ABOUT THE BOOK:
Do You Take This (Faux) Fiancee?
Rust Creek Ramblings
All the single ladies in Rust Creek Falls know Travis Dalton. And they all know the sexy, rascally rancher is not the marrying kind. So how is it that our town's most notorious bachelor has wound up engaged on a Western reality TV show?
We here at the Gazette are pleased The Great Roundup has chosen our hometown heartbreaker as a contestant. And we are definitely rooting for Travis's unexpected union with childhood friend Brenna O'Reilly, the one girl we believe can keep this cowboy on his toes. But is it true this betrothal is strictly a fabrication for the cameras? Pass the popcorn, dear readers. We suspect this made-for-TV romance could be headed straight for a Hollywood happy ending!
READ AN EXCERPT:
It was a warm day for March. And everyone in Bee’s Beauty
Parlor that afternoon had gathered at the wide front windows to watch as Travis
Dalton rode his favorite bay gelding down Broomtail Road.
The guy was every cowgirl’s fantasy in a snug Western shirt,
butt-hugging jeans, Tony Lama boots and a black hat. One of those film school
graduates from the little theater in nearby Kalispell, a video camera stuck to
his face, walked backward ahead of him, recording his every move. Travis talked
and gestured broadly as he went.
“My, my, my.” Bee smoothed her brassy blond hair, though it
didn’t need it. Even in a high wind, Bee’s hair never moved. “Travis does have
one fine seat on a horse.”
There were soft, low sounds of agreement and appreciation
from the women at the window—and then, out of nowhere, Travis tossed his hat in
the air and flipped to a handstand right there on that horse in the middle of
the street.
The women applauded. There was more than one outright cry of
delight.
Only Brenna O’Reilly stood still and silent. She had her
arms wrapped around her middle to keep from clapping, and she’d firmly tucked
her lips between her teeth in order not to let out a single sound.
Because no way was Brenna sighing over Travis Dalton. Yes,
he was one hot cowboy, with that almost-black hair and those dangerous blue
eyes, that hard, lean body, and that grin that could make a girl’s lady parts
spontaneously combust.
And it wasn’t only his looks that worked for her. Sometimes
an adventurous woman needed a hero on hand. Travis had come to her rescue more
than once in her life.
But he’d always made a big deal about how he was too old for
her—and okay, maybe he’d had a point, back when she was six and he was
fourteen. But now that she’d reached the grown-up age of twenty-six, what did
eight years even matter?
Never mind. Not going to happen, Brenna reminded herself for
the ten thousandth time. And no matter what people in town might say, she was
not and never had been in love with the man.
Right now, today, she was simply appreciating the view,
which was spectacular.
Beside her, Dovey Jukes actually let out a moan and made a
big show of fanning herself. “Is it just me, or is it really hot in here?”
“This is his, er, what did you call it now, Melba?” Bee
asked old Melba Strickland, who’d come out from under the dryer to watch the
local heartthrob ride by.
“It’s his package,” replied Melba.
Dovey snickered.
Bee let out her trademark smoke-and-whiskey laugh. “Not that
kind of package.” She gave Dovey a playful slap on the arm.
“It’s reality television slang,” Melba clarified. “Tessa
told me all about it.” Melba’s granddaughter lived in Los Angeles now. Tessa
Strickland Drake had a high-powered job in advertising and understood how
things worked in the entertainment industry. “A package is an audition
application and video.”
“Audition for what?” one of the other girls asked.
“A brand-new reality show.” Melba was in the know. “It’s
going to get made at a secret location right here in Montana this summer, and
it will be called The Great Roundup. From what I heard, it’s going to be like
Survivor, but with cowboys—you know, roping and branding, bringing in the
strays, everyone sharing their life stories around the campfire, sleeping out
under the stars, answering challenge after challenge, trying not to get
eliminated. The winner will earn himself a million-dollar prize.”
Brenna, who’d never met a challenge she couldn’t rise to,
clutched the round thermal brush in her hand a little tighter and tried to
ignore the tug of longing in heart. After all, she’d been raised on the family
ranch and could rope and ride with the best of them. She couldn’t help but
imagine herself on this new cowboy reality show.
