He’s Just The Hired Help…
What kind of cockeyed Pollyanna is Colin Cade working for? Her porch is rotting, her “guest cabin” is cheerless and her land and livestock have only a geriatric cowboy to care for them. Yet Hannah Shaw is positive she can turn her ranch into a successful B and B—and that Colin’s the man to make it happen.
But Colin can’t stick around. He lives with the loss of his family by avoiding the memories, and the way he feels around Hannah and her young son is like a knife to the heart. Trouble is, he’s better at ignoring his own pain than someone else’s, and bright, cheerful Hannah has a heart as haunted as his own. She deserves to be happy—but could she really be with him?
Hannah wasn’t surprised when Colin turned in early for the night.
With his brother sleeping in the room next to him, there had been no chance he’d invite Hannah into his bed. Still, logic didn’t stop her from lying awake long past midnight on the slim hope that he might knock against her bedroom door. His scent lingered on her sheets and the memories of what they’d done in this very bed earlier in the day tormented her.
It would be easy to blame Justin for his inconvenient timing, but with or without his showing up, the end result was going to be the same. She would lose Colin. He’d never made any secret that he wasn’t the kind of guy to stick around in one place. He’d always planned to leave for his brother’s wedding and that job afterward on a cattle drive. Although she’d enjoyed hearing Justin’s anecdotes about wedding plans, each one reminded her that the big day was rapidly approaching.
Her time with Colin was almost at an end.
She blinked rapidly, trying to catch her tears on her lashes. It didn’t count as crying over the cowboy if the tears didn’t actually make it to her cheeks.
Find a bright side, her inner voice urged. Like…the ranch was in far better shape than it had been before Colin had come.
But what about me? What shape would her heart be in once he’d gone?.
Dear Reader,
Isn’t it frustrating—even heartbreaking—when bad things happen to good people? Over the years, I’ve witnessed a few friends stagger through hard times, seemingly plagued by one tragedy after another. But they’ve inspired me with their resilience and spirit, weathering numerous difficulties and rediscovering joy.
Colin Cade is a man who has experienced a great deal of difficulty and loss—his parents’ deaths when he was young and, more recently, the deaths of his wife and child in a car accident. For months afterward, all that held him together was the support of his two siblings. But his sister is now busy with her newborn daughter, and his brother is engaged and neck-deep in wedding plans. They’re moving forward with their lives, and Colin decides to move on, too. He does odd jobs on ranches, never staying in one place for long, never getting attached.
Until he meets young widow Hannah Shaw and her four-year-old son. Working alongside Hannah at the Silver Linings Ranch changes Colin’s perspective, reminding him that loss doesn’t have to define a person. But even as he heals, he questions whether he’s brave enough to love again.
Colin and Hannah were one of my favorite couples to write, and I hope that you find their story as poignant and uplifting as I do. Please drop by on Facebook (AuthorTanyaMichaels) or Twitter (@TanyaMichaels) and let me know!
Best wishes,
Tanya
Her Cowboy Hero
Tanya Michaels
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
New York Times bestselling author and three-time RITA® Award nominee Tanya Michaels writes about what she knows—community, family and lasting love! Her books, praised for their poignancy and humor, have received honors such as a Booksellers’ Best Bet Award, a Maggie Award of Excellence and multiple readers’ choice awards. She was also a 2010 RT Book Reviews nominee for Career Achievement in Category Romance. Tanya is an active member of Romance Writers of America and a frequent public speaker, presenting workshops to educate and encourage aspiring writers. She lives outside Atlanta with her very supportive husband, two highly imaginative children and a household of quirky pets, including a cat who thinks she’s a dog and a bichon frise who thinks she’s the center of the universe.
This is dedicated to everyone who emailed and posted online after reading the first Colorado Cades book to say they couldn’t wait for Colin’s story!
Contents
Chapter One
For Colin Cade, one of the chief selling points of his motorcycle had been solitude. He preferred being alone, making it a conscious choice rather than a tragic circumstance, but that meant a lot of time in his own head. Unfortunately, not even the Harley could outrun his thoughts. Or his anger.
How the hell had he—a man who’d lived like a monk for the better part of two years—been fired for “sexual misconduct”?
Raising younger siblings had taught him patience the hard way, but right now his temper was providing uncharacteristic daydreams of shaking Delia McCoy’s shoulders until her professionally whitened teeth rattled. She’d had no business showing up naked in his bed. The more he thought about it, the more convinced he was that his former employer’s wife didn’t even want an affair. There had been plenty of other men working the ranch who would have taken advantage of her adulterous offer. So why target the guy who’d never once returned her flirtatious smiles? Was it possible she only wanted to shock Sean McCoy into paying more attention to her? Ranches took a lot of work, and Delia had complained to anyone who would listen that her husband neglected her.
Maybe she had cause to be bitter, but that sure didn’t give her the right to screw up Colin’s life.