Spotlight & Giveaway: The Cowboy’s Vow by Leah Vale

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Leah Vale to HJ!

Hi Leah and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Cowboy’s Vow!

 
Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for letting me stop by. I love having the chance to talk books.
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Having given a deathbed promise to his mother, Ian Neisson has devoted his life to keeping the rest of his family safe and helping to run the highly profitable rodeo rough stock Wright Ranch. Two things Ian is very good at. But when a gorgeous FBI agent comes to town and implies Ian’s grandfather might be involved in a modern-day rustling ring, Ian has no choice but to offer his help to protect everything—and everyone—he cares about. But can he protect his heart from the dark-haired beauty with secrets of her own?

The last thing FBI Special Agent Jessie Martin wants is to have to work with a cowboy. Especially not the handsome Ian Neisson, the personification of the Cowboy Way. After growing up on a struggling Nevada ranch, she has had her fill of cowboys promising the world but only delivering dirt and heartache. But if she wants the urban posting of her dreams she needs to catch the livestock thieves, and it is clear the only way she can do that is with the help of Ian Neisson. A man who threatens her resolve to avoid all things cowboy.
 

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

Not feeling so alone would be equal to having a unicorn show up in her nonexistent barn. She was better off sticking to the strictly professional relationships she had with her fellow law enforcement members.
As if on cue, Peter said, “Mmm, shrimp. Any chance you can get a doggy bag?”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

When I started to research the subplot for the Rodeo Romeos series I was surprised to learn the FBI is who investigates and pursues interstate livestock rustlers. I immediately knew the perfect heroine for the eldest Neisson sibling would be an FBI Special Agent who did not need to be taken care of, let alone by a cowboy.

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

Aside from their obvious physical attributes, Ian is attracted to Jessie’s strength of character and determination. Jessie is drawn in by Ian’s integrity and dedication to his family.

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

I cracked myself up writing the scene where my hero introduces my heroine to a couple of his horses and she learns the reasons for their names. I love coming up with names that reflect an animal’s quirks, which makes them all the more lovable.

Ian appeared on the other side of the horse’s head. “I see you’ve met Clint.”
“Clint?”
Big Mike emerged from a stall leading a beautiful black quarter horse with a white blaze down his face and two white socks on his hind legs. “Clint Eastwood. As in, do you feel lucky, punk?” He laughed.
Jessie frowned at the incongruency between the horse’s clearly sweet nature and his movie tough-guy namesake.
“Ian is the only one who can ride him,” Big Mike added, sliding a bridle onto Chuck’s head.
Ian scrubbed behind Clint’s ear. “He’s a good boy. He just gets a little frisky sometimes.”
Like the only man who can ride him?

Readers should read this book….

If they enjoy spending time with a sexy hero who puts his family and community first and feisty heroine driven to prove herself.

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

I am currently working on putting the finishing touches on Drew’s story, The Cowboy Doctor, which is the next book in the Rodeo Romeos series. After The Cowboy’s Vow, available April 20, The Cowboy Doctor will be released on August 3.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: A $10 Barnes and Noble gift card.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: I mentioned, I have a ton of fun coming up with names for the animals I write about. What are your favorite animal names?

 
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Excerpt from The Cowboy’s Vow:

