Showing results by author "Jessie Gussman" in All Categories

Sadie Powers has crushed on her brother’s best friend for years, but when the Piece Makers, Sweet Water’s own quilting and matchmaking group, ask her to help them match him up with the new single mom in town, she just wants the man she’s loved for years to be happy, even if that’s with someone else. When rancher and livestock auction owner Colman Baldwin is asked to give riding lessons to the son of the new single mom in town, he doesn’t hesitate to make time in his schedule to help out. That’s what small towns are for. He doesn’t realize he’s being set up.

She led him on, lied about him, then dumped him for his cousin. She was his enemy. He walked. But he loved her still.

Lucas Clyborne has had his eye on Sweet Water's librarian, Ryland Solomon, for almost a year. He's even started going to the library and checking out books. Who knew Extreme Ironing was a thing? So, maybe he had a little trouble concentrating on looking for suitable books since his attention seemed to get fixed on the cute librarian who didn't seem to know he was alive. Ryland didn't know why Lucas all the sudden had a fascination with obscure books like The Iliad and Favorite Ties of Latin American Presidents, but she is sure he's up to no good.

Olive Jardine almost died living her adventure, backpacking around the world and going wherever the wind blew. Coming back to Raspberry Ridge feels safe and she has no interest in leaving ever again. But her sisters want to sell the family home. They need the money and she can’t afford to buy it outright. Her best friend from childhood just might have a plan that could get her the home she wants, but can he get past the pain she caused him before she left and the way she betrayed him? Doyle Lowry is not the boy she remembers. He's better.

When Teagan Lepley is asked to cat-sit by a kindly lady in town, she wasn't expecting the neighbor to be so "friendly", so she asks her best friend to hang out with her so she can honestly say she's busy. What she wasn't expecting was the entire town to think that there is finally something more going on between her and her best friend. Something more than the great friendship they've always had.

Fire Chief Andrew Coleman has two rooms for rent. Reagan Boyle and her little brother need a place to stay, and fast. It should be cut and dried–she rents the rooms, he lives his life. Except for the memories of the mistletoe kiss they shared. But he’s still dealing with the death of his close friend and because she was weak and trusting she’s carrying another man’s child.

Angela Davis had been the sedate good daddy’s girl all her life, doing whatever her parents wanted, even trying to trap a man into marriage to help them get out of debt. Mack knew of her past and didn’t trust her, but he needed someone to help him with his nieces, and she needed someone to help her put on the best Christmas festival Sweet Water had ever seen.

Jonah Mills is content keeping a low profile on the Sweet Briar Ranch, drumming up business for their crop-dusting service and learning how to be a rancher after years in the Air Force. His marriage was a mistake he doesn't intend to repeat.

Phoebe Clyborne has always been the perfect child, and she'd certainly never been in jail. So, after being released from her first night in the lock up, the new cowboy in town is bound to get the wrong impression about the girl who has been content on her family's ranch, assuming the Lord just wants her to take care of her family and never have one of her own when she runs smack into him, knocking them both down. It wouldn't have been so bad, but later that day, Phoebe realizes he's the new foreman at their ranch.

On the day Deacon Hudson was set to be ordained, a bundle shows up at the church with a simple note on it. Deacon Hudson is the father. Take care of her. Deacon knows he’s not the father. The Immaculate Conception was a one time thing. But the baby needs a parent, and he has to decide if he will give up his life dream of being a pastor to take the child, despite the fact that the note is a lie. Can he do it without resenting the child?

Bev became a successful business woman, designing her own line of spandex undergarments for plus sized women and amassing a fortune as the company grew to a multibillion dollar international conglomerate. If she hadn’t lost her baby and broken up with her boyfriend when she was 15, none of her financial success would have ever happened.

When Amber is hired to decorate the mansion of a high-profile client for Christmas, she’s determined to impress. But when the mountain of tinsel she's to use arrives in a hopelessly tangled mess, she’s in over her head. Enter her client’s charming yet mischievous brother, Daniel, who offers to help her out of the holiday jam.

After her husband died, leaving her with six kids to raise on her own, Piper Hughes struggles to hold everything together on a hairdresser's small wage. She has no hope of expanding her two bedroom ranch house, and doesn't want to rely on the charity of the town either. She definitely doesn't want some strange man coming in, being too kind, stealing her kids' hearts, and turning her world upside down. He'll be leaving when he's done. After all, what man would want a woman with six kids?

Merrit and Sorrel Hines have been trying to find a husband for their mom because they want a dad. Their mom says to be patient, but at the rate she's going–always more concerned with what is happening at her diner than in looking for a husband–they'll be grown and out of the house until she gets around to finding someone.

Madeline Reese has a successful cooking show, a best-selling line of cookbooks and is considered one of the top celebrity chefs in Hollywood. One small problem – she can’t cook. Loyal Hudson doesn’t want to open his world-class kitchen to the cameras Madeline will bring with her, but the celebrity chef could be the bridge between him and a future with his little girl.

It was supposed to be simple. Marry the tall Texan. Her children get a father. They save the ranch. A business transaction, nothing more. She definitely wasn’t going to fall in love. After her husband ran off with her little sister, she was no longer susceptible to cowboy charm. But the North Dakota girl had never met a Texas cowboy.

Preston Harding witnessed his best friend’s death in the prime of his life. Alcohol has numbed the pain. Until his son’s mother drops the boy off on his doorstep and tells him she is dying. Suddenly he’s responsible for a young life and is facing another death. Thankfully, hospice is taking care of everything except the child.

As they agreed on the night of their high school graduation, Leiklyn and her two friends, Tiffany and Willen, meet on the porch of the Manor at Blueberry Beach on April Fool’s day, 18 years after being given their diplomas. Life hadn’t turned out as expected for any of them. A single mother for 15 years, Leiklyn recently lost her job and her unemployment is running out. Could the manor she and her friends bought for one dollar be the change she needs to move forward in her life? Or will it just complicate things when she finds out the explosive secret her daughter is hiding?

Since her husband's infidelity and their subsequent divorce, Kennedy just wants to be left alone to figure things out. North Dakota seems like the perfect place. Only, because of one little kidnapping and ransom incident, her older brother thinks she needs a bodyguard. She supposes he's probably right, but she'd really like it to be anyone other than Baker Lawrence. He's been her brother's best friend forever and her very first crush. There is no man more solid and dependable than Baker.

Elias Emerson has worked hard and become a successful businessman. Fellow businesswoman Catherine Hutchison has been with him, helping him, all his adult life, but he’s never really paid attention to her. She's just there. Never noticed how much she did for him behind the scenes. How much she lifted him up and made him better. How much she sacrificed to give him the support and encouragement he needed.