COWBOY CHRISTMAS – SILVER BELLES AND STETSONS ANTHOLOGY by Margaret Tanner

My forebears left their native shores in sailing ships to forge a new life in the untamed frontiers of colonial Australia. They battled bushfires, hardship and the tyranny of distance in an inhospitable and savage land. Only the tough and resilient would survive. They not only survived, but prospered.

The same could be said for the early settlers in America. They opened up vast tracts of land in the wilderness. Fought and died trying to tame it.

The histories of our two countries in the early frontier days was very similar, only the terminology was different. Big land holders were called ranchers in America, squatters in Australia. We had bushrangers, you had outlaws. We called our cowboys stockmen.

Like the American West, many of our towns were wild and lawless. There was a huge single male population and yet a relatively small amount of eligible, respectable, women, so mail order brides, for example, were a necessity. Brothel, bordello, whore-house, cat house, call them what you like, but these places of male pleasure, thrived in the frontier towns.  Many a Madame became wealthy women.

I was thrilled to be invited to join in this Christmas Anthology, Silver Belles And Stetsons.  My story is called Christmas Cowboy.

COWBOY CHRISTMAS:

Zac Goodman is a gunslinger who is haunted by an injustice from his past. He finds heavily pregnant Holly O’Leary in an abandoned wagon, her cheating husband lying dead a few yards away.

Reluctantly he takes her to his cabin to give birth.

Will this miracle Christmas baby unite two tortured souls? Or will it forever keep them apart.

Bio: 

Margaret Tanner is an Award Winning, multi-published  Australian author. She has written several historical romance novels set in frontier Australia, which have been published by Books We Love, but with the help and encouragement of Sue Horsnell, she has started to write Western Romance, and was thrilled to be asked to join the talented, award winning authors of Silver Belles And Stetsons Christmas Anthology with her novella Cowboy Christmas.

She has always loved watching Western television shows and movies, and has found that frontier Australia and frontier America, are surprisingly similar in a lot of aspects.

Links:

http://www.margarettanner.com/

Silver Belles and Stetsons
Ten Western Romance Christmas Novellas
Available as a boxed set for a limited time

Bestselling and Award-Winning Authors bring you ten western romance novellas featuring alpha-cowboys from the past. This boxed set will take you back in time when
men were rugged and handsome and the women who loved them, courageous and
daring.
                                                                   * * *

The Greatest Gift: A Montana Cowboy Christmas by Kathleen Ball. Amazon Bestselling and Award- Winning Author. Looking for the man who ran out on her, Ginger finds a cowboy worthy of love but he doesn't want or need love.

Catherine’s Cowboy by Cait Braxton, Amazon Bestselling and Award-Winning Author.  During a supernatural dust storm, Fate steps in when rugged army tracker Elam helps Catherine deliver her child.

Stone Mountain Christmas by Caroline Clemmons, Amazon Bestselling and Award-Winning Author. Can Celia restore the town's Christmas spirit? "A beautifully written story about love and hope and all the emotions Christmas brings out in people." Karren Lucas

Angel and the Texan from County Cork by Carra Copelin.  Amazon Bestselling and Award-Winning Author. Does Angel trust marriage to the man she suspects of killing her husband or the stranger who promises to pay off her debt and set her free if she decides their marriage of convenience won’t work?

The Drifter’s Proposal by Kristin Holt, Amazon Bestselling Author. The baker's man is home for Christmas... "Compelling. Heartwarming. Tender." ~Diane Darcy, USA Today Bestselling Author

The Perfect Gift by Lyn Horner. Friendship has blossomed into young love, but it seems destined to die on the vine...until an unexpected Christmas gift promises happiness.

Marshal Mistletoe by Susan Horsnell. She married the wrong man. Will fate intervene?

Christmas Redemption by Paty Jager, Amazon Bestselling and Award-Winning Author. Can two battered hearts find solace or will the past continue to haunt their lives? "A story of forgiveness that has a wonderful hero who has worked hard to redeem himself."

