THOSE TEXAS NIGHTS – Delores Fossen
A Wrangler's Creek Novel , Book 1
HQN Books
ISBN-10: 0373801874
ISBN-13: 978-0373801879
January 2017
Contemporary Cowboy Romance

Austin and Wrangler's Creek, Texas – The Present

Today has been a horrible day. It is Sophie Granger's wedding day, and her fiancé, Brantley Barnwell, has just jilted her. She runs barefoot (she lost her shoes escaping the church) to the only eligible man in town, new interim police chief, Clay McKinnon, to ask him to pretend they were involved. She hopes this will prevent trouble by creating gossip that stops either one of her brothers Garrett or Roman, or any other family member, including her mother Belle, from taking vengeance on Brantley. Then, worse trouble comes when her family shows in Clay's office. Sophie and her brother Garrett operated the family business, Granger Western, but now the company is missing millions of dollars and their accountant, who was a family friend, has disappeared. They can't touch anything about the company, not until the FBI clears them of collusion.

A beautiful woman in a bridal gown and bare, muddy feet bursting into his office stuns Clay. While he reacts to her request, he knows he can't act on her suggestion. An incident in his past haunts him, and pink envelopes arriving monthly in the mail remind him of this. Still, he knows the gossips in his office will have the information about his and Sophie's ‘affair' spread all over town before she even leaves the office.

The down-home, breezy style of author Delores Fossen, and her creation of the odd yet familiar community of Wrangler's Creek, plus the variety of unconventional characters who live there, add definite charm to this story. The old gypsy, Vita, who is mother of Sophie's best friend, is one of these, but others abound. It seems Sophie's father was controlling, and her mother borders insensitive and intrusive, creating a somewhat dysfunctional but obviously loving family. Clay's relationships aren't much better, yet the dance of attraction between him and Sophie is entertaining. He raised his only sister, April. She has twin sons from a disastrous marriage, and now he discovers she has married Brantley.

Robin Lee