The Grumpy Cowboy Next Door: A Small Town, Protector Romance.
Avery James
I ran away from my wedding… and straight into the arms of the grumpy cowboy next door.
The night before I was supposed to elope with my childhood sweetheart, I discovered the truth.
Years of lies.
A secret affair.
A man I never really knew.
So I ran.
One desperate hitchhike later, I found myself stranded in Dusty Creek with nowhere to go and nowhere to sleep… except an empty barn on a quiet ranch.
That’s where everything changed.
The ranch owner gave me a job.
A second chance.
And a place to start over.
But the neighboring ranch belongs to Cole Mercer.
Gruff.
Brooding.
Infuriatingly handsome.
The kind of man who keeps his heart locked up tighter than his cattle fences.
He offers to teach me how to ride, how to work a ranch… how to survive in this small town.
What he doesn’t mean to teach me—
Is how it feels when he looks at me like I belong to him.
But when my past comes crashing back into Dusty Creek, threatening everything I’ve built, Cole steps in like the protector he swears he isn’t.
One night together changes everything.
Now I’m carrying his child.
And the grumpy cowboy next door might just be the only man strong enough to fight for us both.
Runaway bride. Grumpy cowboy. Small town heat. One unexpected baby.
Welcome to Dusty Creek… where love is as wild as the open range.
