One Night with a Cowboy (Paint River Ranch) (Entangled Indulgence) (20 page)

Acknowledgments

Fans and readers: Thank you so much for the love and support that you’ve shown for the Paint River Ranch series. Your emails, sweet notes, incredible reviews and overall love really feed my writer’s soul and I cherish each and every one of you!

The Paint River Ranch series wouldn’t be the same without the guidance, encouragement and general shenanigans provided by my totally kick-butt critique partners who worked on this story with me. Thank you, Tamara, Tristina, Amber and Heather, Melissa K. and Kayti for loving the Haywood boys as much as I do and for helping me stay true to Tucker’s heart. As always, to the WrAHM group—you keep me going, always. Thank you for hours of encouragement, pictures of hot cowboys and the absolute sisterhood you provide.

To Cari Quinn and Taryn Elliot and all the Word Wenches Reader Group, I hope you all know how awesome you are. Thank you for letting me share, and for being friends and fans!

A huge hug and kiss for my husband and children for giving me the time and understanding it takes to be the family of an author. I hope you truly know that you guys will always come first! Thank you to my agent, and the talented Entangled editors and team that have given me the platform to bring Paint River Ranch to life.

About the Author

Elizabeth Otto grew up in a Wisconsin town the size of a postage stamp, where riding your horse to the grocery store, and skinny dipping after school were perfectly acceptable. No surprise that she writes about small communities and country boys. She’s the author of paranormal, and hot, emotional, contemporary romance, and has no guilt over frequently making her readers cry. When not writing, she works full-time as an Emergency Medical Technician for a rural ambulance service. Elizabeth lives with her very own country boy and their three children in, shockingly, a small Midwestern town.

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Keep reading for a sneak peek of the third book in the Paint River Ranch series by Elizabeth Otto...

There was a kaleidoscope in his brain. Vibrant shards of red, orange and blazing white-hot yellow condensed into alien patterns behind Levi Haywood’s eyes. A pulsing, grinding sensation throbbed in his body though he couldn’t pinpoint exactly where. The colors and patterns were blinding and he wished they would stop—tried to rub at his eyes with a hand, but his arm wouldn’t move.

“Le…Lev…Levi.” He forced his eye lids apart. Confused, Levi stared at the purple and red blob bouncing in front of him, the throbbing in his skull making it difficult to concentrate or focus.

“LEVI!” A sharp slice across his face. Levi jerked, narrow tunnels opening through the clogs in his ears. “Levi, stop screaming or they’re going to finish us off!”

Screaming? The blob came into focus and Levi sighed in relief as Carlos Rivera’s face became clear. Why was Carlos bloody?

Carlos gripped Levi’s face between his hand. He was making a ‘shhh’ motion with his lips. “Haywood, be quiet!”

Levi stared into Carlos’ wide eyes. Terror and pain reflected back at him. Blood rolled from beneath Carlos’ tan military helmet, pooling in the sunken crescents under his eyes and the corners of his mouth.

Snap. Levi blinked. Noise rushed him; the noise of silence and heavy breathing and…screaming. His screaming…he was screaming. Panic flared to life inside him but before he could struggle to get up, Carlos threw his body over the top of him, whispering desperately. “Quiet, quiet, quiet!”

Levi kicked his legs hard and missing sensation screamed in his brain. Was he moving? Why did he feel suspended, like his body wasn’t obeying his brain’s commands? With a huge shove, he hoisted Carlos off him and struggled to sit. Levi’s brow fell, disbelief sinking in. He tilted his head to one side as he looked at his legs. It took a second for him to comprehend.

“Carlos!”

“I know. I know. Please, Levi, we have to stay still.”

Grief punched Levi in the chest. So many things left undone…left unsaid. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from his legs, and the spreading pool of dark blood soaking into the sand, even as Carlos slapped his cheeks and continued to whisper his name.

Levi looked his best friend square in the eye, grabbed his collar to pull him in nose to nose. “Kiss my ma.” And Carrie Lynn. He had to tell her…God, he’d never told her that he loved her. He’d just walked away. Such a fool. He tried to tell his friend to find Carrie, too, but the words wouldn’t come.

A tear ran down Carlos’ cheek. Tradition and honor and brotherhood—all of it rolled together when a Marine asked a comrade to say a final goodbye for him. It was unspoken—a given—that this final act of love would be passed on to those left behind for one who couldn’t express it himself.

Carlos kissed Levi’s forehead. “I’ll go to Paint River Ranch and I’ll kiss your ma.” God, he’d never see Paint River again. Find Carrie. Find Carrie…tell her… A whizz and a thud. Carlos’ helmet flew off, smacking Levi’s cheek. Levi grabbed for his friend, but there was nothing left to grab onto. A blast and searing pain exploded the kaleidoscope colors into confetti before everything went black.

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