BooksChatter: ☀ Ride 'Em: Giddyup [1]

Thank you for joining us on the Virtual Book Tour for Ride 'Em, an Erotic Romance by Delphine Dryden (5 July 2016, Lyrical Press, 174 pages).

This is the first book in the Giddyup series.

PREVIEW: Check out the book's synopsis and excerpt below. Read the first two chapters with Amazon Look Inside.

Author Delphine Dryden will be awarding a digital copy of Ride 'Em to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Please do take part: comment on our post and follow the tour where you will be able to read other excerpts (☀).

Synopsis | Teaser | The Series | About the Author | Giveaway & Tour Stops

Synopsis

SADDLE UP
Mindy has come to Logan’s dude ranch to convince him to sign away his land’s mineral rights to her stepfather. She doesn’t want to beg, but she will if she has to, like she does Friday nights when she submits to her master’s desire . . .

BUCKLE DOWN
Logan doesn’t like to be jerked around, in business or pleasure. And when he learns what Mindy is up to, he’s ready to teach her a lesson. In fact, he’d like to tie her up, strip her down, and give her a spanking she’ll never forget . . .

RIDE HARD
With passion riding high, Logan and Mindy indulge in carnal play that leaves them both wanting more. And with their jobs on the line, they realize that their erotic fantasies might be their ticket to success . . .

Teaser: Excerpt

Chapter One

Logan got up early that Friday, just to see the sunrise. He needed it that morning, more than most. A little quiet time with the old homestead at its most beautiful, fresh with the unspoiled promise of spring. A fine shimmer of dew still coated the broad swath of lawn spreading out below the porch of the ranch house, and the scattered clouds appeared to linger on the horizon for the sole purpose of holding the outlandish dawn colors a few minutes longer.
      From this vantage point, the drive leading to the house seemed to drop sheer away about a quarter mile out. Perspective and the haze of morning made a floating island of the hilltop, and Logan wished he could keep it that way. In the distance, misty rises studded with limestone outcroppings marched away in successively darker ranks. Close by, there was only the house and the hill, and the man who still couldn’t quite believe he owned them now.
      A rooster crowed from over near the barn, hoarse and grumpy.Like a reflex, Logan checked his mental list. Had he assigned anyone to gather the eggs yet? He couldn’t immediately recall.He’d been doing it himself but would happily hand the chore over to somebody else. Logan had never been a big fan of chickens.The hens were okay, but the damn cranky rooster always went straight for his ankles as soon as he entered the pen. He had a new sympathy for masochists, but it only served to reinforce how very much he wasn’t one. Not his kink, not his kink at all.
      Masochists. Ah. Diego. He’d foisted the job off on Diego as part of “gamekeeping,” he recalled, brightening a bit. And since Diego, along with the rest of the staff, would be showing up for work in a few hours, Logan didn’t have much more time to himself.Once the guests arrived that evening, he’d have no time at all. He turned his attention back to the sunrise, only to find the moment had passed him by. Only a faint tint of lavender remained near the horizon, fading into the plumbago blue of the rest of the sky.
      Sighing, he knocked back the last of his industrial-strength coffee and jumped down from the porch rail where he’d been perched. He used the garden hose to rinse the cup, then set it on the steps and headed for the barn. He still had at least a few hours’ worth of chores to do before he could justify saddling his horse, Charley, up for some exercise.
      As a kid, Logan had never appreciated how much work his grandparents put into running Hilltop Ranch as a vacation spot, or really understood why his father had decided to close down the guest cottages and all but abandon the place except for weekend hunting trips. Now Logan got it, but it was too late to reconsider his decision to reopen the ranch to visitors. He’d burned his bridges, leaving his job in Houston and selling his house there in order to help finance the buyout of the ranch from his parents. His brother and cousin had gone in with him, but both of them had kept their day jobs. Logan hadn’t wanted to leave himself a way to cop out. This commitment was for the long haul, but he was only beginning to realize the magnitude of what he was in for.
      Running the guest ranch was like managing a hunting lodge, stable, bed-and-breakfast, and a sleepaway camp, all at the same time. He had Robert to cook and deal with the laundry, Diego to keep track of the game and help out with maintenance, and Lamar overseeing the stables, but Logan felt the pressure of entertaining the guests squarely on his own shoulders. As it should be—he had taken it on himself to be the man in charge, to finally own that role in every sense of the word instead of just in the bedroom or at the kink club. But this was an awful lot of hospitality. It wasn’t enough for the guests to enjoy the stay, either. They had to want to come back. They had to want to tell their friends. If he didn’t get some word of mouth going, he was screwed, because he was all out of financial padding. He’d been late on two note payments already, juggling funds and shifting other bills around to try to stretch his funds, and his loan officer was breathing down his neck. This week had to be a success.
      “It’s a big job, isn’t it, Charley?” he asked the big dappled gray gelding as they ambled back toward the barnyard after a long ride across the property, touring the two most likely spots for the upcoming turkey hunt. “Isn’t it?”
      The horse nodded his head, and Logan chuckled at his noble steed.
      “You’re my ace in the hole, Charley. A born showman.”
      His chuckle was echoed by a raspier one from the shadow of the barn door. A leathery, bearded face emerged from the gloom as Logan and Charley entered the building.
      “He’s a ham, all right,” Lamar agreed, reaching out to take Charley’s reins. “Is he gonna help you meet and greet?”
      “Of course,” Logan said, dismounting. “You might want to walk him a bit. We had a good jog out there, and damn, but it’s already getting hot for March.”
      “Weatherman said it’d get up past eighty. You should know better. He’ll need a wash if he’s going to be seen by his adoring public.” The grizzled old man swept a dubious glance up and down Logan’s sweaty form. “You, too.”
      “Aw, do I hafta?”
      “Don’t think you’re too big for me to take a switch to, boy.”
      Lamar and Logan grinned at each other in perfect accord. The old hand had practically raised Logan, who’d spent as much time in the barn growing up as he had in the house or at school. Lamar had been openly skeptical about Logan’s grand scheme to reopen the guest ranch. But he’d agreed to stay on, and Logan knew how much his loyalty was worth. What’s more, he’d actually learned from Lamar how to cut a switch and use it—not that the old man had any idea Logan still sometimes used that knowledge in an altogether different context.
      “It’s after three now, and people’ll start showing up around four, so no time for a shower. But I’ll hose myself down and put on a clean shirt, if that’ll make you happy, old man.”
      “I s’pose it’ll have to do. C’mon, Charley.”
      Logan started for the faucet on the side of the barn, then changed his mind and headed back toward the main house, remembering that he’d left the hose unwound on the front porch that morning after cleaning his mug with it. Might as well use it one more time before tidying it away.