True, lately, she’d been putting in some serious effort to
quell her wild and crazy side, to settle down a little, you might say.
But a reality show? She could enjoy the excitement while
accomplishing a valid goal of winning those big bucks. A few months ago, Bee
had started dating a handsome sixtyish widower from Kalispell. Now that things
had gotten serious, she’d been talking about selling the shop and retiring so
she and her new man could travel. Brenna would love to step up as owner when
Bee left.
But that would cost money she didn’t have. If she won a
million dollars on a reality show, however, she could buy the shop and still have
plenty of money to spare.
And then again, no. Trying out for a reality show was a
crazy idea, and Brenna was keeping a lid on her wild side, she truly was. The
Great Roundup was not for her.
She asked wistfully, “You think Travis has a chance to be on
the show?”
“Are you kidding?” Bee let out a teasing growl. “Those
Hollywood people would be crazy not to choose him. And if the one doing the
choosing is female, all that man has to do is give her a smile.”
Every woman at that window enthusiastically agreed.
*
First week of May, a studio soundstage, Los Angeles,
California
Travis Dalton hooked his booted foot across his knee and
relaxed in the interview chair.
It was happening. Really happening. His video had wowed
them. And his application? He’d broken all the rules with it, just like that
book he’d bought—Be a Reality Star—had instructed. He’d used red ink, added
lots of silly Western doodles and filled it chock-full of colorful stories of
his life on the family ranch.
He’d knocked them clean out of their boots, if he did say so
himself. And now here he was in Hollywood auditioning for The Great Roundup.
“Tell us about growing up on a ranch,” said the casting
director, whose name was Giselle. Giselle dressed like a fashion model. She had
a way of making a guy feel like she could see inside his head. Sharp. That was
the word for Giselle. Sharp—and interested. Her calculating eyes watched him so
closely.
Which was fine. Good. He wanted her looking at him with
interest. He wanted to make the cut, get on The Great Roundup and win himself a
million bucks.
Travis gave a slow grin in the general direction of one of
the cameras that recorded every move he made. “I grew up on my family’s ranch
in northwestern Montana.” He was careful to include Giselle’s question in his
answer, in case they ended up using this interview in the show. Then they could
cut Giselle’s voice out and what he said would still make perfect sense. “My
dad put me on a horse for the first time at the age of five. Sometimes it feels
like I was born in the saddle.”
Giselle and her assistant nodded their approval as he went
on—about the horses he’d trained and the ones that had thrown him. About the
local rodeos where he’d been bucked off more than one bad-tempered bull—and
made it all the way to eight full seconds on a few. He thought it was going
pretty well, that he was charming them, winning them over, showing them he
wasn’t shy, that an audience would love him.
“Can you take off your shirt for us, Travis?”
He’d assumed that would be coming. Rising, Travis unbuttoned
and shrugged out of his shirt. At first, he kept it all business, no funny
stuff. They needed to get a good look at the body that ranching had built and
he kept in shape. He figured they wouldn’t be disappointed.
But they wanted to see a little personality, too, so when
Giselle instructed, “Turn around slowly,” he held out his arms, bending his
elbows and bringing them down, giving them the cowboy version of a
bodybuilder’s flex. As he turned, he grabbed his hat off the back of his chair
and plunked it on his head, aiming his chin to the side, giving them a profile
shot, and then going all the way with a slow grin and a wink over his shoulder.
The casting assistant, Roxanne, stifled a giggle as she
grinned right back.
“Go ahead and sit back down,” Giselle said. She wasn’t
flirty like Roxanne, but in her sharp-edged way she seemed happy with how the
interview was shaking out.
Travis took off his hat again. He bent to get his shirt.
“Leave it,” said Giselle.
He gave her a slight nod and no smile as he settled back
into the chair. Because this was serious business. To him—and to her.
“Now we want to know about that hometown of yours.” Giselle
almost smiled then, though really it was more of a smirk. “We’ve been hearing
some pretty crazy things about Rust Creek Falls.”
