The Cowboy's Autumn Fall (Grass Valley Cowboys Book 4)

by Shanna Hatfield

  “My stars! You didn’t have to sneak up on me that way,” Denni huffed, wrapping her arms around his neck. “And why must you call me Molly? I’ve told you before I’m not fond of the name.”

  “Because lots of people refer to a female mule as Molly and you, my charming little miss, are about as mule-headed and stubborn as they come,” Drew said, kissing the end of her pert nose.

  “Well, what did Dad say?” Denni asked. Although she’d climbed up on the trellis hoping to overhear what was being said between Drew and her father, she hadn’t been able to hear anything after her father’s comment about the fire in the kitchen. Impatient to know if her dad was going to ruin her life or let her pursue the future she’d dreamed, she wasn’t amused when Drew tipped back his head and studied her.

  “I’m starting to think your mama’s right. If you’re going to be sneaking around and pulling childish pranks, maybe you aren’t quite grown up enough for this,” Drew said with a disapproving look on his handsome face.

  Denni knew a moment of panic before Drew broke into another grin.

  “He agreed, Molly,” Drew said, watching the wonder of his words sink in. Although five years her senior, Drew knew Denni was the one woman he was born to love. It took a while for her to convince him she wasn’t too young to be in love, but when she did, he believed her wholeheartedly.

  As the tension flowed out of Denni, she relaxed against him and Drew felt heat begin to surge through his veins.

  “You’re not teasing me, are you?” Denni asked, trying to contain her excitement and act mature when everything in her wanted to run up and down the street calling out the news to everyone within hearing range. “This is not the time to be telling me something that isn’t true.”

  “It’s the honest truth,” Drew said, kissing Denni’s cheek, wanting very much to kiss her ripe lips. “Your daddy gave his permission for you to marry me on two conditions.”

  “Oh,” Denni said, feeling her hopes of soon being Drew Thompson’s wife slipping away. Bracing herself for some ridiculous demands in an effort to wait for her to mature, she nodded her head at the cowboy holding her in his strong arms. “Let’s hear it.”

  “Your mama and daddy still think you are too young to get married. Knowing you as well as they do, they also know if they don’t give their blessing you’re apt to do something crazy like kidnap me, drag me to Nevada, and force me to marry you,” Drew said, walking to the porch swing and sitting down with Denni across his lap.

  “They didn’t say that,” Denni said, narrowing her gaze at Drew.

  “Are you sure?” Drew asked, raising an eyebrow. “Maybe you could hear better than I thought you could.”

  “How did you know?” Denni blurted out, thinking she was clever and sly hiding beneath the window.

  “I saw you hanging off the window frame when I walked into your dad’s office. You, my sweet little Molly, are not James Bond material.”

  Drew cut off Denni’s splutters, by giving her a quick kiss. “Now, do you want to hear the conditions or not?”

  “I’m listening,” Denni said, trying to sit up straight and regal when she really wanted to stamp her foot with impatience.

  “Good. First, your daddy said you can’t make any wedding plans until you decide what college you’re going to attend. You’ve put it off all spring and dang it, Denni, you graduate in just a couple weeks. I agree with your folks. You need to continue your education. Most seventeen-year-old girls aren’t hanging around old men, trying to convince them to get married. I don’t want you to miss out on anything,” Drew said, holding Denni’s stubborn chin in his hand. He’d accompanied her to every school dance and many functions in an effort for her to experience a normal senior year. He still wasn’t sure how normal it was for a young girl to want to be with a man already out of college.

  “You aren’t an old man by any stretch of the imagination and I won’t be missing out on anything. Besides, I’ll be eighteen in a few weeks,” Denni said, rolling her blue eyes. “We’ve had this conversation before, Drew. I’m not going away to school. I don’t want to be away from you. I can pick a college in Timbuktu, but it doesn’t mean I’ll go. I thought you agreed I could study at home. You can help me. I don’t need a college degree to hang on the wall when all I want is to be your wife.”

