Western Womens Fiction

In this first collection of short pieces, including two novella-length works, since his western anthology Tonto Woman, Leonard demonstrates the superb characterization, dead-on dialogue, vivid atmosphere, and driving plotting that have made him a household name.

Millionaire Texas playboy Jack Travis lives for pleasure. He has money, women, and no commitments. Then a gorgeous stranger with an infant appears on his doorstep, rocking his carefree world. Columnist Ella Varner liked her independent life too, until her wild younger sister Tara skipped town, leaving baby Luke in her responsible hands. Ella doesn’t know how to raise a child. The baby’s father - Jack - will have to help. For the first time, Jack can’t smooth talk his way out a jam. But the more he gets to know Ella and Luke, the more he discovers he doesn’t want to.

Michelle Turner thought she lost everything at 17. Her father, a Hollywood legend, had finally summoned her to his Montana ranch. But when he learned of her affair with Sam McPhee, a hired hand, he had Sam fired and destroyed his family. Michelle, pregnant and alone, fled to Seattle. Now a successful advertising exec, Michelle is safe-safe from love, safe from hurt. But her son is lost to her, a troubled teen on the verge of self-destruction, a boy who blames her for the absence of his father and grandfather.

Cattleman Bran Turner is left shorthanded during busy calving season when a bull tramples his hired hand. Rural Wyoming isn't exactly a hotbed of qualified candidates, and the only applicant for the position is the pampered town beauty, Harper Masterson. The curvy cowgirl gets under Bran's skin at every turn, but with no other options, he reluctantly hires her.

He’s everything she fears…and everything she wants... Mercenary by name and by nature, Carson is a Lakota Sioux who stays to himself and never keeps women around long enough for anything emotional to develop. But working with his friend Cash Grier on a complex murder investigation provides Carson with another kind of fun - shocking Cash’s sweet-but-traditional secretary, Carlie Blair, with tales of his latest conquests. Then Carlie lands in deep trouble.

Lainie Capshaw has been servicing injured cowboys long enough to know that a charming Western drawl combined with a fine physical form doesn't mean you should fall for a man. As a sports therapist, she travels the rodeo circuits patching up riders-and fending off their sweet-talking, swaggering advances. So no one is more surprised than Lainie when she finds herself involved with not one, but two men on different circuits....

The daughter of a fallen woman, Mattie Armstrong’s life should have ended in poverty and failure. But at 14, Mattie escaped her gossiping neighbors and her loneliness, and went to work for Dr. Dinsmore. There, she began to nurture a dream that would take her to the Nebraska prairies as the state’s first woman doctor. This novel breathes life into the Old West, leaving the listener feeling as if Mattie is close by sharing her insights into life in the prairie towns.

Teddi Whitehall longed to escape her hectic life as a New York model, and a summer in the wilds of Canada with her best friend's family sounded perfect. But arrogant rancher Kingston Devereaux seemed intent on making her feel anything but welcome. Teddi knew King was convinced she was nothing but a glamorous city girl. She also knew that the truth wasn't about to change his mind. So why did she feel so alive when he was near? Giving her heart to a man who despised her was bad enough. But why did she have to go and fall in love with her best friend's brother?

In 1864, the frontier cavalry had been withdrawn to fight in the War Between the States, and the able-bodied men had enlisted to join the cause, leaving the families in the Brazos River valley very much on their own...and nearly defenseless. The Comanches and the Kiowas decided this was the perfect time to rid their land forever of the invaders who had threatened their very existence.

Barrel racer Celia Lawson knows better than to tangle with bull rider Kyle Gilchrist. The sexy cowboy's love 'em and leave 'em ways have earned him a reputation on the rodeo circuit, and he's always seen her as his best friend's kid sister. But one wild tequila-fueled night later, and Celia wakes up to find out she's gotten herself hitched - to the one man she never should have married! When Celia insists on an annulment, Kyle has no good reason to say no - except he isn't ready to let go of his new bride. Especially not after their incredible wedding night.

People have started moving to Buffalo Valley, North Dakota - people like Lindsay Snyder, who came as a teacher and stayed, marrying local farmer Gage Sinclair. And now Lindsay's best friend, Maddy Washburn, has decided to pull up stakes and join her in Buffalo Valley, hoping for the same kind of satisfaction. And the same kind of love.

Hardy Cates is self-made millionaire from the wrong side of the tracks, a hot-blooded, blue-eyed devil who risked everything to follow his dreams. He’s broken all the rules...and more than a few enemies along the way. Now it’s time to for payback. Haven Travis defied her wealthy family’s expectations and ran off with a dangerous man. Now she’s back, humbled and determined to protect her heart. Hardy Cates is her family’s enemy - and the last man Haven wants. But her heart pulls her closer to his fire, even though her head says stay away.

In the bestselling tradition of Fannie Flagg and Jenny Colgan comes Felicity Hayes-McCoy’s U.S. debut about a local librarian who must find a way to rebuild her community and her own life in this touching, enchanting novel set on Ireland’s stunning West Coast.

Iraq war veteran Dan Mitchell once disobeyed an order. Now a national park ranger in the Australian outback, he’s faced with another order he is unwilling to obey.... Photographer Rachel Quinn seeks out beauty in unlikely places. But Quinn knows darkness - and Dan soon realises she needs his help as much as he needs hers. Carrie Bryant was a jockey until a racing accident broke her nerve. Now Dan and Quinn need her expertise, but can she face her fear?

Allie Logan isn't the type to land a hot hunk of cowboy. Truth is, she's given up on dating since shedding her no-good ex. But the new owner of the most ramshackle ranch in Texas might just change her mind about that. He's six-foot-plus of tall, dark, and charming - the kind of guy who could make a girl throw caution to the wind...or the kind of guy who could break her heart.

Patience was never one of her virtues. After her SUV runs off the road in the middle of a Texas blizzard and her cell stops working, Claire Mason is about to snap. Getting back home to Oklahoma with her four-year-old niece is top priority. And lucky for her, help comes in the form of a true Texas cowboy....

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.

Wyoming 1880. Childhood sweethearts Rose McKinley and Will Hyde have always been destined to marry, and with their parents just as keen on the match, there is nothing to stop them. Except perhaps Cora, Rose’s younger sister. Lovesick and hung up on Will, she is sick of the happy couple. So when the handsome Mr. Galloway comes to town and turns Rose’s head, Cora sees an opportunity to get what she wants: Will.

Twenty-six-year-old Katie Macauley has placed all her hope in Hope Springs, a small town in the 1870 Wyoming Territory. But if she wants to return home to Ireland to make amends with her estranged family, she’ll need to convince the influential Joseph Archer to hold true to his word and keep her on his payroll as his housekeeper - despite her Irish roots. When Joseph agrees to keep Katie on ash is housekeeper, the feud erupts anew, and Katie becomes the reluctant figurehead for the Irish townsfolk.

After years of isolation on top of Hope Mountain, Ilsa Nordegren may finally be ready to leave. Raised to fear the world, Ilsa and her sisters never planned on coming down, but when the Warden family arrived in need, they had to help. And it may cost them everything. Having made his fortune, Mitch Warden returned home and found the family homestead abandoned. In a land grab, a ruthless cattle baron had forced his family to escape up the mountain, and when he follows, the last thing he expects is to fall smitten to a black-haired woman who dresses like Robin Hood.