From the Boots Up (15 page)

The
first word she ever said to me was “Hey.” A simple greeting. A thoughtful “can
I give you a hand” inflection, something just about anybody in Saratoga would
do for a stranger with a flat. But I wasn’t a stranger and I somehow knew that
and she knew it, too, because I saw it in her eyes. I wondered if she saw it in
mine. I hoped she did, as I watched her pull my spare tire out of the back of
my Pathfinder. She gave me her time and told me where to get the bum tire
fixed. And then we had to go about the business of living on the different
paths our lives were building. But something was at work there. Something
bigger than both of us, bigger than a windswept Wyoming landscape and a western
sky painted with a million stars.

Meg’s chest tightened as she kept reading. It was the
story of their first week, of Gina’s growing feelings for her and the certainty
she felt about their connection. She got to the second-to-the-last page.

I
don’t know why some things happen. They just do. And now Wyoming’s in my blood
and it’s in my bones and it’s wrapped around my heart. And it tells me stories
about dogs named Dammit and winters so hard they cut. It sings cowboy songs
around an evening bonfire and two-steps me across a wooden floor worn smooth
under hundreds of boots. It takes me riding over secret mountain passes and
kisses me in stands of ponderosa pine that smell faintly of vanilla. It makes
me cry with hope before it leaves my bed with the dawn and it holds me close in
the dark and whispers dreams against my lips.

I
need Wyoming. I need it like I need the breath in my body.

I
found my magic in Saratoga, when the first word she ever said to me was “Hey.”
And I fell in love with her from the boots up.

Meg’s eyes stung a little with tears. She wiped her
eyes and turned to the last page. A flight itinerary, LAX to Denver. She read
the writing at the top of the page. “See you in a week, Cowgirl.”

A thousand tiny explosions rippled through her chest.
She slid the papers back into the envelope and watched Dammit chase Bugoff into
the horse paddock. The sun was warm on her back and Alice’s laughter carried
past the open dining room door. Peace settled across Meg’s heart. Peace and
possibility. She swung her legs one last time and hopped onto the ground.
Whatever this was with Gina, Meg wanted it and needed it and it didn’t matter
what anyone else thought.

She smiled, tapping the envelope against her thigh as
she walked. She opened the office door. “Dad? You got a minute?”

End

About the Author

Andi Marquette was born in New Mexico and grew up in
Colorado. She completed a couple of academic degrees in anthropology and
returned to New Mexico, where she decided a doctorate in history was somehow a
good idea. She completed it before realizing that maybe she should have joined
the circus, or at least a traveling Gypsy troupe. Oh, well. She fell into
editing sometime around 1993 and has been obsessed with words ever since, which
may or may not be a good thing.

She writes a mystery series set in New Mexico and a
science fiction series set wherever she decides to take the characters. She is
also the author of several short stories (some of which are available as
freebies on her website) and another romance novella,
Some Kind of River
, available on Kindle. You can find excerpts and
information about her books, freebie short stories, see what’s in the pipeline,
and catch her blogging at her website:
http://www.andimarquette.com

Want more info about her books without leaving your
Kindle? Keep reading.

Some Kind of River

Novella, available on Kindle

River rafting guide and kayaking nut Dez Parker figures
her best friend Mel Hammond just isn’t into her romantically, which bums Dez
out because they’ll be spending the summer guiding together and Mel seems like
the right kind of woman for her. Then again, Dez doesn’t want to ruin a
friendship by admitting her feelings to Mel. That changes when she finds out
that Mel might be interested in someone, and Dez is torn between wanting to
take a chance and respecting Mel's choice. Is it really too late for Dez? Or is
there something she doesn't know? Whichever it is, a summer on the river isn't
always a smooth ride.

Available right here on Kindle.

Land of Entrapment

The award-winning inaugural volume of the New Mexico
mystery series.

