A Montana Feud
Series: Rodeo in the Blood, #3
by Jim Overstreet
Release date: August 1st, 2024
Genres: Adult, Western
Blurb:
A Montana Feud brings back all the rugged and passionate characters of the Rodeo in the Blood series for another drama-filled adventure. Fans of thrilling rodeo rides and the complexities of human relationships will find this story absorbing.
During the pandemic shortened 2020 rodeo season, former rivals, Rusty Blackstone and Warren Weston, join forces to pursue their rodeo dreams. At a rodeo in Chinook, Montana, Rusty accidentally reignites a dormant feud between his father and rodeo producer Jake Augustine. Rusty is lucky to survive the ensuing turmoil.
Meanwhile, Warren battles his ex-wife, Jenny, for a portion of his rightful inheritance. Throughout, Rusty, Warren, and Jenny struggle with the new arrangement to share their son, Todd. Warren battles to care for his invalid mother. Unexpected violence mars Rusty and Amanda’s horseback wedding.
Harlan, the only man they all trust, does his best to help them through everything.
Purchase:
Amazon: https://amzn.to/
Excerpts:
This excerpt is from A Montana Inheritance, book two in my Rodeo in the Blood series:
December 23, 2019
Belgrade, Montana
Corinne Blackstone leaned against the kitchen counter looking into the living area of her mobile home. She studied the most important man in her life. He leaned back with his head against the arm of the couch and his legs stretched out over most of its length, engrossed in a basketball game on television. She had something serious to talk about but hesitated, wondering if this was a good time. She’d promised her brother to keep it a secret and she had for two days, but this was too important. After a few seconds, she took a deep breath and moved forward. She lifted Warren’s legs and slid beneath them and held them in her lap. He reached and caressed her cheek with his knuckles.
“How’s the game going?” she asked.
“Alright, I guess. It doesn’t matter much to me. It’s the third quarter and the Celtics are up by nine.”
Corinne reached for the remote and Warren handed it to her. She muted the sound and said, “I’m about to break a promise I made to my brother.”
“You mean Rusty? You can say his name in front of me.”
“Do you know that in all the years I’ve known you, that’s only the second time you’ve said his name in my hearing?”
Warren said, “I’m not going to tell you that we’ve made up, exactly. But as far as I’m concerned, our lifetime feud is at least in remission. I don’t know about him, but I don’t bear a grudge.”
“Well, let’s hope the truce holds.”
“Did he ask you not to tell me something?”
“He doesn’t want me to tell anyone. He didn’t mention you particularly.”
“So, what’s the big secret?”
“That morning after the Finals when Jenny sent Todd up to our room, she caught him and Amanda at breakfast. She told Rusty that Todd is his son.” Corinne felt Warren’s legs stiffen as if he were about to get up and then they relaxed.
“He’s my son. It says so on his birth certificate. No matter what, legally, I’m his father.”
“Rusty could still be his biological father. He told me that it’s possible.”
Warren’s legs stiffened again and this time he swung his feet to the floor. “Shit! That woman screwed me over from day one. I thought I loved her. I really believed she loved me. Now it turns out she was unfaithful from the start. Damn her black heart.”
Corinne scooted close enough that their arms touched and said, “Don’t judge all women by her.”
“My mom told me Jenny was nothing but a gold digger and social climber before I married her. I didn’t believe her.”
“Your mom would probably have said that about any woman you brought home.”
A small, ironic smile flitted across Warren’s face. “That’s true. She thinks her Montgomery blood makes us Montana aristocrats.”
“Here’s the thing: Rusty wants me to get a DNA sample from Todd.”
“You know, last summer when you brought him to Butte? When he got out of your car, I was looking at him and I couldn’t see any resemblance to me. You know the history. I had to wonder if he really was mine. I decided that if he looks like anybody, it’s Jenny’s uncle—the one that has the ranch up on the Snowys.”
“I don’t believe I’ve ever seen her uncle.”
“The thing is, after Todd stayed with me for those three days during the Butte rodeo, I became kind of attached—more even than when he was a baby. After I caught Jenny and my dad in bed together, I didn’t see Todd very often and when I did, he just moped around like he missed his mother. He’s older now. He’s turned into a person. He talks. We do things and we have fun.”
“I told Rusty I’d get him a DNA sample. I just didn’t want to do it behind your back.”
“Biology be damned. I love the kid. Rusty beat me to win his bulldogging World Championship. He can’t have Todd.”
“I don’t think he wants to take Todd. I think he just wants to be a small part of his life.”
“Maybe.” Warren sounded doubtful.
“I suggest we get a sample from everybody—Todd, you, Rusty—and send it all in together.”
“You know about that thing with my dad. Do you think Todd could be my half-brother?”
“I doubt it. Didn’t that whole business with Jenny and your dad start a lot later?”
“I don’t know. I would hope so.”
This excerpt comes from A Montana Feud, the third book in my Rodeo in the Blood series. Although the Covid pandemic was still raging, professional rodeo had resumed to a limited extent.
August 8, 2020
Buffalo Bill Rodeo
North Platte, Nebraska
As they pulled into the Nebraskaland Wild West Arena on the north side of North Platte, Rusty and Casey were listening to the audio version of Craig Johnson’s book The Dark Horse. Casey, who was driving, parked the truck. In a suspenseful part of the story, neither one of them wanted to get out. Casey killed the engine, but they sat there slightly embarrassed until, after a few minutes, all the electronics in the pickup shut off automatically.
“Dammit, Rusty,” Casey said. “Now you’ve got me addicted to these stories of yours. I guess I could start up again.”
