancher

Biggest Achievement: Surviving daring adventures

Blair Townsend didn’t know the meaning of chaos until her holy terror of a nephew came to live with her. Jeffrey needed a positive role model—and Blair wasn’t above buying one at the Lost Springs auction. Sexy-as-sin rancher Scott McKay looks as if he’d have no trouble teaching Jeffrey how to be a man. Except Scott seems far more interested in showing Blair how to be a woman….

Sugar Spinelli’s Little Instruction Book

I can’t believe my eyes. There’s our young conservative lawyer, Blair Townsend—bidding on a cowboy! That reckless adventurer Scott McKay sure doesn’t seem her type. Especially now that she’s raising that nephew of hers, who I hear is quite a rascal. Maybe she’s looking for someone to give her a hand with the boy. I gotta say, Scott does look deceptively steady and respectable in that jacket and tie. I wonder if Blair knows what she’s getting herself into. Because if she doesn’t, there are going to be fireworks—and I sure hope I’m around to see them.…

Dear Reader,

We just knew you wouldn’t want to miss the news event that has all of Wyoming abuzz! There’s a herd of eligible bachelors on their way to Lightning Creek—and they’re all for sale!

Cowboy, park ranger, rancher, P.I.—they all grew up at Lost Springs Ranch, and every one of these mavericks has his price, so long as the money’s going to help keep Lost Springs afloat.

The auction is about to begin! Young and old, every woman in the state wants in on the action, so pony up some cash and join the fun. The man of your dreams might just be up for grabs.…

Marsha Zinberg

Editorial Coordinator, Heart of the West

It Takes a Cowboy

Gina Wilkins

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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A Note from the Author

I’ve always had a thing for cowboys. Perhaps my tastes were influenced by the television programs I watched as a child—The Rifleman, Bonanza, The Big Valley, The High Chaparral, Lancer (“Johnny Madrid” in tight black jeans with silver conchos down the side—oh, my!). There’s just something about a man in a Stetson and a pair of slant-heeled boots...

When I met my future husband, he was a skinny, six-foot-five college freshman with a shy smile and a great laugh. When I found out he owned a palomino named Diablo, a gray mare named Freckles and had a roomful of horse-show ribbons and trophies, I was hooked. We’ve been married for more than twenty years now, and though the horses are long gone, a little cowboy remains in this businessman. He still has his saddle, and the same pair of Dan Post boots he used to wear in those horse shows. And he still has a great laugh.

Blair Townsend thinks a cowboy is the complete opposite of what she needs. But when she buys one by mistake at a charity bachelor auction, she soon learns that it does, indeed, take a cowboy to win her well-guarded heart.

Enjoy,

Gina Wilkins

For all those women with a weakness for Stetsons and boots.

Gina Wilkins is acknowledged

as the author of this work.

Contents

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

EPILOGUE

EXCERPT

CHAPTER ONE

WHEN SHE’D FIRST heard about the plan, Blair Townsend had thought a bachelor auction was a desperate and probably futile scheme to save the financially strapped Lost Springs Ranch for Boys. A bachelor auction? Were they joking? What made these people think they could possibly raise a significant sum of money by parading a group of former ranch residents in front of a bunch of man-hungry women? Selling the guys off like...like prize bulls?

Blair had pessimistically predicted that there would be more men up for auction than there would be women to bid on them. And as for the media coverage they were hoping for...she’d thought they would be lucky to get a mention in the Lightning Creek Leader.

Now, as she gazed in awe at the TV news vans and reporters crowding the ranch grounds, she was perfectly willing to admit that she had been wrong.

She didn’t know how they had done it, but somehow ranch owner Lindsay Duncan and director Rex Trowbridge had pulled off an amazing feat. They had a sizable group of gorgeous bachelors, a stadium full of enthusiastic bidders and a whole herd of reporters there to cover the festivities. The public relations benefits alone should go a long way toward helping Lindsay save her ranch—and the lost young boys who needed it.

Blair groaned at the thought of lost young boys. That particular problem hit just a bit too close to home at the moment. A group of boys dashed past her, shouting, laughing, their destination the peeled-log forts and jungle gyms that made up the recently renovated playground. Though somewhat rowdy, they looked as though they were having a great time. It hadn’t occurred to her that so many youngsters would be in attendance at a charity bachelor auction. Now she wondered why she hadn’t expected it—this was, after all, a boys’ ranch.

Maybe she should have brought Jeffrey. It might have been good for him to socialize with other children today. And yet...did she really want him spending time with the residents of Lost Springs? Wasn’t he difficult and rebellious enough without the influence of this group of troubled boys? She’d spent a lot of time lately worrying that if things didn’t improve soon, Jeffrey was going to be a prime candidate for a residential program for boys who were headed for serious problems.

She put a hand to the back of her neck, squeezing the muscle that had tightened there—something that had been happening with uncomfortable regularity since her ten-year-old nephew had moved in with her six months ago. A familiar burning sensation in her stomach made her reach into the pocket of her cream-colored cardigan for a roll of antacids. She popped a couple in her mouth and chewed grimly. The chalky taste made her grimace.

Wanting something to wash away the residue, she looked toward the crowded pavilion where food and drinks were being sold to an eager throng of customers. The tantalizing, smoky smell of barbecue wafted toward her, making her lick her lips. She had only come to observe the activities today, not to participate in them, but she could at least contribute to the cause by purchasing a soft drink and maybe a hot dog. She would love to indulge in a spicy barbecue sandwich, but she was afraid that would only intensify her heartburn.