Love at First Cowboy
Jennie Marts
(Lassiter Ranch, #1)
Publication date: September 27th 2023
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Three abandoned cowboys, born in heartbreak and bonded by brotherhood, are brought together by the fierce love of the grandparents who took them in and the ranch that’s the only home they’ve ever known…

Surly cowboy, Ford Lassiter, named after the truck his dad was driving when he’d left him and his mother, has only known abandonment and doesn’t trust relationships—until he shares an intimate weekend at a wedding with a woman he met by chance. Now he can’t stop thinking about her and what could have happened if she hadn’t driven away from him too.

Tall and curvy, Elizabeth ‘Bitsy’ Cole, who is anything but bitsy, has spent her adult life wishing for change but is afraid to take risks. Then a crazy hot weekend with a cowboy finally gives her the courage to make some big changes in her life. She quits the family business to start her own accounting firm and buys a rundown farmhouse in the mountains with a yard for her dog, finally leaving her dinky apartment in the city that’s never quite felt like home.

So what happens when the handy-man she hires to help fix up the farmhouse turns out to be the same cowboy she spent that steamy weekend with? She thinks he was only with her out of pity and as a favor to the groom, but the looks he’s giving her now makes her wonder if there might be a chance for something more. If she has the courage to find out…

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EXCERPT:

Ford’s body was shaking as he strode back to Elizabeth. “That took everything I had not to punch that conceited jerk in the throat.” He softened his tone and expression as he took her by the shoulders. “Are you okay? He didn’t touch you, did he?”

She shook her head, too stunned by Ford’s reaction to say anything. He was pissed. But was he really this angry because of the way Chad treated her? Or did he just not like the guy in general?

“Shoot,” he said, letting out his breath and scrubbing his hand across the whiskers on his jaw. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I said all that. That guy just made me so frickin’ mad. I heard the way he was talking to you, and I couldn’t let that stand.”

“It’s okay. I appreciated it.”

“Did you know he was coming over here?”

“No. I just walked down the stairs, and he was standing in the kitchen. Scared the heck out of me. My phone was in my purse, and he was standing between me and the door. And then the stuff he was saying was really starting to freak me out. I hadn’t really thought about how isolated I would be out in the country.” She pressed a hand to her heart as she imagined what could have happened. “I’ve never had an unwanted man in my house like that. I mean, sure I’ve had my landlord stop by, but he never made leering remarks or insinuated that I should offer him sexual favors for fixing the garbage disposal.”

A growl sounded in the back of Ford’s throat as his hands tightened into fists. “On second thought, I should have punched that guy.”

“No. You handled it just right. Getting him out of the house and discouraging him from coming back was what I was trying to do. He just wasn’t getting the hint from me.”

“That’s what I was trying to do, too.” He frowned. “But I probably shouldn’t have told him I was moving in here. I don’t know what I was thinking. I guess I wasn’t. Thinking, I mean. I just reacted. But I didn’t want him thinking you would be out here alone or that he could come back by when I wasn’t here.”

“I appreciate that. And I was doing the same thing by telling him I had a boyfriend.”

Ford’s lips pulled together as he eyed her. “Do you?”

“Do I what?”

“Have a boyfriend?”

A nervous giggle bubbled out of her. Dang. She’d forgotten how many times that had happened to her the last time she’d been with Ford. “No. I do not have a boyfriend.”

She liked the way his lip twitched, as if he were trying not to smile. He cocked an eyebrow and offered her a sheepish grin. “Well, apparently, you do now.”

Author Bio:

Jennie Marts is the USA TODAY Best-selling author of award-winning books filled with love, laughter, and always a happily ever after. Readers call her books “laugh out loud” funny and the “perfect mix of romance, humor, and steam.” Fic Central claimed one of her books was “the most fun I’ve had reading in years.”

She is living her own happily ever after in the mountains of Colorado with her husband, two dogs, and a parakeet that loves to tweet to the oldies. She’s addicted to Diet Coke, adores Cheetos, and believes you can’t have too many books, shoes, or friends.

Her books include the contemporary western romance Hearts of Montana series, the romantic comedy/ cozy mysteries of The Page Turners series, the hunky hockey-playing men in the Bannister family in the Bannister Brothers Books, and the small-town romantic comedies in the Lovestruck series of Cotton Creek Romances.

Jennie loves to hear from readers. Follow her on Facebook at Jennie Marts Books, or Twitter at @JennieMarts. Visit her at www.jenniemarts.com and sign up for her newsletter to keep up with the latest news and releases.

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