Ride 'Em
Available NOW!

The Series: Giddyup

The “Kinky Dude Ranch” series. Yeehaw, y’all!

Welcome to Hilltop Ranch, where the Hill family has welcomed visitors for generations! Enjoy nature hikes, horseback rides, and educational demonstrations about how life used to be in the “olden days” on a real-life Texas ranch…

But one weekend a month, Hilltop closes to vanilla guests and turns into Giddyup, a multi-acre kink rodeo that draws kinksters from all over Texas and beyond! Anything and everything can happen at Giddyup, so hold onto your hats and bullwhips!

Click on the book cover to Look Inside the book on Amazon and read an excerpt.

Rope 'Em [2]

**Available for Pre-Order**

TIED UP
Returning home to help out with his brother’s dude ranch is cool with Ethan. After all, he’s as comfortable in the saddle as he is roping a calf. But what’s really jangling his spurs is a chance to indulge his kink in the ranch’s monthly Giddyup event. Did someone say suspension bondage? Yee-Haw!

TEASED
When Victoria realizes her family’s number one goal in sending her to college is to get her hitched to a husband, she drops out one semester shy of graduation. But paying her own way turns out to be the hardest lesson of all. Thankfully she’s found her way to the Hilltop Ranch. A place to get away and refocus. And get herself all tied up . . .

TAKEN
Sure, Ethan’s pretty handy with that length of rope. But it turns out the expensive design school wasn’t a total waste for Victoria. Bringing an “academic” approach to their play—and Ethan’s hobby—is opening up new possibilities. Like maybe the chemistry between them is something more than a game . . .

[Published 7 March 2017, TBA pages]

back to series | back to top

About the Author

Delphine Dryden majored in English at the University of Texas at Austin. She has written contemporary and erotic romance for Carina Press and Harlequin, and mainstream steampunk romance for Berkley Publishing.

Her writing has earned an Award of Excellence and Reviewers’ Choice Award from RT Book Reviews, an EPIC Award, an IPPY Gold Medal, and a Colorado Romance Writers’ Award of Excellence. She was the also the inaugural winner of the Science in My Fiction contest.

Follow Delphine Dryden: