Title The Cowboy’s Last Chance
Author Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy
Genre Romance/sweet romance/Western and cowboy romance
Publisher The Wild Rose Press
Book Blurb
When Vivian Blackburn, recently returned to Southwest Missouri after her grandmother suffered a health setback, sets out to shoot pictures at a rodeo, she's not looking for a cowboy but when she meets bull rider Calhoun Kelly, she's found one. They have an instant attraction and rapport, so much so that she follows him on the rodeo circuit. When they can, they head back to Missouri to visit her grandmother. They're compatible in every way but one – he has a strong Christian faith and she lost hers after her parents died. Still, they stay together through his bull riding lumps and bumps on the rodeo circuit. When Vivian experiences strange dreams that seem to warn Calhoun of upcoming danger, she doesn't know what to think and when the messages spread through his family, everyone is concerned. Calhoun decides to hang up his spurs at the end of the season but before he does, he and Vivian are married. They decide they'll settle at her grandmother's old farmhouse but not until he rides his last rodeo. When he's critically injured, his life hangs in the balance. Will Vivian find her faith and pray or be widowed? It's a close call but time will tell.
Excerpt
Calhoun sprawled backward, pillows propped behind his back, and called his brother. It rang twice before he picked up the phone.
“It’s about time I heard from you.” Lincoln’s East Texas drawl was more pronounced. “What in tarnation is going on?”
“Same old, same old. Riding rodeo, like always.”
“First time I ever called you when a lady answered your phone,” Linc said. “And told me that you were worn out and sound asleep. She refused to wake you, man, but she told me you had a rough ride last night and wrecked. You all right?”
“Sore but fine, yeah.”
“She got me worried, little brother. I already told Sasha that if I didn’t hear from you today or if you didn’t sound right, I would head up that way.”
“Bro, I’m good.” Calhoun appreciated his brother’s concern, but he wanted to blow it off. He didn’t want Lincoln fussing over him. “Better than I’ve been in quite a while.” Although Linc laughed, Cal knew he hadn’t fooled his astute brother.
“I smell a rat, Cal. There’s more to this story. Either you’re hurt more than you’re letting me know or there’s something with this gal. Which is it?”
“Busted.” Calhoun laughed. He never could fool Linc for long. “I ain’t hurt bad or anything, but I landed on my shoulder last night so it’s sore as a bear. And I’m hurting like any bull rider but nothing serious.”
“I figured something like that. Is it the shoulder you dislocated over at Paducah? And the woman? I hope she’s not a buckle bunny.”
“You ought to know better than that.” Linc had to be aware how little Calhoun thought of the pushy women with their scanty clothing and desire to take a cowboy home for the night, nothing more. “Same shoulder but it’s not dislocated this time. It just hurts. And she’s the farthest thing from a bunny you could find, Linc. Her name’s Vivian Bradburn. She’s a writer and photographer from Missouri.”
“Is she pretty?”
“Very.”
“Is she there?”
“Yeah, she is.” Cal shot a glance at Vivian, standing before the mirror, brushing out her long hair and rolling it into a bun.
“Is she at your trailer?” After a pause, Lincoln questioned him further.
“No, we’re at her motel, but it’s not what you probably think. It’s at Rick’s place, the old Marine guy, you know? Her room has a spa tub and she offered me the chance to soak my sore body. Besides, there’s two beds. I didn’t plan to stay, but I fell asleep after being in the tub. But we kept it decent.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything else from you.”
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Author Biography
From an early age, Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy scribbled stories, inspired by the books she read, the family tales she heard, and even the conversations she overheard at the beauty shop where her grandmother had a weekly standing appointment. She was the little girl who sat at the feet of the elders and listened.
As an author, she has published more than seventy novels and novellas writing as both Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy and as Patrice Wayne for historical fiction. Her books are found in many places, online and in brick-and-mortar stores including some in both Ireland and Australia.
She spent her early career in broadcast radio, interviewing everyone from politicians to major league baseball players and writing ad copy. In those radio years she began to write short stories and articles, some of which found publication. In 1994 she married Roy Murphy and they had three children, all now grown-up. She was widowed in 2019. Lee Ann spent years in the newspaper field as both a journalist and editor and was widowed in 2019.
In late 2020, she hung up her editor’s hat to return to writing fiction. A native of St. Joseph, Missouri, she lives and works in the rugged, mysterious, and beautiful Missouri Ozarks.
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