For the Thrill

Down-to-earth widowed mother of three, hometown girl of Deep Fork, Oklahoma, waitress in her father's cafe, Maggie Randolph takes one look at tall, dark-eyed Alex Dillon, and wants nothing to do with him. He's brash, cocky, and too darned handsome for his own good - and he knows it. If all that wasn't bad enough, the foolhardy idiot is a damn rodeo bull rider, just like her late husband.
It doesn't take long for Alex to realize that being sidelined in Deep Fork with an injury from his latest bull ride wasn't such a bad deal, after all. It takes just one look at green-eyed Maggie and he's a goner. When he learns her late husband died in a bull riding accident, he wonders if he wants Maggie enough to give up the rodeo. She's made it plain she won't have anything to do with another bull rider. Or is he using the woman he's falling in love with as an excuse to quit riding because he's afraid to rodeo again?
As Alex worries over his own possible cowardice in the rodeo, Maggie realizes she has come to love him enough to stop trying to keep him away from the bulls. Alex, too, has realized something - bull riding doesn't mean squat next to the love he feels for Maggie. But she deserves a man who's not a coward. He makes one last ride, to prove to himself he's not afraid. And Maggie can't stay away.
They both survive and rush into each other's arms. Alex has won the ride, and the woman. He no longer feels the need to ride bulls, as long as he has Maggie. Maggie assures him that he does, indeed, have her.

1993 National Readers' Choice Award, Third Place, Short Contemporary Category


Genre: Romance