Gallaghers of Sweetgrass Springs

When scandal and an ambitious prosecutor wreck talented chef Scarlett Ross's life and she learns of a grandmother she never knew she had, she flees the notoriety to pay an anonymous visit to Sweetgrass Springs, Texas, a town kept alive only by her grandmother's determination and carried on the strong shoulders of sexy Texas cowboy Ian McLaren. There she is surprised to discover a yearning to sink roots deep in the Texas Hill Country-but she is terrified that the secrets she's hiding will endanger everyone she's come to love.

Hollywood's hot playboy stuntman Randall Mackey replaced the adrenaline rush of his career in the SEAL Teams with another life courting danger, but that existence is jeopardized by injury. The sexy bad boy of Sweetgrass Springs returns to the town where his teenage exploits made him a legend, only to find that his buddy's tomboy little sister has grown up in very interesting ways. If he thinks, however, that gifted horse trainer Rissa Gallagher will simply fall into his arms and help him dodge dealing with a haunting past and a future that looks grim, Mackey might want to think again. Rissa Gallagher has been abandoned by everyone in her family except the hard-hearted father who is physically present but cold and critical. She is the last hope for the land that has been in her family for six generations, and though Mackey is pure temptation incarnated in one very sexy package, he can never be more than a fling when the only thing he does better than make love is…leave.

Take two reluctant brides and two frustrated cowboys, mix with both clans of Gallaghers and season with a Navy SEAL or three, a movie star, a Hollywood Barbie and a country music giant-and you get a recipe for family mayhem, laughter and a tear or two. Watch as Sweetgrass Springs matriarch Ruby Gallagher and her granddaughter Scarlett, aided and abetted by the irrepressible Maddie Rose Gallagher, try to pull off surprise wedding plans for each other in the worst­kept secret in Texas' most beloved small town. "Jean Brashear's distinctive storytelling voice instantly draws in the reader. She writes with warmth and emotional truth." ~ #1 NY Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber

Jackson Gallagher's teenage rebellion cost him everything: his home, his family and the girl who could only love him in secret. Seventeen years later, a wildly successful tycoon, Jackson is drawn back to Sweetgrass Springs to confront his past: the father who banished him, the small town that turned its back on him...and the woman he has never been able to forget. The last person Veronica Butler is ready to see is the man who made her believe they'd be together forever, then vanished and broke her heart. Widowed and struggling to hold onto her children's heritage, she refuses his help but has trouble resisting the way he makes her remember how deeply she once loved him...except that when he learns the secret she's been keeping all these years, she'll lose him all over again.

Stilettos and pencil skirts are more successful, ambitious Pen Gallagher's style than the jeans and boots of the ranch where she was raised. She's fought hard for her success and spared no time for love, certain that marriage and family are not her lot. Now everything she's worked for is jeopardized as scandal brews around her after she fell for a man who prized his own ambitions more. Forced to flee D.C. before her identity is revealed and she can never regain the life she battled to build, she reluctantly returns to Sweetgrass Springs, Texas. Sexy Navy SEAL turned firefighter Bridger Calhoun, on the other hand, visits Sweetgrass every chance he gets. After a recent tragic fire in which he nearly sacrificed his own life, he is ordered to take time off-and Sweetgrass calls to him. After a lifetime spent rootless and fueled by adrenaline, Bridger wants a quiet life, a home and family of his own with a sweet, soft woman as eager for children as he is. Then a long­-legged, sharp­-tongued lawyer crosses his path-and flames ignite. While he's waiting to find Ms. Right and she's waiting for the coast to clear...what's the harm in a little fun? It's only temporary, both agree-they have nothing in common except the heat that blazes high between them, and their goals could not be more opposed. Soon the fire will burn down to embers, and they'll go on with their lives. Easy­-peasy, right? Riiiiiight….

It's the first Christmas in Sweetgrass Springs, Texas for several newcomers who have found a real home for the first time-or found home again. As Jackson Gallagher works to save his hometown from withering away by relocating his business empire there, the only gift he really wants is to marry the teenage sweetheart he thought he'd lost forever-but Veronica Patton Butler has other hearts to care for, however much she loves Jackson. Bridger Calhoun is more than ready to make Penelope Gallagher his bride, but however much she adores him, Shark Girl is dragging her heels on tying the knot-which seems to be a maddening tradition among Gallagher women. Come join the fun...the heartache...the sweetness, as Sweetgrass prepares for a community celebration that will bring the Morning Star Gallaghers and the Marshalls to town, along with several of Jackson's Seattle geeks and more than one lost soul about to find a place to belong- In eccentric, lovable, unforgettable Sweetgrass Springs...the small town where hope never fades and love never dies.