Was he ready for that one? You bet he was. His town had been
making news the past few years. First came the flood. He explained about the
Fourth of July rains that wouldn’t stop and all the ways the people of Rust
Creek Falls had pulled together to come back from the worst disaster in a
century. He spoke of rebuilding after the waters receded, of the national
attention and the sudden influx of young women who had come to town to find
themselves a cowboy.
When Giselle asked if any of those women had found him, he
answered in a lazy drawl, “To tell you the truth, I met a lot of pretty women
after the great flood.” He put his right hand on his chest. “Each one of them
holds a special place in my heart.”
Roxanne had to stifle another giggle.
Giselle sent her a cool look. Roxanne’s smile vanished as if
it had never been. “Tell us more,” said Giselle.
And he told them about a certain Fourth of July wedding
almost two years ago now, a wedding in Rust Creek Falls Park. A local eccentric
by the name of Homer Gilmore had spiked the wedding punch with his special
recipe moonshine—purported to make people do things they would never do
ordinarily.
“A few got in fights,” he confessed, “present company
included, I’m sorry to say.” He made an effort to look appropriately
embarrassed at his own behavior before adding, “And a whole bunch of folks got
romantic—and that meant that last year, Rust Creek Falls had a serious baby
boom. You might have heard of that. We called it the baby bonanza. So now we
have what amounts to a population explosion in our little town. Nobody’s
complaining, though. In Rust Creek Falls, love and family is what it’s all
about.”
Travis explained that he wanted to join the cast of The
Great Roundup for the thrill of it—and he also wanted to be the last cowboy
standing. He had a fine life working the Dalton family ranch, but the
million-dollar prize would build him his own house on the land he loved and put
a little money in the bank, too.
“I’m not getting any younger,” he admitted with a smile he
hoped came across as both sexy and modest. “One of these days, I might even
want to find the right girl and settle down.”
Giselle, who had excellent posture in the first place,
seemed to sit up even straighter, like a prize hunting dog catching a scent.
“The right girl? Interesting.” She glanced at Roxanne, who bobbed her head in
an eager nod. “Is there anyone special you’ve got your eye on?”
There was no one, and there probably wouldn’t be any time
soon. But he got Giselle’s message loud and clear. For some reason, the casting
director would prefer that he had a sweetheart.
And what Giselle preferred, Travis Dalton was bound and
determined to deliver. “Is there a special woman in my life? Well, she’s a…very
private person.”
“That would be yes, then. You’re exclusive with someone?”
Damn. Message received, loud and clear. He wasn’t getting
out of this without confessing—or lying through his teeth. And since he
intended to get on the show, he knew what his choice had to be.
“I don’t want to speak out of hand, but yeah. There is a
special someone in my life now. We…haven’t been together long, but…” He let out
a low whistle and pasted on an expression that he hoped would pass for
completely smitten. “Oh, yeah. Special would be the word for her.”
“Is this special someone a hometown girl?” Giselle’s eyes
twinkled in a way that was simultaneously aggressive, gleeful and calculating.
“She’s from Rust Creek Falls, yes. And she’s amazing.”
Whoever the hell she is. “It’s the greatest thing in the world, to know someone
your whole life and then suddenly to realize there’s a lot more going on
between the two of you than you’ve ever admitted before.” Whoa. He probably
ought to be ashamed of himself. His mama had brought him up right, taught him
not to tell lies. But who did this little white lie hurt, anyway? Not a soul.
And to get on The Great Roundup, Travis Dalton would tell Giselle whatever she
needed to hear.
“What’s her name?” asked Giselle. It was the next logical
question, damn it. He should have known it was coming.
He put on his best killer smile—and lied some more. “Sorry,
I can’t tell you her name. You know small towns.” Giselle frowned. She might be
sharp as a barb-wire fence, but he would bet his Collin Traub dress saddle that
she’d never been within a hundred miles of a town like Rust Creek Falls. “We’re
keeping what we have together just between the two of us, my girl and me. It’s
a special time in our relationship, and we don’t want the whole town butting
into our private business.” A special time. Damned if he didn’t sound downright
sensitive—for a bald-faced liar. But would the casting director buy it?
