Maisey Yates - Bad News Cowboy

Can the bad boy of Copper Ridge, Oregon, make good—and win the rodeo girl of his dreams?

Kate Garrett keeps life simple—working hard, riding her beloved horses, playing cards with her brothers. Lately, though, she feels a bit restless, especially when family friend Jack Monaghan is around. Sexy and shameless, Jack is the kind of trouble you don’t tangle with unless you want your heart broken. Still, Kate could always use his help in learning how to lasso someone a little less high risk…

Jack can’t pinpoint the moment the Garrett brothers’ little sister suddenly stopped seeming so…little. Now here he is, giving flirting tips to the one woman who needs zero help turning him on. Love’s a game he’s never wanted to play. But he’ll have to hurry up and learn how before the best thing that ever entered his life rides right back out again…

Bad News Cowboy

Shoulda Been a Cowboy

Maisey Yates

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Table of Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text Can the bad boy of Copper Ridge, Oregon, make good—and win the rodeo girl of his dreams? Kate Garrett keeps life simple—working hard, riding her beloved horses, playing cards with her brothers. Lately, though, she feels a bit restless, especially when family friend Jack Monaghan is around. Sexy and shameless, Jack is the kind of trouble you don’t tangle with unless you want your heart broken. Still, Kate could always use his help in learning how to lasso someone a little less high risk… Jack can’t pinpoint the moment the Garrett brothers’ little sister suddenly stopped seeming so…little. Now here he is, giving flirting tips to the one woman who needs zero help turning him on. Love’s a game he’s never wanted to play. But he’ll have to hurry up and learn how before the best thing that ever entered his life rides right back out again…

Title Page Bad News Cowboy Shoulda Been a Cowboy Maisey Yates www.millsandboon.co.uk

Bad News Cowboy Bad News Cowboy Maisey Yates

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

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

EPILOGUE

Shoulda Been a Cowboy

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

EPILOGUE

Extract

Copyright

Bad News Cowboy

Maisey Yates

CHAPTER ONE

KATE GARRETT HAD never much belonged to anyone. And that was how she liked it.

She didn’t have the time or desire to deal with anyone telling her what to do or how to act or how to sit. If she wanted to ride across the field like a bat out of hell and let her hair tangle in the wind, gathering snarls and bugs and Lord knew what else, she’d do that.

It was the perk of independence. Compensation from life since it hadn’t seen fit to give her a mother who was around to tuck her in at night. The consolation prize that came for living with a father whose every word was scented with whiskey, who moved around her as if she existed in a different space. As if she wasn’t even there.

But who needed warm milk and itchy tights and whatever the hell else came with being hovered over for your entire childhood? She’d rather have freedom and the pounding of a horse’s hooves on arena dirt.

Or on the soft soil of the Garrett family ranch, which was what she had today. Which meant it was a damn good day. She had to be at the Farm and Garden for work in a couple of hours, so she would have to cut the ride shorter than she’d like. But any ride was better than none, even if she’d rather keep going until her face was chapped from the wind and her lungs burned.

The sun was getting high in the sky and she knew it was time to haul ass back. She grimaced and slowed her horse, Roo, turning sharply, as she would if they were going around a barrel, before picking up the pace again on the way out of the loop and galloping back in the direction she’d come.

Wind whipped strands of dark hair into her eyes and she cursed her decision to leave it loose. So maybe nobody yelled at her for letting her hair get tangled, but in the end she had to comb it out and that was always a pain.

She would braid it before work. Because when she’d gotten her horse ready to be put away, she wasn’t going to have time to get herself looking pretty. Not that she needed to be particularly pretty to man the counter at the Farm and Garden.

She would settle for not looking homeless.

She slowed Roo as they approached the horse barn, and she dismounted, breathing hard, the early-morning air like a shot of ice to her lungs on every indrawn breath. She led the horse inside and removed her bridle, then slipped on a halter and looped the lead over a hook. She didn’t even bother with tying a quick-release knot on Roo when they were at home. She knelt down and loosened the girth on the saddle before taking it off completely, along with the bright blue blanket underneath. In spite of the chilly air that marked the shift from summer to fall, Roo had worked up a sweat during the ride.

She pulled the towel off a nearby rack and wiped Roo down, making sure she was dry and that the saddle marks were removed. Then she took her bright yellow pick out of the bucket and ran her hand down Roo’s leg, squeezing gently until the horse lifted her foot. She picked out any rocks and mud that had collected during the ride, humming softly as she did. She repeated that step on the other three legs and was nearly finished when she heard footsteps on the ground behind her, followed by her oldest brother’s voice.

“You’re up early, Katie.”

“I wanted to get a ride in before I headed to work. And if you call me Katie one more time, I’m going to stick this pick in your eye.”

Connor only smiled at her threat, crossing his arms over his broad chest, his wedding band catching her attention. In the seven months since he and Liss had gotten married, it had stayed shiny. It was some kind of metal designed to break if it got caught on anything, since ranch work was dangerous for men wearing jewelry.

She liked the reminder, though. The reminder that he was happy again. Connor had spent way too much time buried in the depths of his grief, and Liss had finally been able to lift him out of it.

As an added bonus, Liss had allowed Kate to wear jeans and boots to the wedding. Which was more than her future sister-in-law, Sadie, was letting her get away with for her and Eli’s upcoming mammoth nuptials.

“Sorry, Kate,” Connor said, his smile getting wider.

“You’re cheerful this morning,” she observed, finishing with Roo’s last hoof before straightening.

“I’m pretty much cheerful all the time these days.”

“I’ve noticed. Which is more than I can say for your wife.”