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This week, The Romance Studio announced their reviewers' choices for the annual Cupid and Psyche Award (CAPA) nominees. Congratulations to LBR authors Cat Johnson, nominated for Model Soldier in the Erotic Contemporary Romance Category, and to GA Hauser, nominated for Secrets & Misdemeanors in the Erotic Contemporary Romance Category, as well as Favorite Author and Favorite Erotic Author.

Look for theses books and more by Cat and GA at Linden Bay Romance .com

Good luck to all the nominees. The TRS reviewers will choose the winners, which will be announced Feb 14th, 2009.

My last day here on the Linden Bay blog, so I wanted to leave you with one more excerpt.

Here's the set up. Clay is a pro Saddle Bronc rider, Mason is home on leave from his deployment to Afghanistan and April has been living and working in NYC. The three come back together after years but things are a lil rocky.

Don't forget to visit my blog at www.myspace.com/authorcatjohnson. I have my schedule as well as news about my cowboy there. And links, reviews and news can always be found at my website at www.catjohnson.net.

It's been fun. Thanks for joining me!
Cat Johnson


EXCERPT "KIT the Barrel racer"
"I'm sorry. I can't move that fast in these heels." April thought herself in pretty good shape from walking everywhere in the city, but maybe she wasn't since she was breathless now. "And why did you park all the way over there if the door is here?"

"I parked by the door nearest the stock pens inside. You've been to enough arenas with Clay and me to know the stock gets loaded around back."

That time in her life felt like a million years ago yet at the same time, she could still remember exactly how Mason's kisses felt.

Mason raised one brow, glancing down at her totally impractical shoes. "And why didn't you wait with the truck if you can't walk in those things?"

Good question. Looking at the annoyance on his face she had to ask herself the same thing. "Too late now. Let's just get this horse and get on the road."

"Fine with me." He pulled open the door and, surprisingly, didn't let it slam in her face, but instead held it open for her. At least that was something.

Inside the arena, Mason seemed to know his way around and was able to locate a stock contractor amid the hustle and bustle of the preparations for the rodeo to move out to the next venue.

He stalked directly to the stock and located what must be Clay's horse. "Hey there, baby girl. You ready to go home?"

April's heart twisted at the familiarity of the gentle tone of voice he used with the horse. The same tone he used to use with her. She didn't have long to wallow though, because a woman was leading a horse directly at her and April had to scurry to get out of the way. She missed getting stepped on, but did not miss the look the cowgirl shot her as she took April in from the tips of her impractical designer heels to the now horrendously wrinkled silk of her top.

The woman kept her mouth shut even while her eyebrows rose, but April was not the object of her attention for long. Mason, however, was. "Hey there, Mason sugar! I was hoping to see you again before I hauled ass out of here."

Mason nodded at the tart…um, cowgirl, and even smiled at her. "Hey, Kit. Is this your barrel horse?"

She nodded. "Yup. This here's Duke."

It seemed Mason had a kind word for this cleavage-baring woman but could barely speak civilly to her. April watched the exchange through narrowed eyes, denying that what she felt was jealousy.

"You need help loading April Dawn in the trailer, sugar?"

The horse's name cut through April's green haze of envy. "April Dawn?" she repeated softly.

That comment drew this Kit person's attention. "That's what Clay named her. And what's your name, sweetie? I'm Kit, a friend of Clay's."

A friend. Yeah, April bet she was! Her photo may have been found in Clay's jeans, but she bet Kit had been in his pants a few times herself.

She somehow managed to spew out her name. "April."

At that revelation, Kit raised an eyebrow and shot a look at Mason, who returned it with a slight nod. April's anger and jealousy ramped up another notch.

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Hello Linden Bay Readers,

I woke up this morning to a lovely surprise--Rough Stock on the LBR Top 10 Best Seller List! So in celebration of that, how about a new excerpt? It deals with how cowboys mete out a little justice.

Enjoy,
Cat Johnson

ROUGH STOCK EXCERPT (PG 13)

He heard her before he saw her. When she did come into view, sobbing and limping down the road, Mason wasn't sure who moved first, but both he and Clay got to her in a split second.

Clay touched the shoulder of her torn white dress. The light from the front porch reached to where they stood and Mason saw the look his friend shot him. Mason knew Clay was thinking the same thing he was—if Clinton did this to April, they'd make sure he paid for it, and not with his daddy's money, either. Mason had other ideas.

Jaw set, Mason tried to speak gently so as not to frighten her any more. The poor thing was already shaking so badly it was a miracle she was still on her feet. "April, what happened tonight?"
She shook her head and released another huge sob.

Clay wrapped his arm around her and she pressed her face into his chest, clinging to him. "Shhh. It's okay now. We're here." Clay shot another worried glance at Mason past the top of her quivering head.