Giselle didn’t seem all that thrilled with his unwillingness
to out his nonexistent girlfriend, but at least she let it go. A few minutes
later, she gave the cameraman a break. Then she chatted with Travis off the
record for a couple of minutes more. She said she’d heard he was staying at the
Malibu house of LA power player Carson Drake, whose wife, Tessa Strickland
Drake, had deep Montana roots. Travis explained that he’d known Tessa all his
life. She’d grown up in Bozeman, but she spent most of her childhood summers
staying at her grandmother’s boardinghouse in Rust Creek Falls.
After the chitchat, Giselle asked him to have a seat
outside. He put on his shirt and grabbed a chair in the waiting area next to a
water cooler and vending machine. For the next few hours, he watched potential
contestants come and go.
It was past six when they called him back in to tell him
that he wouldn’t be returning to Malibu that night—or any time soon, as it
turned out. Real Deal Entertainment would put him up in a hotel room instead.
*
Travis lived in that hotel room for two weeks at Real Deal’s
beck and call. He took full advantage of room service, and he worked out in the
hotel fitness center to pass the time while he got his background checked and
his blood drawn. He even got interviewed by a shrink, who asked a lot of
way-too-personal questions. There were also a series of follow-up meetings with
casting people and producers. At the two-week mark, in a Century City office
tower, he got a little quality time with a bunch of network suits.
That evening, absolutely certain he’d made the show, he raided
the minibar in his room and raised a toast to his success.
Hot damn, he’d done it! He was going to be a contestant on
The Great Roundup. He would have his shot at a cool million bucks.
And he would win, too. Damned if he wouldn’t. He would build
his own house on the family ranch and get more say in the day-to-day running of
the place. His older brother, Anderson, made most of the decisions now. But if
Travis had some hard cash to invest, his big brother would take him more
seriously. Travis would step up as a real partner in running the ranch.
Being the good-time cowboy of the family had been fun. But
there comes a point when every man has to figure out what to do with his life.
Travis had reached that point. And The Great Roundup was going to take him
where he needed to go.
The next morning, a car arrived to deliver him to the
studio, where he sat in another waiting area outside a different soundstage
with pretty much the same group of potential contestants he’d sat with two
weeks before. One by one, they were called through the door. They all emerged
smiling to be swiftly led away by their drivers.
When Travis’s turn came, he walked onto the soundstage to
find Giselle and Roxanne and a couple producers waiting at a long table. The
camera was rolling. Except for that meeting in the office tower with the suits
and a that session involving lawyers with papers to sign, a camera had been
pointed at him every time they talked to him.
Giselle said, “Have a seat, Travis.” He took the lone chair
facing the others at the table. “We have some great news for you.”
He knew it, he was in! He did a mental fist pump.
But then Giselle said, “You’ve made the cut for the final
audition.”
What the hell? Another audition?
“You’ll love this, Travis.” Giselle watched him expectantly
as she announced, “The final audition will be in Rust Creek Falls.”
Wait. What?
She went on, “As it happens, your hometown is not far from
the super-secret location where The Great Roundup will be filmed. And since
your first audition, we have been busy…”
Dirk Henley, one of the producers, chimed in. “We’ve been in
touch with the mayor and the town council.”
“Of Rust Creek Falls?” Travis asked, feeling dazed. He was
still trying to deal with the fact that there was more auditioning to get
through. He couldn’t believe she’d just said the audition would be happening in
his hometown.
“Of course, of Rust Creek Falls.” Giselle actually smiled, a
smile that tried to be indulgent but was much too full of sharp white teeth to
be anything but scary.
Dirk took over again. “Mayor Traub and the other council
members are excited to welcome Real Deal Entertainment to their charming little
Montana town.”
Travis valiantly remained positive. Okay, he hadn’t made the
final cut, but he was still in the running and that was what mattered.
As for the final audition happening at home, well, now that
he’d had a second or two to deal with that information, he supposed he wasn’t
all that surprised.