A Hard Candy Christmas by Hebby Roman, Amazon Bestselling Author. Two damaged souls. Can their budding love and the healing power of Christmas bring them together?

Cowboy Christmas by Margaret Tanner. Will a miracle Christmas baby unite two tortured souls, or will it forever keep them apart?

Buy Link:

http://www.amazon.com/Silver-Belles-Stetsons-Caroline-Clemmons-ebook/dp/B014WU2TQG

Stone Mountain Christmas by Caroline Clemmons

Thanks to Paty for sharing her blog with me today.

Christmas is my favorite time of year. Not the actual day, but the anticipation leading up to that day. From Halloween through December 24^th, my mind is abuzz with plans for gifts, decorating, and all things festive. Picturing the face of those I love when they open a particular gift fills me with glee. Remembering those less fortunate is always important, but especially so at this time of year when most parts of the country are having cold weather. And this is the time of year we’re allowed to crave holiday treats (even if you’re as “comfortably padded” as I am).

I’m very pleased to be a part of a Christmas anthology, SILVER BELLES AND STETSONS, which is available for only 99 cents. And what a bargain! Ten novellas certain to put you in a holiday mood for less than a dollar. I’ve read each of these stories and enjoyed them. I believe you will, too. By the way, the cover design is by Paty’s daughter, Christy.

My novella, STONE MOUNTAIN CHRISTMAS, is set in North Central Texas in the Palo Pinto Mountains just west of where I live. They don’t compare with the Rockies, but they are beautiful in their own way and I love them. That’s why I chose that setting for my Stone Mountain, Texas series.

photo of Palo Pinto Mountains

Most of my books have crime and adventure in them. But who wants trouble at Christmas? While this is a feel-good story, I had to slip in one crime. I just couldn’t help myself. ;-)

Here’s the synopsis of STONE MOUNTAIN CHRISTMAS:

Christmas has been Celia Dubois’s favorite time of year as long as she can remember. When she moves in with her parents a year after the death of her husband, the young widow is appalled at the town’s lack of Christmas spirit. Two months earlier, banditos had burned the church and crushed the townspeople. Celia vows to return holiday joy to the town. Perhaps doing so might help mend her aching heart. Will Celia’s plan work magic?

Rancher Eduardo Montoya knows Celia is the woman for him. She enchants him with her winning smile and vivacious nature. When her father warns Eduardo away from Celia, Eduardo is both angry and frustrated. After he stops a robbery in her father’s mercantile, will Celia’s parents change their minds about him? Can handsome Eduardo heal Celia’s sorrow?

And here’s an excerpt of the opening for STONE MOUNTAIN CHRISTMAS:

Radford Crossing, Texas, November 1874

Eduardo Montoya focused on the beautiful redhead who swept the walk in front of Sturdivant’s Mercantile across the street. He turned to speak to his friend. “She is a vision, is she not?”

Micah Stone, his cousin’s husband, asked, “Have you met her or spoken to her?”

Eduardo’s gaze returned to Celia Dubois. He refused to let anyone shatter his dreams. “See how graceful she is even when performing a menial chore? When we are wed, she will not have to be concerned with such things.”

Sounding incredulous, Micah said, “I repeat, have you even met or spoken to her?”

Eduardo had no doubt his friend believed he had taken leave of his senses. He wasn’t so sure he hadn’t, but he placed a hand over his heart. “In good time, my friend. All in good time.”

Micah clapped him on the shoulder. “Come on, Romeo. We’ve finished our business with Joel. Hope’s expecting us for lunch. You can daydream about the pretty widow on our way home.”

“I suppose we must go.” He exhaled, reluctantly willing to leave town but unwilling to let anyone derail his plans.

Micah untied his horse from the hitching rail in front of his brother’s law office and mounted. “Have to say this is the first time I’ve known you to be shy about flirting with a woman.”

Determination steeled Eduardo’s resolve as he swung onto his gelding. “Never before has a woman been so important to me. You will see. One day, she will become my wife.”

