The Perfect Homecoming

Emma Tyler’s cool exterior and penchant for sarcasm keep most people from getting too close…and an unusual compulsion drives her to steal from the few men who do. When her trophy-collecting habit goes too far, she quits her ritzy event-planning job in Los Angeles and runs away to Pine River, hiding with her estranged half-sisters at Homecoming Ranch and caring for Leo Kendrick, her ailing friend.

Thrillseekers Anonymous founder Cooper Jessup has his hands full with work and his brother’s looming prison release date. But when a client asks him to track down Emma Tyler to retrieve a stolen memento, Cooper can’t turn down the money…or the chance to see the beautiful Emma again.

When Cooper comes to collect the item, Emma refuses to admit the horrible truth. This handsome man may see right through her steely veneer, but can he get close enough to show her how love and honesty can heal a troubled heart?

Emma flipped on the light in the room. She dipped down and studied the wine in the cooler, selected a bottle, and stood. She turned back to the door, intending to leave.

But Cooper blocked the way. He was leaning up against the jamb, his arms crossed over his chest. His cool gray gaze was fixed on her. Emma’s blood began to swirl. He was not looking at her with casual interest, but with heat.

What was he doing? Did he want to kiss her?

Of course he wanted more. He’d seen through her, seen her hurt, and wanted to exploit it, right? Isn’t that what men like him did? Try it, she thought. Moments like these were where she excelled. The sexual interest of men was her base of operations from which she’d launched her assaults for the last several years. She walked to the door and tilted her head back, staring up into eyes that were now all gray shadows. “What are you doing?”

“Not sure,” he admitted.

Emma shifted the bottle of wine to the crook of her elbow and with her free hand, traced a line down his chest. “What would you like to do?”

He caught her hand and pressed it against his chest — hard. “I’d like to ask you to stop treating me like some poor dumb asshole. What are you so damn afraid of?” he murmured.

The question jolted her awake. She tried to take her hand back, but he held it firmly. “Maybe you should go, Cooper. You know, pack up and get out of town.”

“I don’t think I’ll be going anywhere tonight,” he said calmly, as his gaze moved down her face, to her mouth. He touched the corner of her lips with his finger. “Snow’s coming down pretty good. So try and lighten up a little, will you?”

Her blood stirred more. Kryptonite. It was happening; her body was betraying her, responding to this gorgeous, overly confident and damn it, too masculine man. “What’s a little snow? Maybe you should go now, before it gets too deep.”

A smile slowly curved his lips. “You’re a funny girl, you know that?” He ran his thumb over her bottom lip. “Sometimes I think you want a friend, and in the next moment, I think you don’t. Sometimes I think you want me to make love to you. But then you talk and ruin the moment. I’m not sure what to make of you.”

“I’m wishy-washy,” she agreed. “But why do you care?”

Cooper arched a brow with surprise. He caressed her cheek with his thumb. “Honestly? I don’t know.” He touched her lip with his thumb again, resting it there.

Emma lightly bit his thumb, hard enough to startle him. when he withdrew his hand, she dipped beneath his arm, putting some space between them, getting away from that heat. She left him standing there and walked back into the dining room with the wine, hoping to hell she wasn’t glowing.

Pine River

A three-book contemporary romance series slated for publication in 2013 and 2014:

On his death bed, Grant Tyler—adventurer, entrepreneur, lady’s man and investor—knows he was never Father of the Year, but figures he ought to do right by his three daughters as his last act. His three grown daughters all fathered with different women. Two of whom do not know one exists. Three women he scarcely knows at all. These are facts Grant brushes aside in his final days. He decides he will leave them Homecoming Ranch, a sprawling, once prosperous ranch in the in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. But as his newly hired manager points out, the ranch is on the skids due to inattention, and what the fifth wife doesn’t get from his estate will go to pay his debts. It seems that all Grant will have left is that ranch. And his Porsche, which hopes to be buried in.

It’s going to take a lot of work and compromising between Madeline, Emma, and Libby to turn the ranch around and earn their so-called inheritance. Eventually, they come to terms with each other, love, life and a legacy their father unwittingly leaves them in a new contemporary series, Homecoming Ranch.

Cooper Jessup

Emma Tyler

Secondary Characters

Grant Tyler

Leo Kendrick

Libby Tyler

Luke Kendrick

Madeline Pruett

Sam Winters