Western Womens Fiction

Margaret "Peggy" Thomas and her husband, James, lead a simple and peaceful life; she tends to the farm while he works as sheriff in the nearby town of Bleak Knob. Their evenings are spent doing the thing they love most - being together. One afternoon, after picking up fabric at the general store, Margaret watches helplessly as James is gunned down on the sidewalk in front of her. Days of mourning turn into weeks and then years, filled with little more than grief and alcohol.

Jennifer Jane (JJ) Watson spent 10 years in a maximum-security prison. The last thing she expected was to get an early release along with a job on a remote Canadian cattle ranch caring for three of the sexiest cowboys she's ever met! Rafe, Brady, and Dan thought they were getting a couple of male ex-cons to help out around their secluded ranch, but instead they get an attractive and very appealing female.

When her tinsmith father and brothers head West, Polish immigrant Marie Kotlarczyk has no choice but to go along. Family, after all, is family. The Dakota Territories are anything but welcoming to the Kotlarczyks, and as the months trip by, Marie must pick up the hammers she’s secretly desired but also feared. When she faces the skeptical people of Flats Town, the demands of the local Army commander, and her public failures, her inner voice grows destructively, forcing Marie to decide exactly who she is and what it means to be a woman smith.

Producer Thalia Thorne's career is on the line. She's promised to lure James Robert Bradley back to the limelight, no matter what it takes. But once in Montana, she sees that J.R. has built a new life for himself - as a real-life cowboy - and Thalia finds it hard to resist the man he's become. Then a blizzard strikes. Suddenly they're alone, with only body heat to keep them warm. When the snow melts, she'll have to choose: Go back to the big city - or sacrifice everything for the man she can't let go.

Men with…more. More powerful. More heart. More guts and grit and sometimes…dimensions beyond. That’s the Marshalls, brothers Quinn and Josh and their cousin Case: strong, handsome and sexy protectors who will tackle evil in any of its forms to guard and keep safe those they love. This set includes Texas Refuge, Texas Star, and Texas Danger.

Somewhere along the way, Charlotte Freemont stopped believing in happily-ever-afters. It's one of the reasons why she ran out on her own wedding instead of settling for anything less than she deserved. Now instead of the cross-country road trip she had planned, she's stranded in a small town with a rough and hardened hunk of a man who's got secrets of his own. Luke Wilder doesn't have time for the sassy brunette who he's sure won't stick around anyways. He's had his heart broken before, and there's no use getting bent out of shape over someone who's just going to move on.

The only person I ever needed was my brother. It was us against the world, especially after our parents died. He was my rock. My life. My safe place. My home. Until they came storming in to claim me. Alex Holland and Ripper Hastings are everything a woman could want. Powerful, protective, and hotter than sin.

The Strange Husband is the story of a newly married couple from the state of New York, who decided to make their home in the Oregon Territory in 1848. Shortly after beginning their journey on the Oregon Trail, sickness causes Callie, the wife of John Wideman, to be delirious at times. After being separated from the rest of the wagon train, they meet a stranger. After a while Callie feels that the man who claims to be her husband is indeed not her husband, but the stranger. Is her mind playing games with her or is it really happening?

Annabelle Hart thought owning the family ranch would be everything she ever dreamed of and more. The Montana wilderness has always flowed like blood through her veins, but she can’t understand why her heart feels so empty inside. Three years after leaving Montana to become a wild land firefighter, Colton Brooks still dreams about the girl he left behind at Hart Ranch. He prays for her happiness, believing she deserves someone better than him, but doubts he will ever love again.

When some pretty little thing shows up at my doorstep with a suitcase, claiming she rented my house for the summer, I waste no time informing her that my house isn't for rent. Some Internet jack*ss scammed her out of all her money, but that's not my problem. Only when I find her sleeping in her car a couple days later, I can't turn my back. I make her an offer: room and board in exchange for working on my ranch. She agrees, and I open my doors to a girl who sings too loud, sticks her nose where it doesn't belong, and distracts me with her tight jeans and those full lips.

