Lily (Dame City #1)

Lily McGibbens has been assigned the ridiculous task of getting the
crankiest cowboy in Wyoming to donate to the Dame City Attraction Fund.
The counsel has tried year after year, to no avail, to get the man to donate.
Now the task is on her shoulders. She’s just a bookstore owner. She has no
skills in the art of persuasion. Just ask her ex-husband. No matter how
much she tried to get him to stay home with just her, she never had the lure
to keep him there. She thought living in wacky Dame City meant she’d be
able to avoid men. She definitely didn’t want to hike out to the meanest
man’s ranch and beg for anything.
Ford Gentry has things on his mind other than whatever new, stupid ploy
the ladies of Dame City are thinking up. He has work that needs to be done.
He always has work that needs to be done. He makes damn sure he is never
idle. Idle hands mean ghosts creeping in on him. After serving three tours
in Afghanistan, he’ll do anything to avoid those ghosts. He just wants to be
left alone with his cattle. But something in him reacts to Lily’s distrusting
eyes. For the first time in years, his body is reacting to a woman. It won’t
work, though. Women mean distractions. Distractions mean he’ll lose his
intense focus and his mind could wander. It won’t work.
Lily has no choice but to try to fight for the donation. After being so rudely
turned away and having the defeat so readily accepted by the counsel, she’s
determined to get the stubborn ass to give something, even if it’s just a
measly piece of straw. She fights him for the donation, using every tool the
ladies of Dame City can give her. Ford doesn’t stand a chance against their
combined will. Or does he? The man didn’t survive three tours by giving in
easily. Lily won’t stop, though. The ladies are counting on her. She’s
counting on herself. Ford is the first man she’s been able to be around
without wanting to pluck his eyes out. It has to mean something. She’s
determined to get him to play nice with her. Or naughty.
As the ladies of Dame City always say, “Use what God and your momma
gave you: body to lure ’em in and brains to keep ’em coming.”