Spotlight & Giveaway: Inheriting a Rodeo Cowboy by Michele Dunaway

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Michele Dunaway to HJ!

Hi Michele and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Inheriting a Rodeo Cowboy!

 
I’m so happy to be with you today to spotlight my latest release.
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

When Kristen inherits her late grandfather’s ranch, she discovers it comes along with a ranch manager—rodeo cowboy Lucas Thomas, the man with whom she had a one night stand following her brother’s wedding reception as a way to get over her divorce. Kristen and Lucas have to live and work on the ranch for one year before Kristen can sell it. Her life with her school aged daughter is in Chicago, not Legacy Canyon. Lucas is younger, from one of the families that feuds with hers, and he’s pure temptation. And when they’re stuck under one roof in a town full of matchmakers, love might just find a way to heal everything.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

There was joy in knowing the night they’d spent together hadn’t been a fluke. Kissing Lucas was like lighting dynamite. The blast had rocked her world and tilted her axis.

and
Eight seconds can seem like eternity when it was the person you cared about on the back of a huge, bucking animal that kept twisting and turning.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

I used to ride horses all the time, including barrel racing. So there are rodeo elements. Kristen is a vet, and she’d going to prove how competent she is around large animals. Think mare and foal. I had a lot of fun with that scene.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

They are at a wedding reception and Kristen discovers she is out of her comfort zone. He’s younger but an old soul. And her grandfather plays matchmaker. They know it’s one night. They don’t expect to be thrust back together a year later, especially when they find that the romantic tension is off the charts.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

Blushing a little, and also cheering Lucas for liking Kristen as is. We see that early on. I fall in love with each of my heroes, and I fell here:

With Lucas, it was all about pleasure. He worshipped her body, stripping off her shapeware without comment. His kisses banished the internal monologue in Kristen’s head, the one spoken in her mother’s voice about the extra ten or fifteen post pregnancy pounds still being around all these years later.

Readers should read this book….

Cowboys. Veterinarians. Rodeos. Small towns. Forced proximity. Feuding families. Matchmakers. There’s so many fun tropes and elements along with the guaranteed happily ever after. And Lucas is one of my favorite heroes. I love the idea of women getting second chances at love. Oh, and he had a crush on her long ago…

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I’m working on more books in the Legacy Canyon series for Harlequin, and I’m also writing a three-books series for Joffe Books out of the UK. Those are longer and feature a series of sisters living in Sugar Gap, Tennessee. No cowboys in those.

Ahead for Harlequin is Kristen’s brother Caleb’s story, The Rancher’s Second Chance, out in January 2027, and Snowbound with the Maverick, March 2027. Last month (August 2026) Her Fortune VIP was on the stands. You can still find it. It’s book one for a new branch of the Fortunes of Texas family.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: I’ll send an autographed copy of this book to three participants. U.S. only.

To enter Giveaway, please share this post on your Socials and Leave a comment below to this Q: I want to know all about your meet cute with a significant other. What made you fall for them?

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✨ Giveaway closes 3 days from the date this post is published.  
 

Excerpt from Inheriting a Rodeo Cowboy:

Weddings and funerals. Those were the only times Kristen came to Legacy Canyon. Lucas had met her at a wedding a year ago. He’d see her tomorrow at her grandfather’s funeral. He bit into his lip to stop his emotions. His father was a cold man who preached that real men didn’t cry, but Lucas called BS on that. He might not have been related to John Larrabee, but he’d genuinely loved and cared for the man. They’d become great friends over the past year, with John becoming the father figure he’d always wanted. As for Lucas’s actual father? The jury was still out. The easiest way to describe their relationship was “complicated.”

Especially after what his dad had done over the past six months, and including what he’d done years ago, by forcing Lucas’s sister Liv to move to California, arguing it was “for her own safety.”
Lucas couldn’t do much about that, and Liv seemed happy and settled. Lucas was more worried about the fact that he’d see Kristen again. As her grandfather’s health had dwindled, he’d thought of her often. Besides her grief, what could he do to make things better? How would she react to seeing him again? What would she say? Would it be better if he avoided her? What should he say? How should he act? The jury didn’t have enough evidence to even begin deliberations on any of the above. While he’d known he’d eventually see her again—that this horrible loss would occur—the closer it drew near, the more in knots he’d been, especially as he had no idea how she’d react to seeing him. That night had meant the world to him. He had to face the fact that it probably had meant nothing to her.

“Let’s take a breather,” Lucas told his horse as he slowed Destiny from a full gallop to a trot. A short distance later, he wove her through the barrels, this time at a gentle walk as a final cool-down. Destiny snorted, letting him know that as much as she loved the exercise, she didn’t deserve a grueling workout because Lucas’s nerves were all over the place. Before John’s final turn for the worse, he’d told him Kristen wasn’t seeing anyone and worked too hard. That ex keeps putting her through the wringer, and she needs a break, John had told Lucas. She’s always been sensitive, that one. She just hides it well.