  “Look, Molly, I know you think…” Drew said, but found his thoughts scattering a thousand directions when Denni started rubbing her hand along his jaw and blew in his ear. “You will get a college degree. I don’t care how, in what, or from where, but you are getting one. I promised your dad and I won’t go back on my word.”

  “Fine. What’s the second condition?” Denni asked with an innocent look on her face as she trailed her fingers down Drew’s neck and along the collar of his cotton shirt.

  “Second condition?” Drew asked distractedly, trying to remember what they were discussing. For such a young girl, Denni was very good at diverting a man’s attention, particularly his. Getting his thoughts back on track, he frowned at her. “That you behave yourself and not distract me when you know I’m right.”

  When Denni shook her head at him, he gave her a rakish smile.

  “Your daddy said no babies until you graduate from college,” Drew said, forcing himself not to kiss Denni senseless right there in broad daylight when she leaned into his chest and ran her fingers up and down his arm. He knew her sister Mary was watching them from the living room window and no doubt her mama was keeping an eye on them as well.

  “How dare he try to dictate when…” Denni said, her voice loud enough the neighbor across the street watering her flowers looked their direction. Drew put a hand over Denni’s mouth and shook his head.

  “Either you accept the terms of both conditions or no deal, Molly. I know this is going to irk you, but I agree with your dad. You need to experience life a little before we start a family and I want you to earn a college degree. Someday you might be glad you have it,” Drew said, giving her a comforting hug. “No more arguments. The sooner you pick out a college and enroll in a program you can study from home, the sooner you can start planning the wedding.”

  Denni sat up and glared at him. He knew she felt like he’d turned into a traitor, agreeing with her parents, but Drew was just old enough and smart enough to realize her folks were right.

  Putting his hand on the back of her neck, he pulled her close until his breath stirred the blond curls by her ear. “Don’t you think it would be a good idea to get married sooner rather than later, Molly girl? I have an idea you’re going to enjoy being my wife very much.”

  Denni felt herself shiver from the warmth of his breath on her neck and nodded her head in agreement. When Drew made her insides turn to mush, she’d do anything he asked. In love with him since she was twelve and saw him standing in line at the movie theater with some tall, pretty brunette, she told herself then and there she was going to marry Drew Thompson if it was the last thing she ever did.

  She spent years trying to get Drew to notice her. When he went off to college, it almost broke her heart. He stopped by a few times during summer vacation to visit, but Denni went unnoticed until last summer when Drew graduated from college and returned to the Triple T to help his father run the family ranch.

  With an agribusiness degree, Drew was ready to settle down and be a partner with his dad. What he hadn’t planned on was Denni growing up while he was gone to college. Drew fought his attraction to the young girl with a rigid determination, but in the end Denni convinced him she was both mature and responsible enough to be in a relationship with him.

  It was obvious to everyone the two of them shared a very special love, one most people searched for but never found.

  Now that Denni had a future with Drew right in the grasp of her hand, she was holding tight and never letting go.

  “Can you be ready for a wedding by the end of June?” Denni asked, jumping off Drew’s lap and pulling him to his feet.

  Drew laughed and wrapped her in
his arms, swinging her around and around on the porch.

  “Something tells me ready or not, we’re getting married...”

  The Cowboy’s New Heart,

  Book 5 in the Grass Valley Cowboys series.

  Available now on Amazon!

  The Women of Tenacity Series

  Welcome to Tenacity!

  Tenacious, sassy women tangle with the wild, rugged men who love them in this contemporary western romance series.

  The paperback version offers a short story introduction, A Prelude, followed by the three full-length novels set in the fictional town of Tenacity, Oregon.

  Book 1 – Heart of Clay (download it FREE!)

  Book 2 – Country Boy vs. City Girl

  Book 3 – Not His Type

  The Christmas Cowboy (Rodeo Romance, Book 1) — Flying from city to city in her job as a busy corporate trainer for a successful direct sales company, Kenzie Beckett doesn’t have time for a man. And most certainly not for the handsome cowboy she keeps running into at the airport. Burned twice, she doesn’t trust anyone wearing boots and Wranglers, especially someone as charming and handsome as Tate Morgan.