For a show like The Great Roundup, his hometown was a
location scout’s dream come true. And the mayor and the council would say yes
to the idea in a New York minute. The movers and shakers of Rust Creek Falls
had gotten pretty ambitious in the last few years. They were always open to
anything that might bring attention, money and/or jobs to town. Real Deal
Entertainment should be good for at least the first two.
Dirk said, “We’ll be sending Giselle, Roxanne, a camera crew
and a few production people along with you for a last on-camera group
audition.”
Giselle showed more teeth. “We’re going to put you and your
fellow finalists in your own milieu, you might say.”
Dirk nodded his approval. “And that milieu is a very
atmospheric cowboy bar with which I’m sure you are familiar.”
There was only one bar inside the Rust Creek Falls town
limits. Travis named it. “The Ace.”
“That’s right!” Dirk beamed. “The Ace in the Hole, which we
love.”
What did that even mean? They loved the name? Must be it. No
Hollywood type would actually love the Ace. It was a down-home, no-frills kind
of place.
Dirk was still talking. “We’ll be taking over ‘the Ace’—” he
actually air quoted it “—for a night of rollicking country fun. You know,
burgers and brews and a country-western band. We want to see you get loose,
kick over the traces, party in a purely cowboy sort of way. It will be
fabulous. You’re going to have a great time.” He nodded at the other producer,
who nodded right back. “I’m sure we’ll get footage we can use on the show.”
And then Giselle piped up with, “And Travis…” Her voice was
much too casual, much too smooth. “We want you to bring your fiancée along to
the audition. We love what you’ve told us about her, and we can’t wait to meet
her.”
MY REVIEW:
The Maverick Fakes a Bride! by Christine Rimmer
My rating:
4 of 5 stars
The Maverick Fakes a Bride by Christine Rimmer
is a 2017 Harlequin Special Edition publication.
What a cute story!!
Homer makes a small appearance in this reality show based story centered around Travis Dalton and Brenna O’Reilly.
Travis has auditioned for the reality show, ‘The Great Roundup’, but before he can make the final cut, he must convince his fiancé to join him on the show. The problem is, he doesn’t have a fiancé!! With a million dollars on the line, Travis convinces his long time friend, Brenna to join him on the show and pretend to be his fiancé.
Brenna has loved Travis since she was six years old, but he has always said he was too old for her. Her feelings haven’t changed, so the chance to play the role of his fiancé is too good to pass up. But, as much as she would like to win that million dollars, she would like to win
Travis's heart, even more.
However, once they make it onto the show, they are informed of one more shocking task the show's staff insist they perform- if they win, they will have their wedding during the show's finale! OOPS!!
This may be the hottest reality show, ever!!
Okay, in all honesty, I do not watch reality shows. But, if you are on social media at all, it is impossible to avoid snippets of them, conversations about them and comments between friends, or on Twitter trends. So, I ‘get’ the general idea of how it all works.
I think the author did an admirable job of authentically presenting these shows and the various ploys contestants use to give them an edge.
But, for me, the romance between Travis and Brenna was the main focus and would have worked in any setting. Brenna’s one -sided love affair with Travis makes the story slightly poignant, because all of her proclamations of love have a note of truth to them, while Travis is merely acting… at least at first.
The story is light, very fast paced, and truly delightful. Watching Travis realize his feelings for Brenna was very romantic and I loved the little surprise twist at the end!
I really had a lot of fun with this one! It may not convince you to start watching reality TV, but it will convince you of true love, and happily ever after.
GET YOUR COPY HERE:
https://www.amazon.com/Maverick-Fakes-Bride-Montana-Mavericks/dp/0373623569/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-maverick-fakes-a-bride-christine-rimmer/1125315020
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
A New York Times and USA-Today bestselling author, Christine Rimmer has written more than 100 contemporary romances for Harlequin Books. A reader favorite, Christine has won Romantic Times BOOKreview's Reviewer's Choice Award for best Silhouette Special Edition. She has been nominated seven times for the Romance Writers of America's prestigious RITA award and five times for Romantic Times Series Storyteller of the Year. Christine lives in Oregon with her family.
Mending Fences by Sherryl Woods
