Trouble In Dixie (Texas Trouble #5)

Professional rodeo team roper, Katie Upton, is tired of being called the "Mild Child" in relation to her less inhibited twin sister. She's spent a lifetime cleaning up her sister's messes, the last of which landed her working for the handsome, but standoffish, owner of the Rockin' D ranch in Amarillo.

Katie whips the ranch and ranch hands into shape in no time, and tries to help Tommy corral his spoiled little princess of a daughter, Dixie, too. Stubborn little Dixie doesn't like that much and tells her daddy that Katie is boring, and that she wants Katie's twin sister back at the ranch, because she's fun. Katie realizes Dixie feels that way, because the little hellion is just like her sister!

When Tommy talks to Katie about Dixie, he basically tells her he thinks she's boring too. Katie is tired of living in her vibrant twin's shadow, so she leaves the ranch determined to redefine herself according to her twin sister's rules, and find out what all the hoopla is about being uninhibited.

One she-devil tattoo, a new blond hairdo, and a hot red motorcycle later, Katie sees what it's all about, and feels freedom like she's never known before. Unfortunately, that freedom leads her back to Tommy Tucker, and a hot night of truck sex, which lands her in a lot of trouble--the kind of trouble that makes her want to want to find more of it with the oh so sexy widowed rancher. Katie thinks he needs to loosen up and live his life again, and she is determined to show him how to do that...with her.

At only twenty-four years old, Tommy Tucker had been forced to make a decision that no husband or expectant father should ever have to make, to either save his wife, or his daughter, after a horrific truck accident. He chose his daughter, because that's what he felt his wife would have wanted him to do, but his mother-in-law felt differently, and blamed him for her death. The woman hadn't spoken to him in ten years, and refused to have anything to do with her granddaughter, either. But his former mother-in-law couldn't blame Tommy any more than he blamed himself. Every day, he had to live with the incredible guilt, as he did the best he could to raise his daughter alone, and make his quarter horse ranch successful.

Although it was dull, his life had settled into comfortable territory, until a set of beautiful redheaded twins show up at the ranch. Even thought they're identical twins, he finds out the two women were as different as night and day. One is a hellion who courts trouble at every turn, and the other is a sensible, responsible woman who tries to keep her sister out of trouble, someone he thought would be perfect for him.

No matter how much he wants Katie Upton though, Tommy can't get involved with her. For ten years, he'd avoided relationships, so he didn't cause his mother-in-law more grief, or have to explain to his daughter that he'd killed her mother. He'd hired her to work at his ranch, but where she was concerned, it was hands off.

After Katie hears some misspoken words between him and his daughter, she runs from him and the Rockin' D, hurt and angry at him. Feeling guilty, Tommy tracks her down to apologize. Instead of the nice, sweet woman who'd left the ranch a week prior, he finds someone he doesn't even recognize, a hellion twice as bad as her sister, riding a damned motorcycle that sent chills up his spine, as he imagines her lying dead in a ditch somewhere.

When the hot blond sets out to seduce him in his pickup, Tommy is powerless to resist her. She was out of his league experience wise, he'd gotten married young, and his wife had been inexperienced too, so when she suggested they have truck sex, Tommy wanted to see what he'd been missing all these years. He quickly finds out that sweet Katie Upton isn't so sweet after all, she's hotter than habaneras in July, and she is determined to give him an education, one he wants to earn a masters degree in.

Before he can explore the possibilities with her however, Tommy has to fend off his wealthy and connected mother-in-law, who is somehow getting information on the goings on at his ranch. The woman is determined he isn't going replace her daughter in his life, or he is going to pay the price, by losing his daughter.

Again, Tommy is faced with the ultimate decision, only this time he has help, in the form of a hot-tempered, hot-headed, hot Texas cowgirl, who isn't going to let anyone push her or him around anymore.