“You can work with us, Mr. Neisson, or you can work against us—something I do not recommend. But standing to the side and doing nothing is not an option.”
Ignoring the other suit seated at the interrogation room table and the county sheriff leaning against the wall, Ian Neisson kept his gaze locked on the striking green eyes of the black-haired beauty seated across the table from him as she spoke. It was clear FBI Special Agent Jessica Martin was the one in charge today. Had she not researched him—or his family, for that matter—at all before calling him in here? The residents of the Wright Ranch weren’t exactly the standing to the side and doing nothing type.
He leaned forward in the hard chair, all too aware of the thick metal loop protruding from the tabletop to which handcuffs could be attached, and resisted the urge to bury his unshackled hands in his barn jacket pockets. “I’m still not clear on what you want from me, Special Agent Martin.”
She leaned forward too. A shimmer of gold at her throat caught his eye. The neckline of the simple white collared dress shirt she wore beneath her charcoal suit coat had parted just enough to reveal a tiny gold horseshoe charm hanging from a delicate gold chain. For luck?
“We need access to the ranching and rodeo community in the area. According to Sheriff Jenkins, you’re the man to give it to us,” she said.
The statement made Ian jerk his gaze back up to hers. There was gold there also, and the hard glint it gave her eyes made him think she created her own luck. “Access? What sort of access?” he asked.
“The kind that will help us catch the rustlers working the Idaho, Oregon, and Nevada—ION—territory,” she said.
Ian looked to Sheriff Alan Jenkins, who was watching passively. “The FBI investigates stolen cattle?”
Alan shrugged. “When they’re transported across state lines they do.”
Ian returned his attention to the agents and asked with no small amount of incredulity, “You want me to help you catch rustlers?”
“We will be doing the catching, Mr. Neisson,” the other agent, Peter Beck, a thirtysomething personification of a cliché FBI agent said with no amount of condescension.
Ian halfway expected the slender, dark-haired man to reach into the breast pocket of his black, well-tailored suit jacket, produce a pair of sunglasses, and don them in punctuation.
Instead he simply arched a brow and stared steadily at Ian with intense brown eyes.
Ian wasn’t impressed. “Leaving me to do . . . what, exactly?”
“This is your community, Mr. Neisson,” Special Agent Martin said.
“A small community where the presence of two federal agents will not go unnoticed,” Ian countered.
“Exactly.” Special Agent Martin sat back. “Which is why we need you to facilitate our undercover operation.”
Ian glanced again at Alan.
Alan shrugged in a she’s not wrong kind of way and said, “She’s right.” The sheriff straightened away from the wall and hooked his thumbs in his utility belt. “You know as well as I do that while Oregon might not be the Wild West anymore, at least not most days, the rodeo folks and ranchers here in the high desert are a tight-knit bunch. They respect you, Ian. And not just because of your grandpa.”
Special Agent Beck flipped open the file folder on the table in front of him and read from the top document. “Thomas Wright.”
Ian opened his mouth to answer in the affirmative but the sheriff beat him to it.
“That’s right. The Thomas Wright. And short of going straight to him, if the FBI wants to get close enough to the main players in the region to learn who is involved, they’ll need you, Ian.”
“I’m not convinced enlisting the aid of a family member of one of our susp—”
Special Agent Martin held up a hand and stopped her partner short, but not before Ian straightened in his seat, instantly on high alert.
“Excuse me?” Ian said. They suspected his grandfather of some sort of illegal activity? Ian’s heart started to pound. From fear or anger, he wasn’t sure.
There was no doubt Thomas Wright was a hard man. He was not above holding a grudge if he thought he’d been wronged. But he lived his life by the cowboy code of honesty, integrity, and courage and expected those around him to do the same. There was no way he could be involved. He liked winning fair and square too much.
The woman across from Ian folded her hands atop the interrogation room table, the picture of icy control. Except for her eyes. The gold-flecked green glowed with a fiery intelligence and strength of will. “We have no suspects at this time. But what we do have is millions of dollars’ worth of cattle, rodeo rough stock, and bull sperm going missing and then being sold to . . . well, that is what we are here to discover. If some of the ranchers around here have amassed their fortunes through illegal activity, we intend to uncover those activities.”
Ian clenched his jaw. The only rancher in or around Pineville who could be described as having a fortune was his grandfather.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

He lives his life by the book. She wants to throw it out.
After promising his dying mother he’d protect his family and their rodeo rough stock legacy, Ian Neisson has devoted his life to keeping the Wright Ranch thriving. So when an ambitious FBI agent arrives in town implying Ian’s grandfather might be involved in a modern-day rustling ring, Ian, true to his word, steps up to help with her investigation in order to keep his family safe. His heart, however, is in danger from the green-eyed beauty with secrets of her own.
The last thing FBI Special Agent Jessie Martin wants is to go undercover working closely with a cowboy. She’s had her fill of cowboy charm and empty promises, and Ian Neisson, despite being the handsome poster boy for the proverbial Cowboy Way, spells trouble. But she’s a professional looking for advancement, and Ian is a way into the tight rodeo community. If only he didn’t threaten her resolve to forever leave her boots, roots and all things cowboy behind.
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Meet the Author:

Having never met an unhappy ending she couldn’t mentally “fix,” Leah Vale believes writing romance novels is the perfect job for her. A Pacific Northwest native with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington, she lives in Central Oregon, with a huge golden retriever who thinks he’s a lap dog. While having the chance to share her “happy endings from scratch” is a dream come true, dinner generally has to come premade from the store.
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