Wild Hog Explosion

This month the second book in my Rodeo Rebels series for Harlequin American Romance hits store shelves. The Bull Rider's Secret takes place in Bandera, Texas. Known in the Hill Country as The Cowboy Capitol of the World, Bandera is a unique town with lots of western flavor and a tradition of welcoming the Biker community. I love adding a bit of reality to my stories and that's exactly what I did in The Bull Rider's Secret when my hero Brody enters the Wild Hog Explosion contest at Mansfield Park in Bandera, Texas.


This real life event features a wild hog catch. Teams of two enter a ring to try and catch a real Texas wild hog and then put the hog into a burlap sack. I haven't had the fortune to attend this event in person but one day I hope to return to Bandera to watch these crazy hog-catching people!







The Bull Rider's Secret





Home, sweet home? Not for this cowboy.


Brody Murphy lives one day—one ride—at a time. No home, no responsibility, no one depending on him. As long as the bull rider keeps moving, he can keep it that way. But when Brody meets Ricky Sovo and his mother, rancher Katarina, he finds himself lingering in one place for the first time in years.


Kat’s unlike any woman he’s ever known—feisty, stubborn and determined to make it on her own. But that independent streak has gotten her in trouble with a couple of local ranch hands. She needs Brody's help. Only helping means sticking around, and that’s not something Brody can do. For Kat makes him want more from life, more that he doesn’t deserve. She may be his only chance at accepting his past... but he's not sure he can ever stop running from it.


★★★★ ½
Brody Murphy is a man with a painful past who lives with no ties, moving from rodeo to rodeo, until he meets Ricky Sovo and his mother Katarina. Stubborn and independent, Kat finds herself in need of a ranch hand in a hurry and she really needs Brody's help, if she can talk him into sticking around. Brody's not sure he can stop running, even for the woman who may be able to save his life. Be sure to have tissues handy because Thomas has heartwarming characters who evolve and work to overcome tragedy. Pat Cooper, RT Book Reviews Magazine


Excerpt:


The thunder of Harleys roaring down Main Street threatened to deafen Brody Murphy as he used the pay phone outside the Silver Dollar Saloon in Bandera, Texas.


"Ma'am." Brody tipped his hat to a wannabe cowgirl who sashayed by, leaving a scented cloud of expensive perfume in her wake.


"What's that God-awful noise?" Brody's buddy, Drew Rawlins, shouted through the phone connection.


"The Hell's Angels are in town."


"Where are you?"


"I'm in Bandera."


"Bandera? You were supposed to be here—" meaning Drew's ranch, Dry Creek Acres. "—three hours ago."


Brody ignored his friend's rant as he studied his choices for lunch across the street—Southern Comfort Bakery, Mi Pueblo, Busbee's BBQ and Bandera Saloon & Grill.


"Hey!" Drew snagged Brody's attention. "What are you doing in Bandera?"


Hell if Brody knew. He scanned the area, willing the answer to pop up in front of him. His gaze landed on a flyer attached to the saloon's over-sized red door.

Bandera, Texas
Cowboy Capital of the World
Wild Hog Explosion
Saturday March 20th at Mansfield Park




"Think I'll enter the Wild Hog Explosion." Whatever the heck that was.


"You're kidding, right?"


Maybe. Brody was down to twenty bucks in his wallet and half a tank of gas. Speaking of fuel, Brody gagged on fumes as a second motorcycle gang drove past him.


"I offered you a job," Drew said.


Turning his back to the busy road, Brody rested his arm atop the pay phone. This wasn't the first time Drew suggested Brody quit the rodeo circuit and work for him as a ranch hand. Brody had been a ranch hand most of his adult life—punching cows in Montana where he'd been born and raised. Hell, he loved—make that had loved—working cattle and horses, wide open spaces and the soul-searching loneliness of riding the proverbial range. Two years ago Brody had quit his job at the Black Stone Ranch and now he lived one day and one bull ride at a time.


There was a part of Brody that yearned to hang up his bull rope. He was tired. Lonely. Downright lost. But working for Drew would be like walking around all day with a red-hot poker stuck in his eye.