Five friends share life and laughter and love…until unexpected temptation changes everything The Book Babes reading group began as five women wanting to talk books-but now they've become family. There's romance author Ava Sinclair, organizer and backbone; happily-married mother of five Ellie Preston, the heart of the group; elegant art gallery owner Sylvie Everett; single mom and sociology professor Luisa Martinez; and ambitious attorney Laken Foster, the wild child of the bunch. For several years now, they've met monthly and discussed the current book a little--and dissected their lives and loves far more often. 
 But now change is rippling through the group, begun by Laken's restlessness with her freewheeling life of serial hookups and sent into hyperdrive by Ava's suddenly-hot career, while Luisa's abusive ex tries to reclaim their teenage son and Sylvie faces her mother's decline. But it's when Ellie takes her first step into life after her children fly the nest and falls under the spell of the sexy artist who's teaching her to paint that the group's orbit begins to wobble on its axis, and life--for all of them and the men they love--will never be the same. And then there's the surprise Sweetgrass Springs connection…

Secrets divide a family...can love reunite them? For Michael Cavanaugh's entire life, his mother has kept a shocking secret: that she was married once before she married his father, and she gave birth to that man's child. Stunned that the mother who'd loved him so would abandon a child and furious with his mother's deceit, he sets out to find the older brother he has always wanted. Ian McLaren, the favorite son of Sweetgrass Springs, has a full plate: a wife he adores, a baby on the way, a ranch to run and a town that depends on him. When a stranger arrives in their small town with the staggering news that he and Ian share a mother-the woman he'll never forgive for abandoning him and his dad-his world tilts off its axis. Gordon McLaren has had years to regret the path he chose that parted him from the only woman he's ever loved. Now he is torn between his longing to see her again and the anguish doing so would cause the son he's worked so hard to protect all these years. Walking away from the child she cherished and the man she loved was far from easy for Sophia Bancroft McLaren Cavanaugh. Facing them again would be the single most terrifying step she's undertaken since the day she left to save her sanity-and Gordon forbade her to return. Secrets divide the four of them, and the anguish of the past makes it impossible to hope they could ever overcome the years of heartache­­- Until the threat of an even more unbearable loss gives them one last chance to unite.

The most reviled man in Sweetgrass Springs, Tank Patton lives on the razor's edge of control, locked down and solitary by choice, keeping himself apart, the only way he knows to avoid the legacy of violence handed down from his father. When he meets a young mother in dire straits, he gives her and her winsome children the immediate help they need, intending to give her wide berth from then on. Chrissy Daniels desperately hopes she can make a new life for herself and her children in Sweetgrass Springs, and that means being strong and self­reliant, no more leaning on men who are losers or worse-yet she finds herself touched by the bone­deep loneliness she senses in the man everyone has warned her is a brute and not to be trusted. Despite his intentions, Tank finds himself drawn back to Chrissy's warmth and the sweetness of her children, yet he knows that to truly care for them means keeping his distance. Chrissy battles her long history of choosing men unwisely, yet she finds herself unable to turn away from this man she's beginning to suspect is more decent than anyone believes-including Tank himself. But can a man who's never trusted anyone and a woman who's trusted all the wrong men defy the odds and open their hearts to each other?

Two young lovers torn apart years before come face to face unexpectedly in this emotional reunion romance by New York Times and USAToday bestselling Texas romance author Jean Brashear… Gib Douglas has been on the road a long time, with no place to really call home. When he pays a Christmas visit to relatives in Sweetgrass Springs, the last person he expects to encounter is the girl he loved with all his heart, the girl who'd promised to marry him and love him forever…until she betrayed him and married someone else. Dulcie Maguire gave up her dreams so that Gib could follow his all those years ago. She made a decent life for herself while watching him soar to success with great pride, never expecting to see him again. Now widowed, she's in dire straits with four children depending on her, when into her life walks Gib again-and she realizes that she's never gotten over him. But the man he's become is not the boy she once knew-and he may never forgive her, once he knows the secret she's been concealing.

