Tanya Michaels - Tamed by a Texan

Too Hot To Handle?

Grace Torres has a lot to lose. And the Texas Hill Country restaurateur isn’t letting Ty Beckett steal her thunder. He may be the Lone Star State’s most famous bachelor chef, but Grace has a family legacy to save. She’ll do whatever it takes to keep her beloved restaurant afloat…even go head-to-head in a reality TV cook-off only one of them can win.

Growing up dirt-poor just made Ty more determined to succeed. But he’s facing some stiff competition. Grace may be the only female alive who sees past Ty’s footloose facade and charming one-liners. She’s also igniting more heat than a Mexican jalapeño.

Walking away with first place could give Ty everything he ever wanted. It could also make him lose the one woman who’s ever come close to taming this culinary cowboy!

They passed a stall selling an assortment of quality and novelty hats. He slowed to pick up a green plastic leprechaun bowler and plop it on his head. “What do you think?”

What she thought was that he was trying to cajole her out of a bad mood, and she adored his flippant nature. It was the perfect antidote to everything weighing on her.

“Not actually the best look for you.” She laughed. Her gaze landed on a cowboy hat. Every true Texan needed one. “Here, try this.”

Obligingly, Ty settled it on his head, then tipped it back with a finger to smile down at her.

Those blue-gray eyes hit her full force, and her breath caught. Damn, he was a good-looking man. She hadn’t realized just how close they were standing until that moment, and it seemed like the most natural thing in the world to slide her hands around his waist and reach up to meet his kiss.

Dear Reader,

Thank goodness the Texas Hill Country offers calorie-burning opportunities like hiking, cycling and dancing—they’re necessary to counterbalance all the fantastic food in the area! If you’ve ever attended the Fredericksburg Food and Wine Fest, or even just stopped for dinner in the region, you’ll understand my inspiration for this book.

In my first Hill Country Heroes story (Claimed by a Cowboy) I briefly introduced chef Grace Torres and her family’s restaurant, The Twisted Jalapeño. Now Grace is a contestant on a televised cooking competition that will be filmed during a local festival. She needs the prize money and publicity to save her restaurant. But she’s about to meet her match in charmer Ty Beckett.

Ty’s flirtatious banter and lazy smiles mask a steely determination. As a kid who grew up poor and hungry, he swore he’d make something of himself. Now, he’s trying to negotiate a deal to host his own cooking show, and the producers have hinted that if he wins the highly publicized competition in Fredericksburg, the contract is his. Ty has never let anything stand in his way. He relishes the challenge of facing down fiery-tempered Grace. Neither expected that, on the way to winning, they might lose their hearts….

Happy reading,

Tanya

P.S. To hear about what I’m cooking up next, “like” Author Tanya Michaels on Facebook or follow TanyaMichaels on Twitter.

Tamed by a Texan

Tanya Michaels

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Belated thanks to Susan Lang, who walked me through my first official wine tasting!

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

Epilogue

Chapter One

Chef Grace Torres had inherited her Irish mother’s fiery nature and her late father’s impressively thorough knowledge of Spanish swear words, both of which were about to boil to the surface on this gloomy February morning.

“I can’t believe you two!” Grace gripped the edge of the stainless-steel workstation so she wouldn’t do anything stupid, like start throwing plates. The restaurant had enough financial burdens without having to replace dishes.

Ben’s and Victor’s nervous expressions might have been funny under different circumstances. Both of her brothers were older than Grace—who’d been an unplanned souvenir from her parents’ fifteenth-anniversary cruise—and they each stood close to six feet. Not that Ben could stand right now—he’d been injured during an arson investigation and would be in a wheelchair for another few weeks. Grace was the runt of the Torres family and claimed to be five-three, which was true when she wore heels. In height, she’d taken after her aunt, small but fierce Tía Maria, instead of her parents.

“Now, Graciela…” Victor was the oldest, and his tone bordered on patronizing.

Her already simmering temper began to bubble and pop.

“We know you love this place,” Ben quickly interrupted, secure in the knowledge that his broken leg and still-mending ribs would keep her from smacking him upside the head with a rubber spatula. “We all love it, but—”

“Ha! You love eating here, trying out new specialties before I put them on the menu and bringing your dates to woo them with the nostalgia factor. But you don’t… The two of you have never—” She broke off, eyes burning, and spun abruptly, turning her back on her brothers. I will not cry in front of them. It would be such a clichéd girl thing to do.

She battled the threat of tears with a stream of words that would have made her dad grin and her mother threaten to ground her from the kitchen. Colleen Torres had once said Grace was the only teenager in Texas who got more upset about losing cooking privileges than being forbidden to go to the movies with friends. Grace and her friends had rarely gone to the theater, though. They’d had movie nights at her house, where Grace prepared a menu of snacks themed to go with the rented DVDs.

“Guess I should brush up on my Spanish,” Victor said behind her. “I consider myself bilingual, but I only understood half of that.”

“I got all of it,” Ben said. “Trust me, you’re better off not knowing.”

When she faced them again, Grace was calmer. “I realize you’re both going through difficult times.”

Ben, the lawman, was on medical leave, and Victor, who worked for a local bank, had recently separated from his wife of nine years.

“But let’s not panic,” she continued, “and do something we can’t take back.” Like sell the restaurant, her heart and soul. My home.

Of all the things she’d inherited from her family, The Twisted Jalapeño was what she most cherished. The modest restaurant nestled in Texas Hill Country was a Torres legacy. It not only kept her close to the beloved father they’d lost three years ago, the Jalapeño gave her an opportunity to develop her own talent, putting her stamp on the place. She had big plans and hoped to bridge the gap between the past and a bright future for generations of Torreses to come.

Victor sighed, running a hand through his inky-black hair. All three siblings had the same dark hair and eyes. Colleen, a pale redhead with ethereal features, used to laugh at the surprise on people’s faces when they realized she was their mother. “It’s not only Ben and I who have hit bumps in the road,” Victor pointed out gently. “You think we’re so preoccupied with our problems that we don’t see how hard everything’s been on you? Putting in crazy hours here, breaking up with Jeff last week, the situation with Mom.”