His buddy understood the demons chasing Brody. He was the only person Brody had confided in about his past. Even so, Brody didn't care to witness the former bronc rider's happiness. Drew had retired from rodeo this past December after he'd scratched at the National Finals Rodeo in Vegas. He'd given up a world title for love and a chance to be a father to a son he hadn't known existed until recently.


Drew was happy. Brody was miserable. It would only be a matter of time before Brody's unhappiness ruined their friendship. If that wasn't enough to deter him from accepting a job at Dry Creek Acres, then taking charity from a friend was. Drew had offered the job, not because he needed help, but because he felt sorry for Brody.


"Thanks, but I've got a ride coming up," Brody lied.


"When are you gonna admit you aren't a bull rider?"


Never. "I'll be in touch."


"The job's yours anytime you want it."


"Thanks." Brody hung up and eyed the advertisement on the saloon door. What the hell. He'd head to Mansfield Park and check out the exploding pigs.


Happy Trails!
Marin Thomas
www.marinthomas.com
Buy Marin's books here!

With this post, Marin Thomas begins a new phase on her life. She and her husband are moving across the country, with a new job for her husband, new home, and an empty nest. Because of the multitude of changes she faces in her life, Marin is leaving Sweethearts of the West. We hate like everything to see her depart, but understand that family always comes first. Marin, Happy Trails to you and your husband on this new chapter in your life!

GUEST AUTHOR CAROLINE FYFFE AND WOMEN OF THE WEST

Author, Caroline Fyffe

Hello, Sweethearts of the West.  It’s my pleasure and honor to be here today talking with you about one of my favorite things—the West.  And of course, the women who helped make it into the splendid place it is today.  You know, it’s quite interesting, and remarkable, that every time we make the effort to dig into the history of some famous thing, be it a man, place or event, there’s usually a woman somewhere there giving it wings to fly.  Using ingenuity, fortitude and love, women have made their mark in so many places.  Today I salute two of them. 

And so it is in my post….   

A few years back I found myself at the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame and Museum, in Amarillo, Texas.  I was standing in the gigantic grand hall name for Anne B. Windfohr Marion, the 6666 Ranch, and the Burnett Foundation, and my imagination took off.  I’d noticed that the hall was dedicated to a woman—that’s all it took.  At that time, I knew little of AQHA’s history.   Most horse people have heard of the renowned 6666 Ranch, also called the The Four Sixes Ranch, founded in 1870 and located in Guthrie Texas, as a leader in all disciplines of exceptional Quarter Horses. 

Anne Burnett Tandy

But, digging deeper--ahhh yes, you say--as I mentioned in my introduction, I discovered it was ranch founder, Caption Samuel “Burk” Burnett’s daughter, Anne Burnett Tandy, affectionately called Miss Anne, who had inherited the ranch (can you even imagine!) that was instrumental in the creation of the American Quarter Horse registry.   

Four Sixes Ranch
Guthrie, Texas

In 1940, the current owner of the 6666 Ranch and her husband, James Goodwin Hall, had a dinner party in their Fort Worth home to talk with other breeders of ranch type horses, the same animals that were bread in Texas, Colorado, California and such, after the great westward migration.  The American Quarter Horse Association, the world’s largest breed registry, was born the very next day.

Anne Windfohr Marion

Then, her only child, Anne B. Windfohr Marion, and current head of the ranch, (a beautiful woman in Stetson and chaps—a true heroine, in my way of thinking ) re-introduced quarter horse racing back into the ranch breeding program in 1993.   

Available Now!

Just as Penny Tweedy Chenery was the driving force behind Secretariat, believing in him, giving him the opportunity to be the best that he could be, and seeing his true heart, so too the Burnett women had the desire to see where the horses of the West, the true athletes that built so many outstanding cattle and horse breeding operations west of the Mississippi, could go, if given the chance. 

Today, we salute all the hard-working, dedicated women, sometimes hidden in the shadows, sometimes not, who forged ahead in history, to greatness.   Do you know one of these such hero’s?  Maybe someone in your family history?  And, has anyone one else besides me had the tremendous opportunity of visiting the Hall of Fame in Amarillo?



American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame and Museum
Amarillo, Texas



What Started My Love For Cowboys and Ranchers?

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My Early Hero
Second Only 
To My Dad

Welcome to Sweethearts of the West. We hope you'll visit us often.