Mason took the opportunity to look her over better now that she couldn't see him doing it, and he didn't like what he found one bit. Her shoes were missing and her feet looked dirty and blood-smeared, like she'd walked a long way. Besides the shoulder of her dress being torn, it looked like her hair had been fastened up at the start of the night, but it was pulled halfway down now. Then he moved and the light struck her arms. He saw the bruises forming there. Someone had manhandled April and he had a very good idea who it was.

Angry now, Mason pulled her away from Clay's chest, one hand holding her chin as he inspected her face. Besides her tears, which broke his heart and fueled his mad, her lip was split open and bleeding. "Did Clinton do this?"

Still shaking and sobbing, she finally nodded.

Dropping his hold on her, Mason spun on the heel of his boot and headed for the truck. He heard Clay behind him. "Wait up. I'm coming with you."

"You should stay with April."

"And let you go alone to take care of Clinton? To hell with that. She's my friend, too. We both beat the crap out of him then we come back here and make sure she's all right. I told her to leave her window open and expect us in an hour."

Mason nodded and walked around to the driver's side of the truck, which, technically, since they'd only been asked to drive it to Elk City and back, they were now stealing. He didn't think April's daddy would mind if he knew why they needed it. Hell, he'd probably grab his rifle and come with them.

Turning the key in the ignition, Mason did his best to control himself and not slam on the accelerator and peel out of the gravel drive. "You told her an hour?"

Clay nodded.

"I don't know if an hour of kicking his ass is going to be enough to get this mad out of my system."

Holding on to the door handle as Mason took the turn out of the drive a bit too fast, Clay turned to look at him. "It's gonna have to be. April needs us."

And that would be the only thing that could drag Mason away from taking his size elevens and kicking that rotten, rich boy bastard until the sun came up.

They found Clinton pretty much where they expected him to be, outside in the park, drinking, his car easy to spot where it was parked along the curb. When Daddy owned half the town, the cops tended to turn a blind eye to his son's underage drinking with his usual entourage. That was one reason Mason never even considered having April call the police about what Clinton had done. The law in this town could be bought and sold, but justice in this case would not be, not if Mason had anything to say about it.

Judging by the look on Clinton's face, and that of his two scum friends, they knew exactly why Clay and Mason pulled the horse truck up to the curb and jumped out. And yet the bastard still had the nerve to grin and elbow his friend next to him. "Look, if it isn't April's two boyfriends. I thought I smelled horse shit."

"There's three of them," Clay said softly next to him.

Mason nodded. "And they're drunker than shit, so don't worry about it." Besides, Mason was mad enough to take them on all alone.

Clay cracked his knuckles and took another step forward. "Oh, I'm not worried. I'm just wondering which one of us gets the pleasure of kicking two asses instead of just one."

Mason matched Clay step for agonizingly slow step as they got closer to their prey. "I tell you what. You let me take Clinton and you can have the other two all to yourself."

"Well, now, that's not fair. I wanted Clinton."

Mason was very well aware that Clinton and his cronies could hear every word, and yet still the bastards grinned like they'd gotten away with something.

After taking one final step, Mason stopped right in front of Clinton. "You know what? You are really starting to piss me off." And with that, he swung all of his body weight into his fist and watched the blood and spit fly as Clinton's head whipped to the side and he landed on his ass in the grass.

They needn't have worried about who got to take on the other two, because they took one look at the punch Mason had thrown and began backing up, wide-eyed.

Mason grinned. "Hmm. Looks like you're on your own there, Clinton."

"Well, shit. Now it's gonna look bad. Two of us beating the shit out of only one of them." Clay pointed at one of the two retreating guys. "You. Come on back here and take a swing at me so it's a fair fight and I get my chance at Clinton, too."

"I wouldn't worry about fair, Clay. Any man who hits a woman forfeits rights to a fair fight." Teeth clenched tight, Mason pulled back for another punch. "Stand up, coward."

Still on his ass on the ground, Clinton scrambled backwards a few feet, like a cowardly crab crawling toward the safety of the surf.

"She only got what was coming to her. Thinking I'm going to pay for her to go to the prom and she's not going to put out. The girl's a cock tease. Acting all like she's a virgin or something when everyone around here knows you two have both been diddling with her for years now."

"Oh, that's it. Move out of the way, Mason." Clay was on Clinton like a lion on a fresh piece of meat, hauling him up off the grass only to slam him up against a tree. "Now, you take that back about April."

A few smashes of his head against the trunk and Clinton was crying, which was when Clay let him drop with a snort of disgust. "You ain't worth it. Let's go, Mason."

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www.catjohnson.net

I am sure you've seen the very hot cover of Rough Stock, my new rodeo menage. It features two hot cowboys and one very lucky woman in between them because, to quote one of the side characters in my book, "when you choose men who think 8 seconds is a long time, perhaps you do need two of them".

But anyway, I am in possession of a beautiful desktop wallpaper featuring the bookcover of Rough Stock. Anyone who would like me to email them the file, just shoot me an email at cat.johnson@lindenbayromance.com and I will reply with the wallpaper jpg attached.

Enjoy!

Cat Johnson

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