  Among the top saddle bronc riders in the rodeo circuit, easy-going Tate Morgan can handle the toughest horse out there, but trying to handle the beautiful Kenzie Beckett is a completely different story. As the holiday season approaches, this Christmas Cowboy is going to need more than a little mistletoe to win her heart.

  Wrestlin’ Christmas (Rodeo Romance, Book 2) — Sidelined with a major injury, steer wrestler Cort McGraw struggles to come to terms with the end of his career. Shanghaied by his sister and best friend, he finds himself on a run-down ranch with a worrisome, albeit gorgeous widow, and her silent, solemn son.

  Five minutes after Cort McGraw lands on her doorstep, K.C. Peters fights to keep a promise she made to herself to stay away from single, eligible men. When her neighbor said he knew just the person to help work her ranch for the winter, she never expected the handsome, brawny former rodeo star to fill the position.

  Ready to send him packing, her little boy has other plans...

  Capturing Christmas (Rodeo Romance, Book 3) — Life is hectic on a good day for rodeo stock contractor Kash Kressley. Between dodging flying hooves and babying cranky bulls, he barely has time to sleep. The last thing Kash needs is the entanglement of a sweet romance, especially with a woman as full of fire and sass as the redheaded photographer he meets at a rodeo.

  Confident and spirited rodeo photographer Celia McGraw is determined to capture the best images possible. Fearless and feisty, she’s the last person to back down from a challenge, even when it puts her in danger. However, her biggest risk isn’t in the rodeo arena, but the way her heart responds to one incredibly handsome stock contractor.

  Learnin’ The Ropes — Mechanic Ty Lewis is out of options. Homeless and desperate to find work, he accepts a job in the tiny community of Riley, Oregon. Resolved to embrace a new adventure with an elusive boss, he leaves behind everything he’s ever known in Portland to live in the middle of nowhere.

  Lexi Ryan, known to her ranch hands and neighbors as Lex Jr., abandons her corporate career to keep the Rockin’ R Ranch running smoothly after the untimely death of her father. It doesn’t take long to discover her father did many crazy things during the last few months before he died, like hiding half a million dollars that Lexi can’t find.

  Ty and Lexi are both in for a few surprises as he arrives at the ranch and begins learnin’ the ropes.

  A conniving mother, a reluctant groom and a desperate bride

  make for a lively adventure full of sweet romance.

  Dacey: Bride of North Carolina (Book 12 in the American Mail-Order Brides series) — Braxton Douglas spends his days managing the family’s plantation and blissfully avoiding the state of matrimony. Unbeknownst to him, his mother tires of waiting for him to choose a wife and sends for a mail-order bride. When the woman arrives, ready to wed, Braxton has his work cut out for him if he plans to remain unaffected by the lively, lovely Dacey.

  Dacey Butler has nothing to lose when she agrees to travel to North Carolina to marry a stranger. Eager for an opportunity to put her past behind her and enjoy a new beginning, she embraces the adventure of traveling south to marry a man she thinks is a simple farmer. Upon her arrival in Asheville, she immediately decides Braxton Douglas has no idea of her existence, and there is nothing simple about the man.

  Pendleton Petticoats Series

  Set in the western town of Pendleton, Oregon, right at the turn of the 20th century, each book in this series bears the name of the heroine, all brave yet very different.

  Aundy (Book 1) Aundy Thorsen, a stubborn mail-order bride, finds the courage to carry on when she's widowed before ever truly becoming a wife, but opening her heart to love again may be more than she can bear.

  Caterina (Book 2) — Running from a man intent on marrying her, Caterina Campanelli starts a new life in Pendleton, completely unprepared for the passionate feelings stirred in her by the town's incredibly handsome deputy sheriff.

  Ilsa (Book 3) — Desperate to escape her wicked aunt and an unthinkable future, Ilsa Thorsen finds herself on her sister's ranch in Pendleton. Not only are the dust and smells more than she can bear, but Tony Campanelli seems bent on making her his special project.

