Western Womens Fiction

She ran away to see the world. He was left behind with the fallout. Do these childhood sweethearts still have a chance at happily-ever-after? Salt Lick, Kentucky. Prodigal child Clem Calhoun is home to beg for forgiveness. But returning after a seven-year stint in the military has her more nervous than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

Gloriana wanted to write and travel. She wanted to be bold and brave. She wanted love, children, and dogs. She is miserable in her four-year marriage and daydreams about divorce and running away from all her problems. Then she has the worst day of her life. Her marriage is a shambles and she is suddenly a widow. Now, Glory must pick up the pieces of her life and create a new way of living. When she meets a cowboy, her life begins to take unexpected turns. Can a woman living in the Pacific Northwest create a life of happiness with a cowboy from Oklahoma?

Andra Lawler lives isolated at her family’s horse ranch, imprisoned by the memories of an assault in college. When she needs help training her foals, she hires a Haitian-Creole cowboy from New Orleans with a laugh as big as the Montana sky. LJ Delisle can’t stand the idea that Andra might be lonely - or eating frozen TV dinners. He bakes his way into her kitchen with a lemon velvet cake, and offers her cooking lessons that set them on the road to romance. But even their love can’t escape the shadow of what they've been through.

Mary Louisa Roberts won the race of a lifetime - or so she thought. In competition with desperate homesteaders, ruthless land seekers, and a sheriff determined to see her fail, Mary rides out on a horse to strike her claim in the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1893. When she finally thrusts her flag into the dirt, 160 acres becomes her own. But with that claim, she risks more than she could ever imagine.

Nora Sheridan, a loving wife and mother and talented artist, lives with her husband Dan, an architect, and their two young daughters Suzie and Kristin on their sprawling horse ranch in Akers Ridge, Oregon. Nora's world is shattered when her family is the victim of a violent crime, tragically taking their lives and ending hers in the ways that counted most. Now alone and in her mid-30s, Nora struggles to cope with her life that hardly seems worth living with the help of her best friend Marilyn and her father-in-law George.

Heather Lindsay loves falling in love - even though her blueprint for romance has failed her time and time (and time) again. But now that she’s signed on to design an outdoor-wedding venue for her friend’s home renovation show, Heather’s found a new focus: her career. Only it’s not long before she’s being distracted - by the hunkiest man who ever swaggered down the streets of Red Oak Falls. The show’s new ranch manager, Waylon Peterson, a.k.a. Prince Harry in a cowboy hat, has every woman swooning. He’s also got a bad-boy rep that’s made him the hottest mess in town.

A sassy redhead with an axe to grind…After catching her husband kissing another woman in the barn, Loretta Sullivan Bailey left Lonesome Canyon Ranch and swore she’d never come back. But when her daughter threatens to drop out of college to become a rancher’s wife, Loretta refuses to let her baby make the same mistake she did. She returns to the ranch, determined to get her daughter back in school by the summer’s end…and resolute on ignoring her feelings for her ex-husband.

Mitchell Tucker has come back to the small Texas town of Gila Rock looking for something Julianne Boyce has no intention of giving him: forgiveness. It's been eight years since Mitch went to jail for starting a fire that claimed her husband's life...and longer still since Juli and Mitch fell into a forbidden first love that their feuding families brought to an end. She's lost too much because of his thoughtlessness to let herself fall under that familiar spell again.

Dawn Vasquez never takes life too seriously. But when she rescues a golden retriever named Gigi, Dawn begins to imagine what it'd be like to settle down and let someone rely on her for a change. Unfortunately, Adam Dearborn - a handsome, hopelessly buttoned-up cattle rancher in need of a guide dog - has also fallen in love with the little ball of fluff and stubbornly insists that no other animal will do.

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.

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.