BA Tortuga is here today with an excerpt from her latest, Cowboy in the Crosshairs! Enjoy!
Cowboy in the Crosshairs Excerpt
Hey y’all! I’m BA Tortuga, resident redneck and newly minted New Mexican.
I’m tickled as all get out to bring you the first in the Turquoise, New Mexico
series: Cowboy in the Crosshairs.
So, the thing is, Turquoise, New Mexico is a town with
three faces: the rodeo school, the horse people, and the art commune. TJ
is chief of police. Wacey is the eldest son of the famous Bene rodeo family
who’s home after a bad accident.
This scene follows the first time they’ve seen each other in years. *grins*
God help me.
Much love, y’all.
BA
***
TJ watched the kids wash the truck. Well, trucks. Josh had come over to
borrow his leaf blower, and he’d stuck around to get James and Thomas to wash
his truck too.
They sat in lawn chairs, Josh with a beer, TJ with a Coke. He tried not
to drink when the kids were around, just because they kept him on his toes and
he needed to be sharp.
Josh burped, then gave him a sideways look. “I hear you and Wacey Bene
had words. Couldn’t even wait until he’d been home a week?”
“Shut up.”
“Seriously. In the café? In front of the boys and Monica?” Josh was just
needling him now.
“Are you deaf? I said hush.” He grinned wryly. “My mouth ran away with my
brain. It just popped out.”
“It’s always been that way with y’all, I swear. I thought you two were
going to combust back in the day.”
His cheeks heated. “I did too.” TJ sighed. “He looks like hell. That
shocked me, you know? I still—well. You missed a spot, James!”
“Sorry, Daddy!” The hose sprayed again.
“Does he? I heard those horses damn near killed him. He was in the
hospital for a couple weeks.”
“I wonder what happened. Wacey is never careless with horses. Ever. It’s
like he has a sixth sense with what they’ll do.”
“I got nothing. I mean, maybe he just screwed up. It happens.”
“I guess.” None of them were getting any younger, right? “I’m sorry the
kids were there. Maybe I ought to stop by his folks’ place and apologize.”
“Ooh. The law crossing the borders of the lawless
West….”
Yeah. The Benes were sort of a royal family around here, and no one dared
to trespass on the rodeo company’s land, lest they get their asses handed to
them. Between the family, the dogs, and the cowboys either bunking, training,
or teaching there? It was intense.
Still, if he went in his squad car….
“Just stay away,” Josh told him. “Healthier for all
of you.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Still, Wacey Bene was the finest man he’d
ever known, even torn straight to hell. Just thinking about all those days and
nights they’d spent together made him sweat.
God knew, he loved Monica, and they’d had a good relationship, but Wacey
had always been TJ’s one true thing. The one true thing that he’d screwed up
royally.
Christ.
“Stop. Live in the moment, buddy. Your oldest son is peeing on your
agave.”
***
Cowboy in the Crosshairs
A Turquoise, New Mexico Story
Once upon a time, a prince lived in a magical kingdom called
Turquoise, New Mexico.
Well, really, TJ is a small-town police chief. Every Friday
he holds court in the diner with the local holy roller, the art colonists, and
the horsey people. But the Benes, who own the rodeo company, keep to
themselves. TJ knows, because he was once hot and heavy with the oldest Bene
son.
When Wacey Bene gets trampled by a remuda and comes home to
heal, he’s none too happy to run into TJ, or his two little boys and their
momma. The story might end there—if it wasn’t for some pesky bastard trying to
kill Wacey.
The law steps in, and the townsfolk are cross about somebody
messing with one of their own.
But once the bad guy is put away, can TJ and Wacey make
their place in this wild and eccentric town a permanent one?
About BA Tortuga
Texan to the bone and an unrepentant Daddy's Girl, BA
Tortuga spends her days with her basset hounds and her beloved wife, texting
her sisters, and eating Mexican food. When she's not doing that, she's writing.
She spends her days off watching rodeo, knitting and surfing Pinterest in the
name of research. BA's personal saviors include her wife, Julia Talbot, her
best friend, Sean Michael, and coffee. Lots of coffee. Really good coffee.
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