Love Like Crazy

By Alison Kent

Psychologist Dr. Tess Autrey would much rather spend a weekend interviewing the hands on the Triple RC Ranch for a newspaper article on buckle bunnies than endure another of her matchmaking society mother's setups.

And it doesn't hurt a bit that the ranch owner is Wyatt Crowe, a wickedly sexy former bull-riding champion intent on convincing her that there's nothing crazy about the sparks flying between them from the moment they meet.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bryant Street Publishing
• Release date: Feb 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9781094402871

Alison Kent

Alison Kent was a born reader, but it wasn't until she reached 30 that she knew she wanted to be a writer when she grew up. Five years later, she made her first sale. Two years after that, she accepted an offer issued by the senior editor of Harlequin Temptation live on the 'Isn't It Romantic?' episode of CBS's 48 Hours. The resulting book, Call Me, was a Romantic Times finalist for Best First Series Book.

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Praise for LOVE LIKE CRAZY

Edgy and intensely heated, this cowboy story is especially good. Alison Kent never fails to deliver.

— Laurie D, Amazon reviewer

Copyright

Copyright © 2008 by Alison Kent

This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to locales, events, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the author.

Originally published in 2008 by Harlequin Enterprises, Limited

Interior design by Rocks and Ink

Cover design by Covers by Combs

ONE

Dr. Tess Autrey loved all things new. The smell of new cars. The fit of new shoes. The dessert cart at a new restaurant. The first notes of a favorite artist’s new song. The tight spine of a new paperback novel.

Then there were the patients new to her psychology practice, their personal issues testing her professional worth, and often causing her to examine her own long-held beliefs about life and love, family and friends.

More than anything, however, she loved the new year.

There was something about the idea of a clean slate, a fresh start, another chance to ring in the changes she’d planned but never made during the year she’d just closed the books on. Or the one before that. Or, well, anytime during the last twenty-nine.

So far, this one wasn’t going so well.

Her widowed mother—intent on seeing Tess marry into a family of status and means—had gone overboard arranging for eligible bachelors to escort her only child to their social set’s charity functions.

Tess preferred to find her own dates, thank Georgina very much, and if not her own dates, then at least legitimate reasons to turn down the pity invitations her mother was sending her way more and more often these days.

The agreement she’d recently made with the Houston editor of the syndicated singles’ column, Sex in the Saddle, to write a piece examining the sex lives of rodeo cowboys and their groupies, was definitely legitimate.

Said editor, Judy Butler, was a very good friend, and one night over margaritas, after Tess had begged for ideas to get out of a fundraiser her mother insisted she attend, she’d suggested Tess tackle the project.

What made the piece more than just another psychology column—even though Tess would be in her professional element as she examined the culture of buckle bunnies—was the accompanying Valentine’s Day competition being held between the Houston Dispatch, the Austin Herald, and the San Antonio Star.

The three publications, under the umbrella of their parent company, Deep in the Heart Communications, and the direction of its marketing head Sophie Cameron, were each running a sweepstakes celebrating Valentine’s Day in order to increase readership. And the staff at the paper that received the most entries would win a bonus.

For its prize, the Houston Dispatch would be giving away a weekend for two at the Triple RC—a ranch southwest of Houston that supplied stock to event organizers around the country, and was worked by former rodeo cowboys and professional rodeo bullfighters.

Judy had arranged for Tess to go to the Triple RC to interview some of the riders for her Sex in the Saddle piece, hoping to stir up interest in the contest—especially among those buckle bunnies who would probably enter multiple times for the chance to be near their heroes.

The research for Tess’s article had the side benefit of eating up any dating time she would’ve had during the month. She’d spent hours on the phone asking questions of the women to be profiled, as well as putting in a lot of face-to-face time gaining insight into the psyche of the female rodeo groupies.

Now she was on her way to the Triple RC to talk to the rodeo cowboys who were the object of the women’s obsession. Missing the charity benefit and the company of any number of Georgina-approved men couldn’t be helped—though Tess did promise her mother she’d make a donation. Georgina was hardly amused.

With the first round of interviews transcribed and very vocal maternal displeasure still echoing in her ears, Tess was more than ready for the four-day weekend at the Triple RC. She’d finally be spending time with those whose experience would tell the other side of the tale.

The cowboys.

Especially... her cowboy.

The owner.

They’d only talked twice. The first had been a conference call between the two of them and Judy during which the Houston Dispatch editor had explained to the owner her sweepstakes idea and her personal knowledge of the Triple RC; being a long time rodeo buff, her husband was familiar with the ranch and its accessibility from the Houston area. He was also a good friend of the owner’s and had been the one to make the request that they offer the getaway package.

Judy had been absent from the second call—and a very good thing she was, because that had been the one during which Tess found herself lured by the anonymity of conversation with a stranger, spilling intimacies she couldn’t bite back, drowning in the words of a man she’d never met but who’d listened, who’d said all the right things, whose voice had vibrated along the curve of her ear and down her neck.

She would’ve been happy to have him read her a drive-through menu. His voice was deep, steady, firm, as if he was sure of who he was. He didn’t question or think twice about the answers he gave her. He was confident, self-assured, and his accent was pure perfect Texan, the drawl Hollywood insisted on borrowing from Alabama absent from his slow easy cadence.

She was from Texas, had been born in Houston in fact, but had never thought much about the cowboy way of life. Oh sure, she went to the rodeo each February, knew how to line dance, had three country-and-western stations programmed on her car radio and enjoyed much of the music they played.

Tess also knew how to waltz and tango and, depending on her mood, listened to an eclectic mix of classical, hip-hop, and jazz. She drove an Audi. She lived in Houston’s trendy midtown. She wore Nicole Miller and Marc Jacobs.

Reviews for Love Like Crazy

[Amanda Edwards · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved this book is there a sequel or will there be one for it I would love to see if they were able to work out their relationship!

[Peter Foster · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I found Alison Kent on Scribd. What a great writer. In this pandemic, I read about 5 hours a day. I have found her books uplifting, a good plot, and a good ending. I will recommend her books to others. Thanks Alison Kent for writing enjoyable stories!!