Cowboys, Rodeos, and a Stray Dog by Nan Reinhardt
- Liz Flaherty
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
I have to confess that I panicked when my publisher Jane Porter asked me to move from River’s Edge, my little town on the Ohio River to Marietta, Montana. I mean, holy schnikeys! Except for flyovers, I’d never been west of the Mississippi, and now I was supposed to write in the mountains of Montana? About cowboys? And rodeos and ranches? Yikes!
To be honest, the only things I had going for me as I headed into this new territory was a love of and experience with horses, the fact that I’d read a lot of Tule Publishing’s Montana Born books, and a deep respect for Jane and the team’s marketing expertise. They’d never steered me wrong yet, so I took a deep breath and dove in. I even took a trip to Montana in July, just to get a feel for the setting. It was grand!
I was grateful that I was starting this journey with three other romance authors who all already wrote cowboys and Montana and ranches and rodeo. Our 4-book, 4-author series, Montana’s Rodeo Cowboys would release one book a week throughout September of 2025. And we needed a theme that would run through the entire series—something that tied all the books together. Someone said, how about a stray dog? That was fine with me, so our little thieving pup first appears in Jeannie Watt’s Unforgettable Cowboy, turns up again in Nicole Flockton’s Headstrong Cowboy, and in Sinclair Jayne’s Rogue Cowboy. Each time, the little trickster is stealing something … and then disappearing. He is a sheltie/border collie mix and cute as can be! Check him out here.
Then my turn came. Because I am the last book in the series, I got to decide what would happen to the little dog we’d named Rascal—because he truly was! Husband and Son both said words to the effect of you can’t kill off the dog. Like I would ever do such a thing! I’ll grant you I’m more a cat person than a dog lover, but surely Rascal needed a happily-ever-after just like all of our cowboys and their ladies. Sorry, I’m not going to tell you where that poor critter ended up. You’ll have to read the whole series, ending with my Forever Cowboy to find out. Just trust me … fairy tale ending are my specialty.
Hope y’all enjoy all four books in the Montana’s Rodeo Cowboys series—we sure had fun writing them! And here’s the best part: I have three more Montana Born stories coming in 2026! I got into the cowboy thing so much that I created my own Montana world—Juniper Falls Ranch, so Forever Cowboy may be book 4 in the Montana’s Rodeo Cowboys series; it’s Book 1 in the Juniper Falls Ranch series. Book 2, The Cowboy’s Comeback, releases January 30, 2026! And yup, I’m havin’ the time of my life in Montana! Come join me!
Forever Cowboy
It was supposed to be just a vacation fling…
43-year-old Beth Dykeman’s life is spiraling—her 20-year marriage is over as is her career in Nashville’s Chamber of Commerce. Now back home in River’s Edge, Indiana, she’s grieving the end of her dream to have a family. Hoping to restart her life, she books a relaxing long weekend at a spa in beautiful Montana. But Beth arrives only to discover she accidentally booked a stay at a working dude ranch in the middle of Marietta’s 87th Copper Mountain Rodeo celebration weekend.
When he’s not competing, 36-year-old bronc rider Del Foster works at the Aspen Springs Ranch. He’s ready to hang up his spurs. This rodeo will be his last competition before he finally settles down and buys his own small spread to train cutting horses.
Their instant chemistry shocks them both, and on her last night, Beth indulges the attraction, knowing she’ll never see Del again. But fate has a way of changing plans and challenging assumptions. Can Beth and Del both have what they never knew they always wanted?
Buy link are all here: https://tulepublishing.com/books/forever-cowboy/
BIO: Nan Reinhardt is a USA Today bestselling author of sweet, small-town romantic fiction for Tule Publishing. Her day job is working as a freelance copyeditor and proofreader, however, writing is Nan’s first and most enduring passion. She can’t remember a time in her life when she wasn’t writing—she wrote her first romance novel at the age of ten and is still writing, but now from the viewpoint of a wiser, slightly rumpled, woman in her prime. Nan lives in the Midwest with her husband of 52 years, where they split their time between a house in the city and a cottage on a lake. Be sure to follow Nan Reinhardt on Threads.
Excerpt: Happens right after that misbehaving dog, Rascal, has stolen one of Beth’s gloves.
“I want that one back,” Beth pouted. “You gave them to me. My first gift in Montana.”
“Then we’ll find it.” Del placed a hand on her shoulder and the tenderness in his smile shot an arrow of longing straight to her core. Feelings that she hadn’t experienced in so long, she’d imagined they were gone from her life forever.
Impulsively, she touched his stubbled cheek. “No, it’s okay. I’m being a baby. I should be glad he didn’t take my chocolate. If he ate it, he’d get sick.”
A peculiar expression crossed Del’s face and his eyes darkened to storm-cloud gray as he shoved his Stetson back on his head. He covered her hand with his and turned to press his lips into her palm. “Beth . . .” A question in his eyes and his tone made her shiver, and hesitantly, as if waiting for permission, which she gave with a slight nod, he touched his lips to hers.
How could she possibly object? His lips were soft and full and delicious, and she wanted more. She gripped his denim jacket as he cupped both big rough hands around her face and kissed her. Pressed against the storefront, his muscled frame as firm as the bricks at her back, she basked in the hard feel of him, the touch of him. The kiss was soft and gentle at first, building up in urgency until everything around her disappeared, and the world was only Del and his mouth on hers.
The rush of emotion overwhelmed her so much that at first, she didn’t hear the whistles and stomping from the other side of the street. But Del eased back and smiled. “PDAs aren’t my usual style, Beth Dykeman.” He touched his forehead to hers. “What you do to me.”
Dear lord, kissing like a pair of horny teenagers right in the middle of a busy street.
Heat filled Beth’s cheeks and when she peeked around him, a group of cowboys stood across the street, hooting and applauding with shouts of, “Go, Del,” and “Woo-hoo!”
Del stepped back and gave them a dismissing wave. “Show’s over, guys.”
