sometimes even the most beautiful place doesn’t feel like home anymore. That’s how Caleb Dunne feels. He’s spent over a decade serving in the Marine Corps, and now he’s desperately trying to save his family ranch from debt and ruin.
Shelter Creek isn’t home for Maya Burton anymore, either. She left town right after high school, when a terrible tragedy destroyed the love she and Caleb shared. Now she’s a wildlife biologist, back in Shelter Creek to spend time with her grandmother and help ranchers like Caleb protect their livestock from predators. Only, sometimes the ranchers don’t really want her help!
I loved writing this emotional, complicated story. Maya and Caleb are strong and tough and used to taking care of themselves. Yet with the help of Maya’s grandmother, her Book Biddies book club, and a few other human and animal friends, Maya and Caleb learn to lean on others just a little more. In the process, they finally face their past and heal the hurt between them.
I hope you enjoy Reunited with the Cowboy. It’s the first book in my new series, Heroes of Shelter Creek. If you’d like to keep up with what I’m writing next, or just say hello, please look for me on the web at clairemcewen.com. I always love hearing from readers!
Claire McEwen
This book is dedicated to my father.
He wouldn’t have enjoyed the romance much,
but I think he would have liked the cowboys.
Contents
Note to Readers
MAYA BURTON HAD always loved being alone in the wilderness. But after three hours of climbing through steep, dense, shadowy forest, it occurred to her that this nighttime hike through mountain lion territory might dim that love, just a bit.
It had felt like a good idea, back in Shelter Creek. The odds of meeting a mountain lion on the trail were low, and facing a lion seemed a lot less scary than facing the memories waiting in her hometown.
But Maya had forgotten that forests in this part of California were full of oak and bay trees that sent their branches arching right over the trail. And mountain lions loved to hang out on branches. Shining her flashlight to make sure she was safe still didn’t ease the prickly feeling on the back of