  Marnie (Book 4) — Beyond all hope for a happy future, Marnie Jones struggles to deal with her roiling emotions when U.S. Marshal Lars Thorsen rides into town, tearing down the walls she’s erected around her heart.

  Lacy (Book 5) — Bound by tradition and responsibilities, Lacy has to choose between the ties that bind her to the past and the unexpected love that will carry her into the future.

  Bertie (Book 6) — The next adventure in the Pendleton Petticoat Series — coming in 2016!

  Crumpets and Cowpies (Baker City Brides, Book 1) — Rancher Thane Jordan reluctantly travels to England to settle his brother’s estate only to find he’s inherited much more than he could possibly have imagined.

  Lady Jemma Bryan has no desire to spend a single minute in Thane Jordan’s insufferable presence much less live under the same roof with the handsome, arrogant American. Forced to choose between poverty or marriage to the man, she finds herself traveling across an ocean and America to reach his ranch in Oregon.

  Recipient of a Readers’ Favorite Silver Award!

  "Thane and Jemma are a perfectly snarky fit for each other, able to fling era-appropriate zingers with a passion and precision seldom done so well in a historical. Rare for a book of any kind, the children and animals have just as large a part of the story as Thane and Jemma themselves, and that just makes the world in Eastern Oregon come more to life... The setting of the small up-and-coming town, and the surrounding cast of characters have created a rich and vivid world, with more than enough to spin tales about this family and town for years to come."

  Julie York — InD'tale Magazine

  Thimbles and Thistles (Baker City Brides, Book 2) — Maggie Dalton has no need for a man in her life. Widowed more than ten years, she’s built a successful business and managed quite well on her own in the bustling town of Baker City, Oregon.

  Aggravated by her inability to block thoughts of the handsome lumber mill owner from her mind, she renews her determination to resist his attempts at friendship.

  Full of Scottish charm and mischief, Ian MacGregor could claim any single woman in Baker City as his own, except the enchanting dress shop owner who continues to ignore him. Not one to give up on what he wants, Ian vows to win Maggie’s heart or leave the town he’s come to love.

  Corsets and Cuffs (Baker City Brides, Book 3) — Coming Spring 2016!

  Hardman Holidays Series

  set in the historic Eastern Oregon town of Hardman

  The Christmas Bargain (Hardman Holidays, Book 1) — As owner and manager of the Hardman bank, Luke Granger is a man of responsibility and integrity in the small 1890s Eastern Oregon town. Calling in a long overdue loan, Luk
e finds himself reluctantly accepting a bargain in lieu of payment from the shiftless farmer who barters his daughter to settle his debt.

  Philamena Booth is both mortified and relieved when her father sends her off with the banker as payment of his debt. Held captive on the farm by her father since the death of her mother more than a decade earlier, Philamena is grateful to leave. If only it had been someone other than the handsome and charismatic Luke Granger riding in to rescue her. Ready to hold up her end of the bargain as Luke’s cook and housekeeper, Philamena is prepared for the hard work ahead. What she isn’t prepared for is being forced to marry Luke as part of this crazy Christmas bargain.

  The Christmas Token (Hardman Holidays, Book 2) — Desperate to escape an unwelcome suitor, Ginny Granger flees to her brother’s home in Eastern Oregon for the holiday season. Returning to the community where she spent her childhood years, she plans to relax and enjoy a peaceful visit. Not expecting to encounter the boy she once loved, her exile is proving to be anything but restful.

  A talented carpenter, Blake Stratton enjoys a simple existence in the small western town of Hardman. With honest work and good friends, his life is nearly perfect, at least until the day Ginny Granger arrives, setting him on his ear and turning his world upside down. Infuriated by her meddling presence, he’s further exasperated to discover she kept a Christmas token he gave her along with his heart the day she left town many years ago.

  The Christmas Calamity (Hardman Holidays Book 3) — Dependable and solid, Arlan Guthry relishes his orderly life as a banker’s assistant in Hardman, Oregon.