Showing results by author "Maya McKenna" in All Categories

He trains wild horses. I didn't realize I was next. My grandmother left me a horse I can't ride and a grief I can't shake. Braveheart is wild, stubborn, and only responds to one man--a quiet horse trainer with patient hands and eyes that see too much. Ezra Vance doesn't push. He just says, "We'll go slow," and teaches me to breathe, to trust, to stop being afraid. His calm voice steadies the horse. His steady presence undoes me. I came to Silver Spur planning to sell the mare and run. But somewhere between the riding lessons and the sunset conversations, I realize he hasn't just been ...

He saved my life. Now he won't let me go. ER nurse Sloane Winters is running for her life when she crashes in the mountains, bleeding from a bullet wound. She begs the massive stranger who finds her not to take her to a hospital—they'll kill her there. So ex-Special Forces medic Cade Wolfe does the only thing his training allows: he kidnaps her. She wakes up three days later, stitched up and handcuffed to his bed. Cade knows she's in danger. Hit teams are searching the mountain roads, and she's too weak to run. So he keeps her—changing her bandages, feeding her, protecting her—even ...

I came to his ranch to escape my life. He's decided I'm never leaving. Burned out and desperate for peace, I rent a cabin on a Montana cattle ranch. I'm not looking for anything but silence and sleep. I'm definitely not looking for the gruff, silver-templed rancher who keeps showing up at my door with firewood I didn't ask for and that intense look in his eyes. Colton Slade hasn't let anyone close in five years. But when a storm kills my power, he carries me to his house like I weigh nothing and tells me I'm staying. Not asks. Tells. He's grumpy. Possessive. Looks at my curves like I'm the ...

I came home to make money. I didn't expect to fall for the single dad I crushed on at seventeen. Everett Stone was the older, unattainable rancher's son who never looked twice at me. Now he's a single dad with a wild toddler and desperation in his eyes, and he's offering me more money than I can refuse to spend the summer chasing his kid around his ranch. I told myself I'd keep it professional. Then his son said my name for the first time, and Everett looked at me like I'd hung the moon. He's still older. Still intense. Still completely off-limits. But now he's looking at me like he sees me...

He hired me to help his daughter. He didn't expect me to help him too. I don't do personal connections. I show up, I tutor, I leave. Simple. Then Sheriff Nate Cortez tracked me down and asked me to save his failing fourteen-year-old, and something about the desperation in his voice made me say yes. Mari is angry at the world. Nate is terrified he's losing her. And I understand both of them better than I should — because I was Mari once, and no one fought for me the way Nate is fighting for her. I'm supposed to keep professional distance. Instead, I'm staying for dinner. Instead, I'm ...

She’s stranded with a broken heart. He’s the man who knows how to fix both. When Faith Novak’s car dies on the snowy road to Aspen Grove, it feels like the final insult. Her Christmas wedding is off, her ex ran off with her cousin, and all she has left is a gown in the backseat and tears freezing on her cheeks. Then Diesel Kane shows up—a tattooed, grease-stained mechanic with a bad-boy grin and a soft spot he’d die before admitting. With every hotel booked for the holidays, he offers her his apartment above the garage “just for the night.” But one night turns into laughter, ...

Four ruthless mountain men. Four women running from danger. And one remote wilderness where captivity feels a lot like devotion. In the Heartland Heroes Collection, survival is never simple, and protection comes with a price. A tech billionaire presumed dead hides in a fortified bunker. A former Special Forces medic refuses to release the woman he saved. A reclusive hunter stalks the criminals preying on his land. A scarred rancher steals women from the horrors chasing them. Each heroine arrives in the mountains hunted, broken, or desperate. Each hero steps in without asking permission. ...

He's supposed to be dead. Instead, he's keeping me captive in paradise. Wildlife biologist Gemma Pierce discovers billionaire tech CEO Thorne Ashford bleeding in the wilderness—except the world thinks he died eighteen months ago. When she saves his life, he makes her an offer she's too broke to refuse: stay the winter in his hidden bunker, and he'll pay her more than her failed research grant. Thorne can't let her leave. Not when assassins are still hunting him. Not when she's the first real thing in his world of lies. Not when her curves and awkward brilliance have become his obsession. ...

He's been watching me for days. I should be terrified. When true crime podcaster Mari Vance hikes into the mountains to investigate a cold case, she doesn't realize she's being hunted by two men - one who wants to hurt her, and one who's been protecting her from the shadows. Garrett Blackwood is a reclusive wildlife photographer who knows every inch of these mountains. He's tracked Mari's stalker for three days, documented every threat, and when the danger closes in, he doesn't ask permission - he takes her. His hidden cabin. His protection. His rules. He's not the monster. He's the man ...

When city girl, Brielle’s, car crashes during a Montana blizzard, she doesn't expect to be rescued by six feet of pure masculine mountain man. Dr. Declan Morrison is everything she's not—rugged, confident, and completely at home in the wilderness. He's also 38 to her 26, with gentle hands and an intensity that makes her heart race every time he calls her sweetheart. "You're mine now," he growls against her ear when the storm traps them together in his cozy cabin. "I'm not letting anything happen to you." Brielle came to Montana to scout corporate retreat locations. She never expected to...

