Page 46 of Unyielding (Poplar Springs #3)

BLURB

The perfect Christmas gift for romance fans…

Cowboy’s Christmas Rodeo

Axel King is gunning for one last victory at the Pride River Christmas Rodeo before hanging up his spurs.

Enter the beautiful Belle Manning. Axel wants her by his side as his pretend girlfriend to keep him on the straight and narrow.

But it doesn’t take long for their fake romance to start feeling all too real…

Cowboy’s Christmas Past

Amelia Crawford finally has the chance to make a serious film, but first she needs to learn how to ride a horse—and Beau Taylor is the perfect person to teach her. The trouble is, she’d forgotten how gorgeous he is. And how his touch made her feel…

Snowed in with the Rancher

Olivia Wickham never forgot her whirlwind romance with a sexy cowboy—even if she didn’t get the chance to tell him she was pregnant with his twin daughters.

Now stranded in the wilderness with her twins, Olivia is shocked to see the handsome face of Tate McConnell—the girls' father.

With Christmas around the corner, Olivia and Tate wonder if fate is offering them a second chance at love…

Rancher’s Family Christmas

Widower Alex Harvey is doing his best to run a ranch, care for his wheelchair-bound father, and raise three girls.

Then beautiful and kind Juniper Marsh steps in to help.

She’s determined to give Alex and his girls the perfect Christmas.

But secretly, she’s hoping their kiss under the mistletoe will turn into something more…

Cowboy’s Christmas Return

Rodeo star Travis Harvey reluctantly returns home for Christmas. And he’s stunned to find his father’s full-time nurse is more beautiful than he ever imagined. If Scarlet can handle his grumpy father, she can handle anything. But he’s not sure he can handle his growing attraction to the sexy nurse…

Cowboy’s Christmas Homecoming

Serena Douglas will do anything to give her twins a magical Christmas. She doesn’t need another man—until her ex, Will Harvey, comes back into town. Back In high school, Will was head-over-heels for Serena, but fate pulled them apart. Can a Christmas miracle bring them back together?

Cowboy’s Christmas Wife

Rancher Daryl Rivers is on the brink of losing everything he’s worked for.

So when single mom Laura Longbottom offers him a financial lifeline, he reluctantly agrees.

The catch? Laura needs a husband to unlock her trust fund.

It’s strictly business. But when business and pleasure start colliding, things get a lot more complicated…

Cowboy's Christmas Girlfriend

For months romance writer Suzanna Jacobs has been emailing rancher Will Carson for information, insight—and friendship.

To promote her book, she told her publisher that she lives on a ranch.

A white lie that backfires when the publisher plans a visit!

In exchange for “loaning” her his ranch, single dad Will asks Suzanna to pretend to be his girlfriend.

But can he resist their growing attraction?

Cowgirl's Christmas Partner

Sarah Carson is determined to beat her family at their own Christmas games this year.

She’s made a bet with her big brother. If she wins, she gets control over the family’s horse breeding business.

All she needs is a partner who will ensure her victory…

Enter single dad Thaddeus Murphy, a smoking hot handyman.

He’s a man of many talents. Trivia, singing, sculpting, kissing…

Cowboy's Christmas Heart

Taison has learned to shield his heart, by pretending he doesn’t have one.

But Cassie won’t let him be a Christmas grinch—not when she needs his help to win a scholarship.

In return, Cassie will help his Christmas tree farm have its biggest season yet.

But working with Cassie is driving Taison to distraction.

And making his heart feel ten sizes too big…

EXCERPT

Chapter One

"So this is it, huh?" Jared asked, a hint of amusement and perhaps even disbelief in his voice. "This is the place responsible for the legendary Axel King."

"Well, I don't know about that," Axel replied with an easy chuckle. "I give my parents some of the credit, too. The bar didn't exactly raise me, if you know what I mean."

Jared looked at Axel and frowned for a second, and Axel could see him trying to work out what he meant.

Jared was a decent guy and a hell of a rodeo rider, but he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed.

He almost always got there, though, and this time was no exception.

After another moment or two, the frown lifted, and Jared rolled his eyes, punching Axel in the biceps.

"Hey, man!" Axel exclaimed, rubbing his arm and making a big show of being injured. "What do you want to do a thing like that for?"

"Because you're being a smart aleck, that's why," Jared answered promptly, then jerked his head toward the door of the bar and reached for the handle. "And you're keeping me out in the freaking snow while you're doing it."

"Would it help if I said the first round's on me?" Axel asked with a smirk. They'd been friends long enough for him to know that offering to buy the booze was almost always the way to Jared's heart. Jared's self-satisfied grin told him that this time was no exception.

"I guess you're all right," he said, holding the door open and allowing Axel to step inside first. The door swung closed again, pushed by the wind as much as the spring. "Even if you did grow up in a tiny, freezing town."

Axel had nothing to say to that one, mainly because it was true.

Pride River, Colorado, was the kind of small town a young man couldn't wait to leave, and he found it strange to be back now.

He had always intended to return, though, and he'd gotten a bee in his bonnet about buying back the family ranch, which his parents had been forced to sell several years ago.

The kind of money to be had from the Christmas Pride rodeo would allow him to do just that.

He hadn't been back in a long time, but if he won the funds to put a down payment on the ranch, Pride River would once again be his home, and he could hang up his rodeoing days before he sustained the kind of injury a man couldn't walk away from.

Now seemed like as good a time as any to get used to being in town again, and the Pride bar was as good a place as any to do it.

"Come on, man, stop dragging your feet," Jared demanded when Axel took a little too much time surveying the still familiar layout of the bar. "I don't think there's a man alive who's more ready for a drink than I am."

"I don't doubt it," Axel said with a wry smile, although, in truth, he did.

Jared was a good enough friend, but he wasn't exactly the type of person a man could talk to. Axel didn't even consider telling him that he was more than ready for a beer at the moment, too, let alone the reason why.

Axel had too much pride to admit it, the irony of which wasn't lost on him, considering the town's name, but he was nervous about being in his hometown again.

He had left at eighteen without any intention of coming back.

There had been a girl he needed to get away from for her own good, and he'd been too wild and ornery to stay in one place for long anyway.

Now the town that watched him grow up was going to see what he could do.

Not only that, but the results of this rodeo mattered more to him than any of his previous rides.

He would never get a better shot at enough money to buy back the ranch and take care of his parents the way they deserved.

He had too much riding on this to make mistakes, and knowing that made him feel like an animal trapped in a cage.

All these thoughts and more were racing through Axel's mind as he and Jared approached the bar, and he was more than a little grateful for the first sip of cold beer passing his lips. The relief was short lived, however, because in the next instant, he heard a voice he knew too well.

"They said you were coming for this one," said Ford Carlisle, speaking so that Axel could hear the sneer on his face before he turned to see it for himself.

"Everyone on the circuit has been whispering about it.

They're all waiting to see if you can keep your cool this time, or if you're going to get yourself banned from rodeo for good. "

"Nice to see you, too, Ford," Axel said stiffly, shrugging off the warning hand Jared was already placing on his shoulder. "I know why I'm here early, but why are you here so far in advance?"

"I want to keep an eye on my competition. Maybe seeing you in your native environment will give me even more of an advantage." Ford gave a shrug that seemed meant to look casual, but came off like he'd practiced it in the mirror a million time. "Not that I need it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Axel asked, bristling at the condescension practically leaking out of Ford's ears.