The two rode toward Micah’s ranch.

From where she stood on the walk, Celia had known the men watched her. One was the youngest Stone brother. Identifying him was easy because the three Stone men looked so much alike.

But she hadn’t yet met the handsome man dressed as a Spanish Don. He fit the description she’d been privy to of Eduardo Montoya, one of the wealthiest men in this part of Texas. At least, that’s what she’d overheard while helping in her parents’ store.

He certainly cut a dashing figure in his black clothes trimmed with silver buttons. She wondered if he was entitled to dress like Spanish nobility or if he merely played a part. The silver on his saddle flashed in the sunlight and she questioned the safety of such a display.

One thing she’d noticed in her few days in town and working in her father’s mercantile, she heard tidbits of local gossip whether intentionally or not. She wondered what the gossips had to say about her. Probably best she didn’t know. Most people she’d met were friendly but there were a few prunes eager to criticize everyone.

Wasn’t that true everywhere? Yet she thought an unusual pall lay over Radford Crossing. The town definitely needed a large dose of cheer. As a matter of fact, she wouldn’t mind a measure for herself. With a sigh, she went back inside the store.

Please let me tell you about each of the novellas in SILVER BELLES AND STETSONS:

Bestselling and Award-Winning Authors bring you ten western romance novellas featuring alpha-cowboys from the past. This boxed set will take you back in time when
men were rugged and handsome and the women who loved them, courageous and
daring.

The Greatest Gift: A Montana Cowboy Christmas by Kathleen Ball. Amazon Bestselling
and Award- Winning Author. Looking for the man who ran out on her, Ginger finds a
cowboy worthy of love but he doesn't want or need love.

Catherine’s Cowboy by Cait Braxton, Amazon Bestselling and Award-Winning Author.  During a supernatural dust storm, Fate steps in when rugged army tracker, Elam, helps Catherine deliver her child.

Stone Mountain Christmas by Caroline Clemmons, Amazon Bestselling and Award-Winning Author. Can Celia restore the town's Christmas spirit? "A beautifully written story about love and hope and all the emotions Christmas brings out in people." Karren Lucas

Angel and the Texan from County Cork by Carra Copelin.  Amazon Bestselling and Award-Winning Author. Does Angel trust marriage to the man she suspects of killing her husband or the stranger who promises to pay off her debt and set her free if she decides their marriage of convenience won’t work?

The Drifter’s Proposal by Kristin Holt, Amazon Bestselling Author. The baker's man is home for Christmas... "Compelling. Heartwarming. Tender." ~Diane Darcy, USA Today Bestselling Author

The Perfect Gift by Lyn Horner. Friendship has blossomed into young love, but it seems destined to die on the vine...until an unexpected Christmas gift promises happiness.

 Marshal Mistletoe by Susan Horsnell. She married the wrong man. Will fate intervene?

Christmas Redemption by Paty Jager, Amazon Bestselling and Award-Winning Author. Can two battered hearts find solace or will the past continue to haunt their lives? "A story of forgiveness that has a wonderful hero who has worked hard to redeem himself."

A Hard Candy Christmas by Hebby Roman, Amazon Bestselling Author. Two damaged souls. Can their budding love and the healing power of Christmas bring them together?

Cowboy Christmas by Margaret Tanner. Will a miracle Christmas baby unite two tortured souls, or will it forever keep them apart?

BUY LINK:     Amazon

Caroline Clemmons is an Amazon bestselling author of historical and contemporary western romances whose books have garnered numerous awards. A frequent speaker at conferences and seminars, she has taught workshops on characterization, point of view, and layering a novel.

Caroline and her husband live in the heart of North Central Texas cowboy country with their menagerie of rescued pets. When she’s not indulging her passion for writing, Caroline enjoys reading, travel, antiquing, genealogy, painting, and getting together with family and friends. Find her on her blog, website, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Google+, WattPad, Shelfari, and Pinterest.