Time for Some Time’s Up, Cowboy Tropes

Every romance needs tropes. Tropes tell readers what to expect.

I write cowboy romances set in small towns. My Grand, Montana series are traditional contemporary western romances filled with angsty emotion and everyday people going about their everyday lives.

The Roped in Time series? Not so much.

I use the same tropes. I’m the same writer. So, what makes the two series so different? What sets their stories apart? What do I do with these magical tropes?

Let’s dive in and see.

Small Towns

You don't get much more small town than this

In the Roped in Time series, the small town is a Wild West theme park set in the West Pioneer Mountains of Montana. Burning Scrub is a former ghost town-turned-cult-turned-commune that needs to raise money to survive. They also have to pay off the county to keep their off-the-grid operation off the IRS radar.

Burning Scrub does nothing halfway.

Grumpy Cowboys

So grumpy that this cowboy refused to appear in the photo

Jayce Hanson showed up in Book 1 of the Roped in Time series, The Cowboy Contract, as the competitor for the heroine’s affection. He thinks he wants a woman with old-fashioned values. He did not stand a chance. The heroine’s values, despite what he believes, are not old-fashioned at all.

So yes, he’s kind of grumpy about it in Time’s Up, Cowboy, which opens with preparations for the wedding. In the words of my editor: “Hahaha, he’s so tragic!”

Don’t feel bad for him, though. Malika drags him out of the doldrums.

The handsome cowboy who didn’t know how to flirt was nothing at all like his sweet mother, except in appearance. Vanessa was gracious and charming, whereas a thundercloud hung over her son’s morose head. What did he have to be so gloomy about? His family owned land. He hadn’t been kidnapped. He wasn’t about to be forced into an unwanted marriage. Or was he?

Perhaps that was it. Was he the great-granddaughter’s groom? If so, why was the marriage undesirable to him? Was the bride poor? Worse, was she ugly? Malika couldn’t imagine this beautiful man married to someone less attractive than he was. What a shame for their children.

At least the upcoming wedding wasn’t hers.

Rebellious Heroines

Not exactly as illustrated by close enough

Malika George is not the type of heroine who sits around waiting for life to happen to her. She has plans, and when her older brother arranges a marriage for her that she Does. Not. Want, she takes action.

“There are lots of ways for women to make money in America without a work visa.”

Adeel recoiled. “You will not work as a servant,” he said, shocked.

“Of course not.”

Be a servant? She’d rather become an old man’s second wife.

Besides, she already had a better idea. One of her roommates ran a dominatrix business online that Adeel knew nothing about. Men—sometimes women—contacted her, begging her to order them to do intimate things to themselves. She had more calls than she could manage.

Malika would do something similar. Her sisters had often been indiscreet about their marriages in her presence. Thanks to their talk she had a good idea of what men liked to do with their wives. One brother-in-law dressed as a pirate and insisted his wife pleasure him with a vibrator while he bent over an old wooden sea chest he’d acquired for the purpose. Another liked to be ridden as if he were a horse and whipped with a crop. Not all chose to be dominated—Aisha’s husband preferred her to dress as a concubine and dance suggestively for him, then do naughty things to him with her mouth. A few lacked any imagination and relied on their wives to inspire them. They all, however, desired to be seduced.

The secret was in helping them unlock and indulge those secret desires, then send them home to their wives. Her services could be considered therapeutic. That was where money came in. How hard could it be?

She couldn’t discuss such a business proposition with her brother, of course. 

Malika is everything that Jayce Does. Not. Want. And she will not be defeated.

Forced Proximity

Burning Scrub is isolated. There’s one road in, and it’s owned by the Ride No More Ranch (which is owned by Jayce and his father). Malika’s brother had his Wild West adventure in Book 1, The Cowboy Contract, playing his version of Wyatt Earp. In Book 2, Time’s Up, Cowboy, he’s invited to Beau and Belle’s wedding, and it suits his purposes to bring his baby sister along.

Beau’s arrival was when Jayce’s problems began. Still the worst cowboy on record, and a lousy country singer to boot, Beau had stolen Belle from under his nose. He didn’t know how it had happened, but there were less than two weeks until the wedding, and he had to fix things with her before then.

Speaking of weddings…

“Sheik Ali has RSVP’d,” Benny said. By RSVP’d he meant paid. “He’s bringing his baby sister with him, and he wants her entertained. Jayce, you’re good with children. How about you take her on?”

“Sure.”

Whatever. Jayce didn’t care, so long as he wasn’t expected to help with the wedding. Besides, he did like children. His heart curled into a tight, miserable ball. Belle would have made a fantastic mother for the next generation of Hansons who were relying on him.

Discussion of the wedding ensued. Beau was playing some concert in Memphis, so he’d left all the planning to Belle, Mavis, and Leon. Jayce tuned it out.

Malika is not the type of baby sister Jayce expects to be babysitting. At all.

Sizzling Forbidden Attraction

Not exactly sizzling but this is a PG site

Something’s got to keep them apart. That something is Jayce, because Malika would happily ruin her engagement to an older man she’s never met by having a steamy affair with a beautiful young cowboy. Except she’s not expecting happily ever after. And Jayce?

That’s what he wants.

Jayce wondered what type of reputation she’d earned. He might think she was arrogant, spoiled, and entitled, but from what Adeel was describing, those didn’t appear to be flaws, because Adeel was all of those too, and he seemed quite proud that she was the same.

What Jayce also was hearing, however, was that he wouldn’t be escorting her down the mountain today. The day was looking up.

“Which is why,” Adeel continued, dashing his hopes, “I need you to keep an eye on her for me while she’s here, because she’ll try to leave Burning Scrub on her own once I’m gone, and if she dies in the attempt, it will be difficult to explain to her future husband.”

Adeel didn’t have enough money to make him do it. He’d made up his mind about that.

But he was curious. “Why me? Why not Adam? Better yet, why not Tilly or Pearl? What about Mavis?” There were so many better babysitting options than him.

“Malika has a weakness for beautiful men, and you’re also a man of honor,” Adeel said. “She’s safe in your care. Besides, she’d never obey a woman.”

Adeel does have enough money, by the way. He promises Burning Scrub twenty-five million dollars to keep Malika occupied until her wedding, and keeping her occupied falls on Jayce.

So. Of the five tropes above, which is your favorite?

Roped in Time series

Time’s Up, Cowboy releases on June 23^rd.  You can read Chapter One here.

The Cowboy Contract is available now. You can read Chapter One here.

Western rom com not your thing? Don’t worry! If you love the Grand, Montana series and my angstier cowboys, the Strong Brothers of Grand, Montana will be making their debut soon!