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One Night Charmer
Maisey Yates
Copper Ridge, Oregon’s, favorite bachelor is about to meet his matchIf the devil wore flannel, he’d look like Ace Thompson. He’s gruff. Opinionated. Infernally hot. The last person that Sierra West wants to ask for a bartending job—not that she has a choice.Ever since discovering that her “perfect” family is built on a lie, Sierra has been determined to make it on her own. Resisting her new boss should be easy when they’re always bickering. Until one night, the squabbling stops…and something far more dangerous takes over.Ace has a personal policy against messing around with staff—or with spoiled rich girls. But there’s a steel backbone beneath Sierra’s silver-spoon upbringing. She’s tougher than he thought, and so much more tempting. Enough to make him want to break all his rules, even if it means risking his heart…
Copper Ridge, Oregon’s favorite bachelor is about to meet his match
If the devil wore flannel, he’d look like Ace Thompson. He’s gruff. Opinionated. Infernally hot. The last person that Sierra West wants to ask for a bartending job—not that she has a choice. Ever since discovering that her “perfect” family is built on a lie, Sierra has been determined to make it on her own. Resisting her new boss should be easy when they’re always bickering. Until one night, the squabbling stops…and something far more dangerous takes over.
Ace has a personal policy against messing around with staff—or with spoiled rich girls. But there’s a steel backbone beneath Sierra’s silver-spoon upbringing. She’s tougher than he thought, and so much more tempting. Enough to make him want to break all his rules, even if it means risking his heart…
Praise for USA TODAY bestselling author Maisey Yates (#ulink_8a31c069-87f2-5eab-be04-3b077974a6f2)
“Fans of Robyn Carr and RaeAnne Thayne will enjoy [Yates’s] small-town romance.”
—Booklist on Part Time Cowboy
“Passionate, energetic and jam-packed with personality.”
—USATODAY.com’s Happy Ever After blog on
Part Time Cowboy
“Yates writes a story with emotional depth, intense heartache and love that is hard fought for and eventually won in the second Copper Ridge installment… This is a book readers will be telling their friends about.”
—RT Book Reviews on Brokedown Cowboy
“Wraps up nicely, leaving readers with a desire to read more about the feisty duo.”
—Publishers Weekly on Bad News Cowboy
“The setting is vivid, the secondary characters charming, and the plot has depth and interesting twists. But it is the hero and heroine who truly drive this story.”
—BookPage on Bad News Cowboy
One Night Charmer
Maisey Yates
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Table of Contents
Cover (#ua5c10075-a422-5943-b3b4-015eebc0e6c8)
Back Cover Text (#u36aff6a7-967b-52a2-9608-b85e41859267)
Praise (#u28735227-0df5-5a10-9587-16552450903d)
Title Page (#u1dc972ad-7ea4-5b1a-ba34-4cf2d2616acc)
Dear Reader (#u668116e5-4618-56b9-9750-2e898b5383d8)
One Night Charmer (#u338a87ef-0ac5-5e55-a7fd-32961a9c72a1)
CHAPTER ONE (#u9c149f47-1f9e-58b3-b2dd-4bd3d7ec14fe)
CHAPTER TWO (#ua7af3b80-bdc9-5e5c-8c6d-92fada958214)
CHAPTER THREE (#ud602a317-242c-500a-8242-6d106e7d841c)
CHAPTER FOUR (#u9de0912e-3ad4-5daf-959b-065182fadb8a)
CHAPTER FIVE (#u16186b73-3931-576a-9ee1-b3ca8ebe8a16)
CHAPTER SIX (#u35e4e6cc-18dc-57be-9aca-09e54550c8ba)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIFTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIXTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINETEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWENTY (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO (#litres_trial_promo)
EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)
Hometown Heartbreaker (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWO (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER THREE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)
EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
Dear Reader (#ulink_68b744d4-4155-55c7-a241-9f9d73834c03),
I’m so excited to welcome you back to Copper Ridge, Oregon, where the cowboys are hot and love happens when you least expect it.
Gruff, bearded bartender Ace Thompson was one of those characters that grabbed hold of me and wouldn’t let go. I never intended for him to be a hero, but he kept showing up in everyone else’s books and making a case for himself. When Sierra West, the rodeo princess of Copper Ridge, appeared for the first time in Bad News Cowboy, I knew she was the kind of woman who would drive a man like Ace crazy. Which was also how I knew they were destined to be together.