My name is Caroline Clemmons and I write contemporary, historical, and time travel romances set in Texas. During my early years, I was one of the thousands of young girls in love with Roy Rogers—that’s before I realized that Dale Evans had already stolen my singing cowboy. Later, my family drove through ranch land on trips from Lubbock, Texas to visit my grandmother in southwestern Oklahoma. Even when we happened by a roundup near the road one day, my dad didn’t stop to let me watch. He was a very nice man, but strictly a Point A to Point B traveler with no detours. I drove the poor man nuts chattering on and on about cowboys anyway.

My up close and personal introduction to ranching was at the Hicks family’s Mayan Ranch located on the Medina River near Bandera, Texas. This is a first class guest ranch, and my daughters and I fell in love with the ranch and the area. My husband, not so much, but he’s a good sport and let us have our fun. And the Mayan is a great place to have that fun, true western style. The Hicks are a large family, and the Mayan is an efficient, family-run enterprise. Bandera bills itself as "The Cowboy Capital of the World." I’m willing to believe the claim. In addition to genuine working ranches, there are numerous guest ranches in the area. (Doesn’t "guest" sound better than "dude" ranch?)



Mayan trail ride

  The Mayan Ranch caters to everyone from returning cowpokes to city slickers. Did we ever fall into the latter group! On arrival we were shown to our lodgings—a two-bedroom cedar board-and-batten cabin nestled among the trees and furnished in picturesque western style. As Texans say, "We were in high cotton." The Hicks family provides first class everything. Meals are all you can eat in the dining room, a cookout on the patio, or a hayride to breakfast by the river.

Small Band at the Mayan

Entertainment includes parties each night, swimming, dances complete with instructors, daily trail rides, cowboy singers and musicians, and a trip to their Old West town, Hicksville. I was hooked on ranching life! Of course, ranching is so much easier with the Hicks family and their employees taking care of all the work!


Lost Maples State Park--my photo

Is it any wonder that so many of my western stories take place in this setting? Nearby is the picturesque Lost Maples State Natural Area with the only native maple trees in the state. Inhabited by prehistoric peoples, the area was a hot spot for Comanche and Apache Indian renegades as well as both Indian and anglo  rustlers. I took advantage of that setting for the rustlers in my latest release, THE TEXAN'S IRISH BRIDE.

Lost Maples in the fall

Bandera is within easy driving distance from the unique city of San Antonio. On a trip to attend a San Antonio RWA chapter conference one year, my youngest daughter and I took a side trip through Bandera and Lost Maples to refresh my memory for THE TEXAN’S IRISH BRIDE, available from The Wild Rose Press. From Bandera, we wound around through Medina—stopping for apple cider, Fredericksburg, and Kerrville on our way home. Not a direct route, it’s true, but very scenic. This would be a wonderful area in which to live, but land prices are rising by the minute.

Bandera Texas--Cowboy Capital of the World!

What better place to locate the ranch owned by my book’s hero, Dallas McClintock, than on the Medina River near Bandera? Dallas raises cattle, sheep (yes, they can coexist on one ranch), and breeds and trains horses. It’s his horse breeding that creates the story, for Dallas has been to deliver horses to a buyer and is on his way home when the story opens. He hears screams from the heroine, Cenora Rose O’Neill, and rushes to her rescue, killing her two attackers while receiving gunshot wounds. Instead of a reward for saving his daughter, Sean O’Neill traps Dallas into marrying the lovely Cenora. Not a great hardship except that Dallas is not ready to marry anyone, much less a girl he doesn’t know. Even worse, he inherits the other four members of Cenora’s unruly family and their numerous problems, as well as the new crises they create or him. And that makes for lots of turmoil.

Here are a couple of reviews:

"There were no down times in this book. The action was almost non-stop." 5 Hearts from The Romance Studio

"What starts as a clash in cultures becomes a fantastic story…Just when you thought a happily ever after was just around the corner, another corner appears." Top Pick from Night Owl Reviews


THE TEXAN’S IRISH BRIDE is available in print or download at www.thewildrosepress.com/caroline-clemmons-m-638.html, as well as at Amazon, DigiBooks, and other online sources.

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