He's been leaving all his life… Jeanette Carson has been a fixture as a waitress in Ruby's Cafe ever since high school. Walker Roundtree is country music's brightest star, known by all for his laid-back charm and irresistible appeal to the opposite sex. Ever since his first visit to Sweetgrass Springs, there have been verbal fireworks between him and Jeanette as she proved to be the only woman immune to his charm. Now their paths have crossed in the outside world, and they're seeing each other in a new light. Fireworks of a very different sort are sparking the sky-but then Walker's world is upended by a tragedy, and the only one who steps in to help him is the very woman who swore never to put herself at his mercy. For a few days, they have only each other to rely upon, and these two lonely hearts find refuge in each other. But all too soon, the real world demands its due, and their refuge is no longer private. The days of dreaming, the nights of yearning and hope face the harsh light of reality, and the only question is: Whose heart will be the one to break? Note to listeners: this audiobook contains an original love song, Never Forever, written and performed especially for this story by talented singer/songwriter Eric Dove

Empire builder Dominic Santorini is surrounded by women angling to share the luxurious life his wealth will buy. Eccentric, colorful tomboy Lexie Grayson encounters a hot guy in a hotter classic car broken down on the side of the road, and an afternoon as his mechanic leads to a scorching night with a man she knows only as Nikos-but when dawn arrives, he's vanished, never to be seen again. She buries her heartache in her new job, staging an extravaganza launch for a video game that will give her a chance to snoop around for clues that the company is responsible for stealing from her best friend. But when she meets her new employer-- He's an ice-cold version of that magical night's unforgettable lover. What kind of man did she fall for on that incredible night? Does he know his company has stolen from her best friend? Why does he act as if they've never met? Was the magic they shared only a lie? He's as shocked as she is. Was the fairy sprite who touched his heart an illusion as false as the ones she is creating for his gala? Worse, could the woman he can't forget be behind the leak that's endangering his company's survival? What is truth, and who is real…and is love a luxury neither can afford?

When a woman with no faith in love meets the quintessential nice guy determined to breach her mile-high walls, sparks fly as both fight a decidedly unwelcome but equally unavoidable attraction. Steph Hargrove was a bombshell, a sexy, intrepid woman operating in the business world with guts, brains and daring. She was accustomed to going after whatever she wanted until a man she called friend betrayed her and the company she'd helped build-and nearly killed her in the process. Since that time, she's been a shadow of the wild, wicked woman who'd carved a swath through her world. Gavin O'Neill is an artisan with wood, a gardener, a restorer of battered homes and a savior of strays. When first he meets the wounded woman who postures as invincible and worldly, the sadness in her eyes draws him even more than her lush figure does. However she insists otherwise, he sees that she needs the kindness and friendship he can give to her while he's waiting for the woman of his dreams, who will be small and soft and sweet, different in every way from the woman he keeps returning to see. Yet while he's not interested in the virago and she refuses to be nurtured, a potent attraction keeps them circling each other. And while they're busy listing the reasons they're unsuited, something powerful is growing between them. New Year's Eve is for lovers and new beginnings…will these two heart-weary souls take the risk?

What is home, and how do you know when you've found it? Gifted pastry chef Spike Ridley knows most everything about cooking, but the recipe for home has eluded her. Have mixer will travel has been her motto, and now she has lost the one person who'd loved her from childhood. When she crashes-literally-into famed quarterback Tate Ransom, life takes an abrupt turn. Tate has suffered a deep personal loss of his own, and coupled with a career-threatening injury, the ground beneath him is shifting. Forced into a road trip toward uncertain futures, the snarky sprite and celebrity jock get glimpses beneath the other's veneer, and what they find surprises them. When Spike takes Tate to Sweetgrass Springs to hide out, the quirky town embraces him. Too soon his fame and the demands of his career catch up with them, and Tate faces a dilemma: to return to the glamorous life that feels barren, or to stay and fight for a future that won't mean anything if he can't make Spike see that she is already home in Sweetgrass-and he wants to share that home with her.

The prodigal returns at last… Will Sweetgrass ever be the same? The second boxed set in the much-loved Sweetgrass Springs series about a little town where hearts go to heal. Texas Rebel: A former rebellious teen turned billionaire's reunion with his teenage sweetheart and a secret baby he never knew about. Texas Blaze: What happens when a shark lawyer in stilettos has a fling with a hot firefighter determined to find Suzy Homemaker? Texas Christmas Bride: All he wants is the girl he thought he'd lost forever.