Sierra and the rest of the West family have been going through a shift thanks to old family secrets coming to light. I’m excited for you to learn more about the town’s most prominent family in this story and in my upcoming Copper Ridge books, Tough Luck Hero and Last Chance Rebel, coming from HQN Books in July and September, and Hold Me, Cowboy, coming from Mills & Boon Desire in November.
I hope you enjoy getting to know the town’s favorite bartender and fallen princess as much as I enjoyed finally giving them their story.
Happy reading!
Maisey
One Night Charmer (#ulink_e6d8eb21-52d5-5679-be79-bf565f99bc4a)
CHAPTER ONE (#ulink_a2a001fc-d749-5f54-9d37-2679c6c6f19b)
THERE WERE TWO PEOPLE in Copper Ridge, Oregon, who—between them—knew nearly every secret of every person in town. The first was Pastor John Thompson, who heard confessions of sin and listened to people pour out their hearts when they were going through trials and tribulations.
The second was Ace Thompson, owner of the most popular bar in town, son of the pastor, and probably the least likely to attend church on Sunday or any other day.
There was no question that his father knew a lot of secrets, though Ace was pretty certain he got the more honest version. His father spent time standing behind the pulpit; Ace stood behind a bar. And there he heard the deepest and darkest circumstances happening in the lives of other townspeople while never revealing any of his own. He supposed, pastor or bartender, that was kind of the perk.
They poured it all out for you, and you got to keep your secrets bottled up inside.
That was how Ace liked it. Every night of the week, he had the best seat in the house for whatever show Copper Ridge wanted to put on. And he didn’t even have to pay for it.
And with his newest acquisition, the show was about to get a whole lot better.
“Really?” Jack Monaghan sat down at the bar, beer in hand, his arm around his new fiancée, Kate Garrett. “A mechanical bull?”
“Damn straight, Monaghan. This is a classy-ass establishment, after all.”
“Seriously,” Connor Garrett said, taking the seat next to Jack, followed by his wife Liss. “Where did you get that thing?”
“I traded for it. Guy down in Tolowa owed me some money and he didn’t have it. So he said I could come by and look at his stash of trash. Lo and behold, I discovered Ferdinand over there.”
“Congratulations,” Kate said. “I didn’t think anything could make this place more of a dive. I was wrong.”
“You’re a peach, Kate,” Ace told her.
The woman smiled broadly and wrapped her arm around Jack, leaning in and resting her cheek on his shoulder.
“Can we get a round?” Connor asked.
“Yes, please,” Liss said. “I have a one drink limit and we have a full two hours before I have to get back home.”
“Eli and Sadie are on baby duty,” Connor added.
Ace continued to listen to their conversation as he served up their usual brew, enjoying the happy tenor of the banter since the downers would probably be around later to dish out woe while he served up harder liquor.
The Garretts were good people. Always had been. Both before he had left Copper Ridge, and since he’d come back.
His focus was momentarily pulled away when the pretty blonde who’d been hanging out in the dining area all evening drinking with friends approached the aforementioned Ferdinand.
He hadn’t had too many people ride the bull yet, and he had to admit, he was finding it a pretty damn enjoyable novelty.
The woman tossed her head, her tan cowboy hat staying in place while her curls went wild around her shoulders. She wrapped her hands around the harness on top of the mechanical creature and hoisted herself up. Her movements were unsteady, and he had a feeling, based on the amount of time the group had been here, and how many times the men in the group had come and gone from the bar, she was more than a little tipsy.
Best seat in the house. He always had the best seat in the house.
She glanced up as she situated herself and he got a good look at her face. There was a determined glint in her eyes, her brows locked together, her lips pursed into a tight circle. She wasn’t just tipsy, she was pissed. Looking down at the bull like it was her own personal Everest and she was determined to conquer it along with her rage. He wondered what a bedazzled little thing like her had to be angry about. A missing lipstick, maybe. A pair of shoes that she really wanted unavailable in her size.
She nodded once, her expression growing even more determined as she signaled the employee Ace had operating the controls tonight.
Ace moved nearer to the bar, planting his hands flat on the surface. “This probably won’t end well.”
The patrons at the bar turned their heads toward the scene. And he noticed Jack’s posture go rigid. “Is that—”