K.C. Fontero
left New Mexico in the wake of a bitter breakup to take an academic fellowship
in Texas. With a doctorate in sociology and expertise in white supremacist
groups, she’s well on her way to an academic career. But a plea for help from
her ex, Melissa, brings K.C. back to Albuquerque to find Melissa’s troubled
younger sister. Megan has disappeared with her white supremacist boyfriend and
K.C. knows she has the expertise to track the mysterious group, and she knows she’ll
be doing a public service to uncover it. What she doesn’t know is how far into
her past she’ll have to go to find both Megan and herself and the deeper she
digs into the group, the greater the danger she faces.

Available in
print and ebook. Read an excerpt at
www.andimarquette.com
.

State of Denial

Book 2 in the New Mexico mystery series

The body of a young gay man buried along the Rio Grande
leads Albuquerque police detective Chris Gutierrez down a path of dark secrets
and old hatreds. In spite of the other detective assigned to the case —
the sexist and possibly homophobic Dale Harper — Chris tracks the killer
to an older unsolved case, and to the doors of a local megachurch and a popular
minister with ties to ex-gay groups. Enlisting the research skills and networks
of sociologist and best friend K.C. Fontero, Chris works to build the case and
make an arrest before the killer strikes again, even as she must also face her
growing feelings for attorney Dayna Carson. Struggling with the complexity of a
difficult case, Chris is drawn into an ominous and potentially deadly game of
cat-and-mouse with a man who might kill to protect his own secrets.

Available in print and ebook. Read an excerpt at
www.andimarquette.com
.

The Ties that Bind

Book 3 in the New Mexico mystery series

When the Albuquerque paper reports that an unidentified
white man was found dead along a remote stretch of road on the Navajo
Reservation in northwestern New Mexico, UNM sociology professor K.C. Fontero
thinks she might be able to use the case as an example of culture and
jurisdiction in one of her classes. But it’s soon apparent that this dead man
might have something to do with a mysterious letter that River Crandall,
brother of K.C.’s partner Sage, recently received from the siblings’ estranged
father, Bill. What does the letter and Bill’s link to a natural gas drilling
company have to do with the dead man? And why would Bill try to contact his son
and daughter now, after a decade of silence?

From the
streets of Albuquerque to the vast expanse of the Navajo Reservation, K.C. and
Sage try to unravel the secrets of a dead ma while Sage confronts a past she
thought she’d left behind. But someone or something wants to keep those secrets
buried, and as K.C. soon discovers, sometimes beliefs of one culture jump the
boundaries of another, threatening to drive a wedge into the relationship she’s
building with Sage.

Available in
print and ebook. Read an excerpt at
www.andimarquette.com
.

Friends in High Places

Book 1 of the
Far Seek
Chronicles

Space bandit and trader Torri Rendego and the crew of the
Far Seek are trying to acquire a shipment of opals from the mining colony of
Newburg, on Earth. But the hated Coalition is upping security to break up
smuggling rings. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Torri’s Academy bunkmate and
captain in the Coalition forces has been stationed there, as well. Will the
bonds of the past overcome their current affiliations? And will they be able to
complete their conflicting missions?

Available in print and ebook. Read an excerpt at
www.andimarquette.com
.

A Matter of Blood

Book 2,
Far Seek
Chronicles
and 2011 Rainbow Award winner

Outlaw Torri Rendego can’t shake her past, which involves
her connection to her Academy bunkmate, Kai Tinsdale, now a commander in the
hated Coalition. Torri thinks the Coalition is up to something on Kai’s family’s
holdings. Problem is, she’s right, so she and the crew of the Far Seek devise
an outrageous plan to gather information and get it to Kai somehow. But even
the best-laid plans can go dangerously awry, especially where Kai’s concerned.
Risking herself, her crew, and a tenuous tie to a shared history, Torri goes
deep into Coalition territory to uncover a secret with far-reaching
consequences for a distant and ancient culture. The stakes of this venture may
prove way too high, even for a gambler like Torri.

Available in print and ebook. Read an excerpt at
www.andimarquette.com
.