Cowboy Up (Dry Creek Ranch #1)

Former FBI agent Cash Dalton has come to Dry Creek Ranch to work through a botched case that still gives him nightmares. The rundown 500-acre spread, left to him and his two cousins, is a good place to lose himself while he figures out his next move. Then he gets a call that changes everything. Thirteen years ago, he unknowingly fathered a child. The girl’s mother is dying and Cash must step up to raise a daughter he never knew, finding help from an unusual ally—the local pariah. Aubrey McAlister is the talk of the town when she dumps Dry Creek’s favorite son just weeks before their wedding. She has her reason but to protect a vulnerable friend swears never to tell. Keeping her secret doesn’t prove easy, though, when a nasty rumor threatens everything—and everyone—she cares about, including Cash’s family. As the two grow closer Aubrey realizes the only way to stop the gossip is to give Dry Creek something real to talk about . . . a romance to rival the rumors.