The Cowboy's Second Chance

Ryan Wylder isn’t looking for love...

He’s been burned before and has learned his lesson the hard way. But when his sexy new neighbor Carly Clarke takes aim at him with her shotgun during a late-night misunderstanding that sparks his interest, he may have to look out for more than his life—he may have to look out for his heart!

Carly Clarke is ready for change.

No more men. No more bad decisions or accepting well-meaning interference in her life. Just self-reliance as she builds up her soon-to-be organic farm. Only one problem, handsome cowboy Ryan Wylder keeps showing up and making offers her new business can’t refuse.

Will accepting his help mean she’ll lose her fight for independence, or will he respect her boundaries while pushing her to new levels? And what will this duo do as their lives become inexplicably entwined, and their hearts beg them to take a second chance on love?

“Get your yard light fixed?” Ryan asked, adjusting his black cowboy hat from his perch on the forklift. Most times she’d seen him he was wearing a ball cap, and dressed as though he was about to coach his football team. But he looked right at home in the hat, along with the black-and-red checked shirt under a black vest. Dark colors suited him, matching his hair, bringing out the intensity of his blue eyes.

Handsome. That’s what he was.

And in Carly’s world, handsome spelled T-R-O-U-B-L-E.
“Here you are again.” She held up her empty palms. “And me without my shotgun.”

To her delight, the man’s lips quirked into a slight smile. “I can wait here if you need to retrieve it.”

Oh, but she loved a man who didn’t take her too seriously. And that light Texas drawl? Mmm. It sounded good with that deep, gravelly voice of his.

What was she thinking? Yes, he was eye candy, but he’d already been established as trouble.

“My goats are accounted for this morning. Why are you here?” Her words came out abruptly, but she didn’t regret them or the distance they might bring.

“I thought you could use a lift.”

She raised her eyebrows and gave the bastardized truck an unimpressed look. There was only one seat and she most certainly didn’t need to ride anywhere with Mr. Trouble on his homemade forklift.

“To fix your yard light.”

“Oh!” Her surprise and delight slipped out before she could tamp it down. “That was…” She closed her mouth and instead studied the platform made of pallets and plywood resting on the machine’s forks.

“It’s mighty neighborly, I know,” Ryan said, with a wry smirk that made him look even more devilishly charming. “My parents ingrained it into me, and honestly? Sometimes it’s a genuine pain in the butt.”

“I see.”

“You don’t happen to have a replacement bulb for the light, do you?”

“I don’t think so.” She winced, realizing she needed more than just a bulb. Maybe she could find a cheap solar light she could nail to the pole and call it done. She’d seen a few gnome ones in the hardware store in town. Maybe she could strap up a whole herd of them. However, as amusing as that would look, she didn’t think they’d cast enough light to be helpful.

“You’re in luck,” Ryan said.

“I am?” She hated her growing intrigue, how easily she was drawn into his spell. She didn’t want to be. She wanted to keep her status as a self-reliant, independent woman who didn’t need a man to save her. Or, help her, in Ryan’s case.

“I grabbed a bulb while I was in town.” He gestured to a box near his feet.

Carly glanced at her wrist, bare of a watch, then up at the sun. Whatever the time, she was confident it was still too early for any of Sweetheart Creek’s stores to be open.

“I have a key for the hardware store,” he explained. “I put it on my tab.”

“I thought you were a teacher.”

“I am. But I used to do inventory at the store while in high school. They never asked for the key back.”

And obviously he’d never offered to return it, either.
“You bought a new light bulb?” she asked.

“I picked up a fixture and some wire, too. It looked like you did a thorough job of obliterating that light.”

He was too helpful. What was his angle? A man like him had angles. Always. And not just those handsome, sharp ones making his jaw look extra sexy.

“Out of the goodness of your heart?” she asked.

The idea of being indebted to Ryan Wylder was like a giant warning alarm going off, blinking and blaring.

But she could accept the handsome cowboy’s help without causing a wake of problems, couldn’t she?
She doubted that very much.