Daredevil's
Mistress
Fire
& Ice Book 1
by
Charlene Namdhari
Genre:
Contemporary Romance
Twenty-four-year-old
virgin Samantha Harman longs to escape her boring life and
overbearing father in South Africa. She gains temporary freedom when
she visits a friend’s ranch in Arizona. Her father's price for
letting her go? Return to an arranged marriage. But an unexpected
attraction to a sexy cowboy is hard to fight and soon she's in bed
with the devil.
Cody
Bentley, a hardworking no-nonsense rancher, has been hurt before. To
him, women are wanton troublemakers out for gold. Then his sister’s
feisty friend comes for a visit and ensnares him in a white-hot
passion that threatens to melt the icy wall around his heart.
Will
Samantha dare to defy her father’s demands and convince Cody to
take a chance on love?
Excerpt
2:
Deborah
cruised up to the house and parked outside the entrance. The ranch
buzzed
with activity. Despite the dust, noise, and utter confusion, Samantha
stared
enthralled as the ranch hands herded the cattle into the corrals, in
perfect
harmony.
Muscles rippled with weariness while their tails swished in tune with
the
slight breeze. The horses were beautiful.
After
her fifth birthday, her father allowed her to attend the local riding
school.
While it wasn’t vast open fields like this ranch, the confines of
the city
equestrian
hadn’t stumped her passion to jump on a horse the first chance she
got.
Crazy as it sounded, the idea of mounting one of these large horses
and
riding
off into the horizon grew steadily.
“There
you are, girls.” Freda stepped out onto the porch and distracted
Samantha’s
wild fantasies. “Reece injured his arm.”
“What?”
Deborah shot out of the pickup, her brow puckered in concern.
“Calm
down, dear girl.” Freda touched Deborah’s hand lightly. “He’s
his
dandy
self, cut his arm on a rock.”
“Where
is he…?” Deborah asked and disappeared into the house.
It
amused Samantha that, although her friend had three brothers, being
twins,
made
for a stronger bond between her and Reece.
“Is
he okay?” Samantha jumped out and skirted the pickup.
“Come,
dear, let’s go inside and see for yourself.” Freda extended an
arm to
Samantha
as they entered the house.
Samantha
didn’t want to disturb Reece while he was busy with the doctor.
She
headed upstairs for a quick shower after Freda announced supper
needed
another
thirty minutes or so. Donning a pair of black denims, a baby blue
shirt,
and
black boots, she pulled her hair into a loose ponytail. Given the
heat, she
decided
against makeup and descended to dinner, humming softly. Back home,
dinner
was a formal affair where her father demanded etiquette, visitors or
not.
Vibrant
chatter emanated from the living room which ceased when she entered.
Reece,
Jace, and another male looked up.
Deborah
leaped to her feet and looped an arm in hers. “Reece, Jace, you
remember
Samantha, my college roommate?”
Reece
jumped up and shifted his hurt arm with an indifferent grin. “Howdy,
darlin’
sure is nice to see you again.”
“Hi
yourself, long time.” Samantha kissed his cheek lightly.
Jace
rose, nodded shyly, and followed with a bashful smile.
When
Deborah guided her to the third male, an impulsive sensation of
nerves
crept
up Samantha’s spine.
“And
this charming guy is Chance, our ranch supervisor.”
“Howdy,
Samantha. Sure is a pleasure to meet you,” Chance drawled
accompanied
by an attractive smile. He extended a hand, which Samantha
accepted,
warming to his touch.
“Hello,
Chance. Nice meeting you too.” Her gaze roamed his handsome, lean
physique
and vibrant hazel eyes with interest. Thank
goodness you didn’t call
him
Cody. Her gaze
swept the room as she searched for the missing-in-action
brother.
Part of her patiently waited to put a face to the brute. Soon, she
forgot
about
Cody as Reece claimed her undivided attention. Several minutes into
the
discussion,
Samantha stood with her back to the living room entrance. Deborah’s
soft
greeting caught her ear.
“Hey,
Cody.”
Slowly,
Samantha turned and schooled her features into a polite mask, but
shock
momentarily widened her eyes…
Impossible!
The
floor suddenly morphed into jelly, she forced every effort to stay
upright.
Silently she prayed for it to open up and swallow her whole, while
trapped
by the disconcertingly blue stare of the rider she almost ran over.
Samantha
shut her eyes tight, willed away the sight, but when she opened them
again,
he was still there. For one totally indescribable minute, she
experienced
the
vulnerability of a small animal about to be devoured by a marauding
jungle
beast.
Deborah
nudged her forward. “Cody, I’d like you to meet Sam—”
Confusion
momentarily clouded his eyes and then, “You.” She watched the
rigid
muscles in his jaw work overtime as he stiffened. “What the hell
are you
doing
here, boy…” Cody broke off almost immediately. “Wait a darn
minute…
you’re
no boy, you’re…dammit you’re a woman.”
Annoyance clearly masked
his
severe features.
Samantha
recovered her poise, tilted her chin at a proud angle, and refused to
break
his gaze.
“So,
I guess you’ve met?” Deborah’s soft words broke the silence.
“Met?
This woman almost ran me over yesterday,” Cody muttered dryly,
without
taking his eyes off Samantha.
The
tension in the room could be cut with a knife. Everyone else ceased
to
exist.
“An honest mistake, Mr. Bentley,” Samantha sputtered and matched
his
hostile
glare. She took an instant dislike to the man. Her fine body hairs
rose up
in
protective self-defense.
“That,
Lady, was no mistake…just careless drivin’.”
His
rudeness infuriated her right down to her toes. “Well, I don’t
expect you
to
understand. You’re not much of a gentleman. Tell me, Mr. Bentley,
do you
always
treat your guests with such emphatic rudeness?” she retorted in one
breathless
statement. He pinned her with a gaze so intense, her knees shook.
“Dammit,
Cody, Samantha’s a guest.” Reece forestalled any reply by
stepping
between them.
Swiveling,
Cody stomped out of the room, his boots clicked tersely against
the
tiles.
“Sorry
’bout that, darlin’.” Reece winked.
Samantha
offered a light smile at his attempt at lightheartedness. Her body
simmered
with raw anger. Of
all the nerve. She
never met anyone as horrible as
Cody.
A brute of a man if she ever met one. Deborah’s earlier explanation
suddenly
made sense.
“Hey,
girl, I’m sorry.” Deborah stepped forward and interrupted her
mental
distress.
Samantha
uttered a dry laugh. “That went off well, wouldn’t you say?”
“The
thing is, ’bout a month back, a ranch hand, while he exercised one
of
the
mares, rode her out to the same crossing. A driver ignored the sign
and ran
the
horse and rider over. The ranch hand broke an arm in the collision.
The
horse,
however, broke one leg and injured another. Cody made the tough
decision
to have her put down. He loved that horse, and I guess the incident
still
bothers
him a little.” Deborah gave her arm a gentle squeeze.
“Geez,
thanks, now I feel much better.”
“Supper
is ready,” Freda broke their chatter.
Born
and raised in the coastal city of Durban, South Africa and now living
in the City of Gold, Johannesburg, Charlene's days are an energetic
mixture of a full time job, a wife and Mom to two beautiful
teenagers. She holds a Law Degree and is an avid events
manager.
Believing
writing is the wings to holistic escapism, she makes the time in her
busy schedule giving life to her dreams of bringing together passion
filled heroes and heroines in a happily ever after.
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1 comment:
Thank you for hosting me :))
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