Lucas knew exactly how sensitive she was, so he’d murmured his agreement. Anything John had shared, Lucas had filed away, because after their one night together, Kristen was as much his fantasy woman as ever. Did that make him a creeper? He didn’t think so. It wasn’t as if he’d contacted her. He’d had no reason to do so. He’d thought of her often, but she’d wanted distance, so he’d followed the rules. He would not go where he wasn’t wanted. He had a code.

“You two looked good out there,” a familiar female voice called, interrupting his reverie. He gently tugged the reins, and Destiny halted.

“Thanks. Don’t want to let John down at the rodeo. Not like last year.”

Lucas dismounted and led Destiny to where Clarissa Larrabee stood by the railing. The brim of his hat shaded his eyes from the afternoon sun, and he took a moment to study her. Despite her reputation as one of the toughest women in this part of the Panhandle, losing her beloved husband a week ago had taken a toll, adding even more lines to the plethora of age-created ones surrounding the corners of her eyes and her lips. But as she stood, hands on hips, clad in her standard overalls, she appeared as formidable as ever, her emotions held in tight check. Not even a twitch of her cheek gave anything away.

“Win or lose, he’d be proud of you no matter what place you get,” Clarissa said. “I keep telling you that.”

“You do,” Lucas acknowledged. “How are you doing?”

“Same as before. I’m fine. Had some time to get used to things. You don’t have to keep checking. I’ll let you know if I need something.”

“Fair enough.”

It was her turn to study him. “I had sixty great years with the love of my life, plus the ones before we married. That’s what’s important—getting time with the one you love.”

“Yeah, well, maybe she’ll drop into my lap,” Lucas tossed out. Sort of the way Kristen had?

“Maybe she will.” Clarissa handed Destiny another carrot, and Lucas knew that despite her practicality, she’d been grieving ever since the doctor said John’s cancer had returned with a vengeance and that there was nothing left to do. But she’d mourn in private, maybe let loose some rare tears at the funeral. Clarissa was as tough as the land around her. “If you really want to honor John, live life to the fullest. We can only do the best we can while we’re here. It’s not about keeping score or winning buckles.”

“I’ll try to remember that.”

She handed Destiny one final carrot. “Do. John lived long enough to attend Wyatt’s wedding a year ago and learn that Madi’s pregnant. He got to enjoy Wyatt and Madi’s twins’ first real Christmas. His last moments were wonderful. Focus on the positives and the fact that you have a ranch to run. He trusted you’d maintain it like a son.”

“And I will. I promised him that.”

“You made him proud, Lucas.”

A stab of guilt shot through Lucas. John had said those same words to Lucas and how he’d made the right decision to hire him as ranch manager for John’s personal twenty-thousand acres. You’ve been like a son to me, he’d said, and then a day later he’d waited until the wee hours of the morning and passed peacefully with his wife by his side. Lucas wished John could have held on until this year’s Lasso for Legacy Rodeo, but John had been a man in control of his fate until the end. That was the Larrabee way.

Clarissa withdrew another treat, which she offered to his horse. “Stop thinking about the rodeo. Second place is nothing to be ashamed of. Who knew that we’d have a champion decide that our little event would make good practice for a bigger rodeo later in the month? While we get top contenders, we don’t get the best of the best. But Rawlings Sundance blew into town, and that was that. You didn’t lose by much. You held your own. If you’d stayed on the circuit, you’d be at his level.”
The rodeo circuit was brutal, but he had earned good money once he’d started winning more money than buckles or booze. Booze that Kristen and I drank. He shook off the thought. “My father likes to share his disappoint that I didn’t do that. Ranch manager’s for after I was bent and broken, not before. But if I want to work for myself, not someone else—your husband being the exception, of course—I needed to learn the ropes. John taught me a lot.”

“And you him. As for your father, Earl needs to keep his mouth closed. That man’s often the cause of his own issues. You’re the local favorite, and he’s a hard man with unrealistic expectations. It’s time people stop humoring him.”

An understatement if there was one, but Lucas didn’t interrupt, especially as she was right.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Her grandfather left her a ranch…

And a rodeo cowboy!

Kristen Larrabee is surprised when she inherits her grandfather’s ranch, but she’s even more stunned when she learns the conditions: She has to stay on the ranch for a year…and she has to run it with Lucas Thomas. Reeling from her recent divorce, Kristen and Lucas shared a steamy night on her last trip home. But the bigger problem is that the rodeo rider is a member of the family that’s been feuding with her family for years. Kristen can’t deny that the cowboy is good at his job and oh-so-tempting to lean on. But can she trust him with her family’s ranch…or her heart?
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Meet the Author:

In first grade, Michele Dunaway wanted to be a teacher. In second grade, she wanted to be a writer. By third grade, she decided to be both. Now a bestselling contemporary author, Michele creates strong heroes and heroines for savvy readers who want contemporary, small-town adventures with guaranteed happily ever afters. Michel writes about characters who discover things about themselves as they travel the road to true love and self-fulfillment. Michele recently retired from an award-winning English and journalism teaching career. She loves to travel, with the places she visits often inspiring her novels. She a mom of two grown daughters and several rescue cats. (The cats, of course, completely rule the roost.) An avid baker, Michele describes herself as a woman who does way too much but never wants to stop, especially when it comes to creating fiction, or baking brownies and chocolate chip cookies.
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