Ryan Havens appears to be a cowboy who's down on his luck. He's angry, frustrated and looking for a fight when he meets Erica Smyth. She's a barmaid with limited skills who has two drunken brothers harassing her. Ryan comes to her rescue, but the ensuing brawl leaves him injured and her jobless. They reluctantly agree to work together and share expenses for the next few weeks. What neither of them wants the other to know is their true identity. Each plays the part of a chameleon, constantly changing as the situation demands.

Sometimes it's tough to be Lucy O'Rourke. Disasters of all sorts seem to seek out this globe-trotting photographer. Whether it's on a raft in Cataract Canyon, a crocodile attack on the Amazon, a hurricane in the Gulf Stream or even the two-legged kind (men), Lucy just can't seem to help making the wrong choice at precisely the wrong moment. This collection of eleven linked stories features the unique blending of romance and adventure that is the trademark of Pam Houston.

Suburban housewife Rebecca Long has lived the American dream for several years. When her world suddenly comes crashing down around her after the sudden death of her husband and she is left to fend for herself and her two young children, she makes a drastic change and moves her family across the country. Settling on the Texas ranch of her aunt and uncle, she accepts a job keeping the books for neighboring rancher Seth Winters, leaving behind the life she's grown accustomed to.

The present: His daughter, fifth generation Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong, finds herself on the trail of that same cargo when skeletal remains are found near an excavation site in the Texas desert. She’s also dealing with the aftermath of a massacre that claimed the lives of all the workers at a intelligence company on her watch. These two cases are connected by a long buried secret, one that men have killed and died to protect. Caitlin and her outlaw lover Cort Wesley Masters must prove themselves to be as strong as steel to overcome a bloody tide that has been rising for centuries.

Sometimes even good girls need to be a little bad.... Marla Jean Bandy might be down, but she's not out. Even though her no-good ex-husband left her for another woman - a Bookmobile -driving librarian 20 years her senior - Marla Jean won't settle for another lonely night. She's not ready for Mr. Right, but why not have a little fun with Mr. Right Now? The only wrench in her plan is her childhood crush, Jake - and the memory of the one toe-curling kiss they shared on a hot summer night years ago....

The last thing Ruby McGavin thought she would be doing after her husband, Cole, died was meeting his family. He had claimed his relatives were all dead, and she didn't know him long enough - they were only married one year - to think otherwise. But it turns out that members of Cole's family, from a small ranch town in California, are very much alive, and they show up on Ruby's doorstep with the news that she has inherited some land from her husband.

Mira Walker is hoping that competing on a "living history" reality show will give her what's missing from her real life. Maybe she'll get closer to her boyfriend, who hasn't been all that nice to her lately. Get fired up about her job again. Who knows, she might even win a million dollars. Gabe Kincaid and his brother, Alec, are after that million, too, though. Mira and Scott are no threat at all, not when everybody involved is going to want to kill Scott after the first day. And there's no bond stronger than a twin's. What could possibly go wrong?

Welcome to the Lazy Windmill, where guests find that life is what you make it, love is priceless, and family is determined by far more than DNA. Casie Carmichael's accidental dude ranch is well on its way, but the residents of her Hope Springs haven are running wild. With an unwed mother-to-be, a turbulent teen romance, and a bronc-riding grandmother to contend with, the last thing Casie has time for is a romantic relationship. But convincing the recently returned Colt Dickenson that she's not interested in him - or the confusion he causes her - is easier said than done.

Nick made all the wrong choices for all the wrong reasons. His father had failed at marriage and fatherhood. Nick was determined to show him up. He'd be a better husband, better father, and a better ranch manager than Sam Stafford ever hoped to be. But Nick's wife Whitney hated the ranch and she walked out on Nick and their two beautiful daughters three years ago.

Colt Stafford's winner-take-all personality clashed with his father's similar temperament and led Colt to pursue his own success far from the Double S ranch. The opportunity came in private equities once he earned his way to a desk on Wall Street. But timing is everything and Colt's financial demise coincided with his father's illness. God's perfect timing doesn't always seem all that perfect, but Colt needed a job, the Double S needed Colt, and Sam sent his prodigal son a ticket, and Colt came home.