Welcome to week 3 of our spotlight on Coming Up Roses by Anna Kyle. You can find this shifter romance story in the Rough Edges Anthology.
To get the long-coveted D.V.M. initials after her name, healer Rose is forced to spend the last two weeks of her internship at the Finnegan Ranch she left eight years ago, where she spent and best and worst times of her childhood. Now Rose had to contend with using her rusty healing abilities to help a wounded, angry donkey and deal with the sexy shapeshifter cowboy who broke her heart.
Finn’s wolf did the unthinkable eight years ago – attacked the girl he loved. Then years later she’d unknowingly saved his wolf, and him. Now he has two weeks to convince Rose that the bite which drove them apart also binds them together. Because letting her go this time might not be possible.
This week we give you a taste of the story. Read the first 500 words below!
COMING UP ROSES
By Anna Kyle
Finn eased up on the accelerator as he raced into the city limits of Cheyenne. Fifteen minutes and he’d be there. His wolf quivered in anticipation. Rolling down the window, Finn breathed in the biting spring wind. He’d waited years for this day—had stopped believing it could happen and accepted she was safer far away from him. Until a week ago when the news about mate bonding had reached their se-cluded ranch.
A tiny sprig of hope buried long ago poked out a tentative green shoot and began to blossom through the crusted layers of remorse and shame. Rose could be his.
After eight years away Rose was coming home. With him. The wolf paced in his chest. He was the reason she’d stayed away for so long but Finn would do everything in his power to convince her to stay this time. Rose would forgive him. She had to. She’d never been good at holding grudges. Once, when they were nine, she kicked him in the balls because he proclaimed sissy baby girls needed to go home and play sissy baby girl games and leave jumping horses to the men. While he rolled on the ground gasping in pain, his twin, Ben, howled in laughter but Rose was guilt-stricken at what she’d done. That was first time she healed him. He remembered the horrified look on her face then an instant late her wild coursing magic flooded his body and the pain was gone. The three of them kept that secret to this day.
Rose’s granddad would have punished her for using her ability unsupervised and his mom would’ve thrashed him and Ben for jumping half-broke horses with Rose.
With a half smile on his face at the memory, Finn tapped his fingers impatiently at the light, willing it to change. Rose was expecting Ben to pick her up. His brother had used his persuasive charm and skillful words when he called Rose this morning. Everyone knew of Ben’s premonitions so it wasn’t lying to tell her he had a bad feeling about one of the pregnant mares due to foal in the next few weeks. The other healer, Rose’s granddad, wasn’t available—they’d made sure of that—but Rose had still resisted until Ben told her the mare was Elsinore.
It had to be a good sign that Rose relented for Finn’s favorite mare, right? She’d been surprisingly grumpy, though, when she learned Ben had already convinced Rose’s boss at the Miney Equine Clinic to let her finish her last two weeks of her internship at the Finnegan Ranch.
A block from the clinic he spotted her waiting near the street flanked by two duffel bags. The moon was just a sliver and cast no light but he didn’t need it—he’d know her tall, lean figure anywhere. She was bathed in the golden glow of the old fashioned street lamp which appeared out of place in front of the sleek, state-of-the-art eq-uine hospital. Rose’s black hair reflected its glow like a halo.
Want to read more? Pick up your copy of Rough Edges today!
Out of print
Nothing is sexier than someone who knows what they want and has the confidence go after it. This anthology is crammed full of hot romances featuring those kinds of rough-around-the-edges alpha personalities–stories about the kind of men and women who ride horses during the day and their partners at night, who speak few words but mean every one of them, and who would never break their own personal code of honor. We're talking about cowboys and cowgirls. This anthology contains seven romances with a Western theme that run the gamut from sweet to sizzling.