“Don’t you dare,” Rusty said. “We’ve only got an hour to get bulldogging on our minds.” He opened the door and got out. Casey followed. A hot wind swirled and ebbed and swirled again. They unloaded the horses. There was a dark cloud to the south.
“I don’t like the way this wind is gusting,” Casey said. “I hope it doesn’t mean that thunderhead is coming this way.”
“It looks like it’s well south,” Rusty said. “The river is between us and it. There’s probably an air current over the Platte that will push it away from us.”
“I hope so,” Casey said.
More concerned about his horses than the weather, Rusty tied Apache to the trailer and watched as Casey walked Peanut around in a circle. The horse seemed to be walking without pain, at least not much. Rusty wasn’t sure but thought his strides were an inch or two short compared to his normal gate. “How does that wound look?”
“It doesn’t look too bad. The stitches are holding,” Casey answered. “It’s draining a little, but his chest is swelled up a bit.”
Rusty shook his head. “The vet said we could ride him as soon as we figured he was ready. I think we need to give him at least a few days off. I don’t want to ask him to run when he’s sore.”
Casey said, “He’s been stuck in the trailer all day. Why don’t I lead him around for a while, loosen him up? Maybe find him some water.”
“Okay,” Rusty said. “I’ll saddle Apache and go to the rodeo office. I’ll find someone to haze for us. When I get back, I’ll pony Peanut in the arena while I warm up Apache.”
Rusty encountered Wesley Martin, a former world champion steer wrestler who hauled a team of ‘dogging horses, outside the office. He was more than happy to haze for them.
When Rusty rode into the arena, the announcer said, “Our next cowboy is Rusty Blackstone, the current World Champion. He calls that horse he is riding Apache. Apache might be a little bit on the homely side, you can see that for yourself, but he is one of the top two or three steer wrestling horses in Prorodeo. The last time I saw Rusty was at the rodeo in Minot, North Dakota over the Fourth of July. He was traveling with Casey Jones and Warren Weston. They have all competed at the National Finals. I teased them about coming in like a pack of wolves. I was right. They took nearly all the money.”
Rusty had drawn the good steer he had at the Phillipsburg, Kansas rodeo where he’d thrown him in 4.1. Considering the mud at that rodeo, he thought he could be faster on dry ground. Since the steer wasn’t terribly fast, he took a conservative start and threw the animal in 3.7.
The announcer introduced Casey Jones as a National Finals Rodeo qualifier. “He travels with Rusty Blackstone who made a spectacular run here minutes ago. He’s riding Rusty’s good horse, Apache. As I mentioned a few minutes ago, he also got a big chunk of the money in Minot last month and is sitting about tenth in the standings right now.”
Casey threw his steer in 3.9.
“See, what did I tell you?” the announcer crowed after the run. “Only two thirds of the Wolf Pack and they still got a big chunk of the money.
Rusty ended up in second place for the rodeo and Casey third.
After the rodeo, Casey sat in the trailer looking at the road atlas. He said, “It would have been a lot quicker trip if we could have come here directly from Phillipsburg.”
Rusty laughed and answered, “If those rodeo committees had asked me, I’d have gotten them to set up the rodeos so that we could have gone from Sidney to Sikeston to Lawton to Dodge City and then to Phillipsburg and North Platte. I don’t know why they didn’t ask me. Would have saved us a lot of miles. Maybe we could get Ruby to organize them next year.”
GIVEAWAY
Blitz-wide giveaway (INT) ends October 3
- $25 Amazon gift card
AUTHOR BIO:
Jim Overstreet is a lifelong cowboy and author of A Montana Rivalry. Raising horses for most of his life, he earned multiple titles in tie down roping, from youth rodeo to the senior circuit. As an accomplished writer, his work has been published in national magazines including Reader’s Digest, Persimmon Hill and numerous equine magazines, including Western Horseman. The American Horse Publications honored him as a winner in their Feature Article category.
Jim rode horses before he could walk. He grew up on the Sun Ranch, a large cattle and horse ranch in the Madison Valley in southwest Montana with a father who was an avid horseman and well-respected cowboy in the area. He grew up believing that cowboys were special. His father helped him begin training horses and later he learned from Ray Hunt and Tom Dorrance.
Jim’s adult life was filled with roping and rodeos along with raising two daughters with his wife amongst his many horses in the shadow of Montana’s Crazy Mountains.
Jim loves to write, except when he hates it, and although he is old enough to know better, Jim still rides and trains horses. He is passionate about telling stories of the contemporary West that demonstrate the physical toughness, mental determination, and dependence on community inherent to ranching and rodeo. His first book, A Montana Rivalry, released by Palmetto Publishing in fall of 2023, is the first book in the Rodeo in The Blood Series.
Jim rode horses before he could walk. He grew up on the Sun Ranch, a large cattle and horse ranch in the Madison Valley in southwest Montana with a father who was an avid horseman and well-respected cowboy in the area. He grew up believing that cowboys were special. His father helped him begin training horses and later he learned from Ray Hunt and Tom Dorrance.
Jim’s adult life was filled with roping and rodeos along with raising two daughters with his wife amongst his many horses in the shadow of Montana’s Crazy Mountains.
Jim loves to write, except when he hates it, and although he is old enough to know better, Jim still rides and trains horses. He is passionate about telling stories of the contemporary West that demonstrate the physical toughness, mental determination, and dependence on community inherent to ranching and rodeo. His first book, A Montana Rivalry, released by Palmetto Publishing in fall of 2023, is the first book in the Rodeo in The Blood Series.
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