Short Westerns

Family and babies abound during this fun-filled evening of love, laughter, and happily ever afters! Spend the evening catching up with our loving and loyal Bradens in this holiday celebration and fall in love all over again with each of the Bradens at Weston, and their children. A Very Braden Christmas is a novelette and part of the Love in Bloom big-family romance collection.

Cowboy Cal Hayden has loved Rachel Gray practically since the first time he set eyes on her. But Cal’s a careful, responsible man who knows better than to start a relationship before he can give it his all. He bided his time while caring for his family through his father’s terminal illness. Now his father is gone and his mother is settled, but has Cal waited too long to make his move?

She wants the adventure of a lifetime. He needs to heal old family wounds. If they are going to help each other, they cannot fall in love along the way.

A battered woman is the last thing Oliver Chapman expected to see when he was scouting on the range. He knew he had no choice but to take her home to his ranch to allow her to heal. But getting close to Willow is proving more difficult than the horses that run wild on the prairie.

As tense, short story Westerns go, W.C. Tuttle's "Spawn of the Desert", set in the 1850s rugged Southwest mountains, is a splendid, fast-paced example of the classic genre of tales of gold and silver mining towns run by ruthless men, and inhabited by an eclectic population of miners, gamblers, gunmen, drunks, hardscrabble women, and the obligatory "colorful" characters. Tuttle (1883-1969) was one of the most prolific Western writers of his day, with more than 40 novels and short stories to his credit.

When Hope Inkwell gets lost she is rescued by Lucky. Hope has been hurt in the past and has strengthened her walls and no one is getting in ever again. When Lucky rescues Hope he doesn't count on her rescuing him right back. Maybe Lucky will finally be lucky in love.

Chris and Danny Friessen return in a short sweet novella about unexpected consequences in their young married life.

Johnson O'Neill joined the Heartsong Ranch to escape his addiction. One night at a friend's wedding, stress causes him to fall off the wagon and into the arms of the woman of his dreams. Debra Donahue lost her husband to alcohol and then pulled herself up by her bootstraps, becoming a real estate agent selling million-dollar properties. One night with a sexy cowboy and a bottle of whiskey, Debra falls hard.

Maria has left everything she knows to travel to French Gulch, California, to find a husband, but none of the potential matches seem to work out. Adam is focused on his job and has no intentions of finding a wife among the women who traveled to French Gulch to find love. Together, they learn that the Christmas is full of surprises that can overcome personal intentions and rescue those in need.

Tessa and Jake had known each other since infants. But it took one drunken night for them to realize that they were made for each other. The Cowboy's Bride by Danielle Lee Zwissler is one of 2013's sweetest love stories. It takes an arch, a romantic cowboy and a dream of forever for this couple to get together.

Written by the Amazon best-selling science fiction and fantasy author John Daulton, "Auction Yard" represents a break from tradition for this writer. This novella is a quick listen and has garnered nothing but five-star reviews. Auction Yard is a romantic story about aging, love, desire, and relationships. It is about honorable people living real lives in a complicated world. A great story for lovers of animals, nature, and human dignity.

Melody Bennett's parents trampled on her teenage romance with a drifter ten years ago. He disappeared without a word of goodbyes on the night they had planned to run away together. Since then, she cast aside her foolish notions of happily ever after and worked hard alongside the hired help to care for the majestic horses on her family's ranch. She refused to give love another chance and resigned to live her life alone.

Unemployed ranch hand Jim Dailey only wants some matches when he rides up to a store in Willow Grove, Kansas, on a dusty, fateful summer day. What he gets when he steps inside, though, is anything but. Faced with two bloodthirsty outlaws and no other choice, Dailey pulls his six-shooter... and sets himself on a long and twisted path of triumph and tragedy.

An unplanned murder during a bank robbery has another sheriff on the trail of those on the lam.

What is a lineshack? It's a small cabin used by ranch hands, a place of refuge during storms. Sometimes the only place within miles, a place that can mean the difference between life and death, especially when a winter storm is about to bare down on you. This winter is no different...except that this time there's three murderous brothers, the sheriff, and a group lost skiers who may just need the same lonely building. Then from out of no where surfaces another, a man out of time, out of place.... Who will survive this New Years Eve.

It's 1867. Firestone, Montana, is the setting for a long-awaited wedding. After their harrowing experience in the wilds of the Western Frontier, Ginny Douglas and Manly Forsythe finally come to the church to join their lives together forever. In the midst of their joy and excitement, unforeseen circumstances conspire to foil their plans. A man with Ginny in his sights resurfaces and threatens everything she hoped to gain by marrying Manly.

A collection of short stories in the Heart Falls world by New York Times best-selling author Vivian Arend. For the past year, Ivy and Walker Stone have been working to expand their family. They’ve filled out forms until their fingers cramped, had home visits with social workers, and planned for the future. Walker and his brothers have done construction and renovations to his and Ivy’s home in Heart Falls to make room for the coming new additions.

Hannah Keane is tired of being on the road. She's eager to move home and live a quiet life, writing music and teaching at the local kids' center. For David Quinn who is in no hurry to find love, she is the very last person on his list. Hannah even seemed to look down her nose at him the last time she saw him, like she did back when they were in high school. But, David starts to worry that something else is going on - that Hannah is running from something and won't be able to stay in Quinn Valley after all.

Maggie Quinn loves her role as bartender and co-owner of Quinn’s. Calling Charlie Keane to place her weekly order is something she looks forward to. It’s no secret to her friends and family that Maggie has a crush on Charlie’s voice. She’s eager to meet him in person, but Charlie keeps rescheduling their business lunch - and he may have waited too long for his own good.

Cambridge professor and renowned historian Anthony Pagden covers a vast subject in a compact package with Peoples and Empires. This wide-ranging and intellectually stimulating work examines the origins and history of the West with terse, efficient prose. With a captivating narration by Robert O'Keefe, listeners will find this work enjoyable and utterly absorbing.