Five cowboys. Five women who weren't looking for love. One ranch where it all begins. Welcome to Silver Spur Ranch, where the men work hard, love harder, and don't let go once they've claimed what's theirs. These men weren't looking for love. But when five curvy women arrive at Silver Spur, everything changes. Because cowboys don't ask. They claim. This collection includes five steamy instalove romances with possessive cowboys, curvy heroines, and guaranteed happily-ever-afters. No cliffhangers, no cheating, just big men with bigger hearts finding the women they'll love forever. Tropes: ...

I was supposed to stay for one summer. His son had other plans. Bear Hollow was just a pit stop. Three months as an au pair, then back to my real life, wherever that was. I didn't expect the lumberjack. I didn't expect his brilliant, lonely little boy. And I definitely didn't expect to feel like I belonged here. Declan Morrow doesn't trust women. His ex made sure of that. He's civil but distant, protective of his son, and completely off-limits. But the way he watches me when I'm helping Milo with his homework? The way his voice drops when he thanks me at the end of each day? The way he ...

He's twice my size and looks at me like I'm made of glass. I came to Cold Creek to audit the lumber mill's books. I didn't expect the owner to show up at my cabin in a blizzard, take one look at me, and announce I was staying with him. Holt Jennings is enormous. Bearded. Quiet. His hands could crush me, but he touches me like I'm precious. When I ask why he's still single, he looks away and says, "Never found anyone who wanted to be held by hands like these." I want to be held by those hands. I want to be held down. I want to show him that everything about him is exactly what I've been ...

When Freya's car breaks down at 2 AM in the middle of nowhere, she doesn't expect to be rescued by six feet of protective mountain muscle. Ryan Hawthorne is everything she's running from—stable, commanding, and dangerously capable of seeing through her carefully built walls. He's also 38 to her 23, with calloused hands and a voice that makes her shiver every time he calls her sweetheart. "You're safe with me now," he promises when her past threatens to drag her back into darkness. "I protect what's mine." Freya came to Thunder Creek to disappear. She never expected to find sanctuary in ...

He told me to leave the mountain. I didn't listen. The ranger warned me that a storm was coming. I needed one more shot, and then I'd go. But the blizzard hit fast, and now I'm trapped in his remote station with a man who's equal parts frustrated and fascinating. Wes Hartley doesn't waste words. He just looks at me with those sad eyes and says, "You could have died out there." I know. I know I was reckless. But when he wraps a blanket around my shoulders and pulls me against his chest "for warmth," I stop feeling sorry and start feeling something else entirely. Four days. One ranger station...

I got lost in the mountains. He found me. One wrong turn. That's all it took. Now my car is buried in snow, my phone is dead, and the only shelter for miles belongs to a growling giant who looks at me like I'm the first woman he's seen in years. Boone Callahan doesn't do company. Doesn't do conversation. Doesn't do soft. But when he carries me through the blizzard and locks us inside his cabin, something shifts. His hands are rough. His voice is gruff. And the way he watches me peel off my wet clothes makes me forget I'm supposed to be scared. Three days until the roads clear. One bed. And ...

When the town’s fire chief shows up for an inspection, she doesn’t expect him to reignite an old flame… After a messy divorce, Lila Morgan is back in Cedar Falls, knee-deep in corn silk and tangled extension cords as she helps her brother prepare the family’s haunted maze. The last thing she needs is Sawyer Grant—her brother’s best friend, first crush, and the man she’s spent a decade trying to forget—walking back into her life in full fire chief uniform. Sawyer has three priorities: protect his town, protect his crew, and never touch the one woman he’s wanted for ten ...

When digital nomad Grace's converted van breaks down on a remote mountain road, she doesn't expect to be rescued by six feet of rugged wilderness guardian who lives in a fire lookout tower. Dean Hawthorne is everything she's been running from—rooted, steady, and absolutely certain about what he wants. He's also 35 to her 29, with forest-green eyes and calloused hands that make her forget why she swore never to stay in one place. "You don't make me want to choose between my mountain and my heart," he tells her when she tries to leave. "You make me want to share everything with you." Grace ...

He hired me to take care of his daughters. He didn't expect me to take care of him, too. I came to Bear Hollow to escape my past. The job listing said, "Live-in nanny needed immediately.” Jonah Crewe is exhausted, grieving, and barely holding it together. His twin daughters haven't smiled in months. And he looks at me like I'm the first good thing to walk through his door in years. I'm supposed to maintain professional boundaries. I'm supposed to remember that he's my boss and this is just a job. But when his daughter falls asleep in my arms, and he whispers, "Stay. Please. We need you," ...

When my BMW skids up a gravel mountain road, I don’t expect to end the day stranded in a storm and falling hard for the man I came to destroy. As a high-powered environmental lawyer, I’m used to wielding cease-and-desist orders like weapons. This trip to Colorado was supposed to be quick and bloodless: serve papers to Cruz Construction, shut them down, and catch my flight back to the city. Then I meet Dane Cruz. Six-foot-four of raw muscle, golden skin, and work-roughened hands that know how to build more than just homes. He’s supposed to be the villain in my legal brief, but he sees ...