This week I’m part of the Cowboys and Lawmen Blog Hop!

From May 2-6, over 50 authors will share their love of Cowboys and Lawmen. Cowboys are known as bad-boys, but what happens when the bad-boy is also the law in town? Why are these small town sheriffs, Texas Rangers and ex-outlaws-turned-lawmen so irresistible?

Join us at http://cowboycharm.blogspot.com/ to find out.

Every time you leave a comment with your email address, you will be entered for some amazing prizes. ***PLEASE LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS TO QUALIFY***

You will also be entered to win a free digital copy of WYOMING ESCAPE.

Grand Prize: At least a $100 Gift Card for Amazon or Barnes and Noble, your choice. The winner will be chosen at random from comments containing email addresses, and will be announced on May 7. This is open to both US and international readers.

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Gary Cooper – The Quintessential Cowboy

The theme of this blog hop is Cowboys and Lawmen. My current book WYOMING ESCAPE has a minor character named Sheriff Red Eagle. While he only plays a small part this time, he is the hero of the second book of my Triple H Ranch series, WYOMING HOPE. Since he’s still revealing his story to me, I thought I’d talk instead about one of my favorite movie stars who often played a cowboy lawman—Gary Cooper.

For me, Gary Cooper, with his lean, lanky body, quiet confidence and laid-back approach, was the quintessential American cowboy. Although he rode the movie range long before tight jeans and rippling abs became the rage, he was a popular sex symbol of his era. His smoldering good looks and powerful presence drew women in droves. Here was a man who knew who he was and was comfortable in his skin. He didn’t have to yell for people to pay attention. And he had a twinkle in his eye that implied he knew how to have fun too.

Cooper grew up in Montana on his family’s ranch. So he had no problem playing cowboys when he moved to Hollywood. He consistently portrayed the strong, silent, secretly romantic hero. (In real life he could be considered overly romantic, but that’s another story. ) His two most famous cowboy roles were in his first talkie, The Virginian, and one of his late movies, High Noon, for which he won an Academy Award. In both, he takes the high moral ground of a Western hero. In The Virginian, he helps to capture and eventually hang his best friend, who has turned outlaw. In High Noon, he plays a sheriff who takes on a gang of criminals single-handedly when the town folk won’t support him. Can’t get any more heroic than that.

So who is your favorite Cowboy hero—real or fictional? Do you know any real cowboys?

Leave a comment to be entered in the prize raffle – a free digital copy of WYOMING ESCAPE and $100 gift card . Don’t forget your email address. Otherwise, we can’t contact you.

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 For an exciting read about a modern day cowboy, try my book WYOMING ESCAPE. Available on Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Apple, Kobo and Smashwords.

One dead body is frightening enough, but a second one, plus a dirty cop, sends chef Mikela Richards fleeing for her life. The ultimate city girl finds a safe hiding place on a Wyoming Dude ranch, where she tries to discover if the murders are connected to the mysterious computer memory stick she found in her car. But her fragile feeling of safety is disturbed by a compelling Marine, home on leave.

Back from Afghanistan to heal both physically and emotionally, Shawn Saunders recognizes the type of fear in Mikela’s eyes—it’s one of the things he’s come home to forget. Even though he knows it’s a bad idea, he can’t stop himself from trying to help her, while she’s even more afraid of letting him. In spite of their reservations, neither can resist the pull of their attraction.

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Don’t forget to visit the other blogs talking about Cowboys and Lawmen. Go to http://cowboycharm.blogspot.com/

Cowboy Charm Blog Hops now has a companion FaceBook Group. If you’d like to join to receive blog hop and prize announcements here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/453991144693516/

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