Stony Creek Cowboy [Stony Creek] (Siren Publishing Classic)

Stony Creek

Stony Creek Cowboy

Dr. Billie Rothman, a beautiful, widowed MD, leaves all that she knows behind, attempting to follow her dreams to Stony Creek, Wyoming. She is yearning for the passionate life she wanted to live after a safe marriage to her best friend.

Jackson Powell, a huge, handsome cowboy, literally saves her life soon after she arrives in town. After being married to a selfish and superficial woman, he decides that women are simply for his pleasure and to ranch alongside him and his family, never expecting the bundle of sensual energy that punches him in the gut after meeting his new neighbor.

While getting to know each other, both these wounded souls cannot ignore the instant attraction or the pulling of their hearts, but in the background lurk several individuals who yearn to teach them both lessons in pain and revenge. Unfortunately Jackson’s ex-wife and a jealous acquaintance from his past try to hurt both of them physically and psychologically.

Genre:
Contemporary, Western/Cowboys

Length:
79,536 words
 

Stony Creek

Taylor Berke

EROTIC ROMANCE

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com

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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

IMPRINT: Erotic Romance

STONY CREEK COWBOY

E-book ISBN:
978-1-62242-305-7

First E-book Publication: February 2013

Cover design by Christine Kirchoff

All cover art and logo copyright © 2013 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED:
This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

PUBLISHER

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com

Letter to Readers

Dear Readers,

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Stony Creek Cowboy
 
by Taylor Berke from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

Regarding E-book Piracy

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www.SirenPublishing.com

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To my darling husband, my own cowboy, who reminds me daily that there are men willing to protect, cherish, and honor the woman that they love. I always believed that there was a man who would forever light my heart and soul on fire. You help me every day deal with the stresses of life while enveloping all that I ever dreamed that a man could be. I love you.

STONY CREEK COWBOY

Stony Creek

TAYLOR BERKE

Copyright © 2013

“How the heck did I get here?” Billie wondered aloud.

Dr. Billie Rothman was driving herself across the country to a new life. The question was a thought that had rattled through her head a least ten times a day for the last two days. In the comfort of her Range Rover, she was halfway from New York to Wyoming. She felt awash with so many emotions, excitement, anxiety, fear, and hope. The dominating feeling, however, was confusion. Did she make the right decision? She was a doctor for Pete’s sake. Doctors stayed in one place, had longtime patients who brought them cookies and asked about their children. Whatever had given her the courage to make this move had now deserted her momentarily and left her pondering her choice.

Ah, Matthew, what would he have thought about this moving business? Nuts, crazy, and irresponsible was probably what her husband would have thought. He would say, what was she thinking leaving a great job and practice behind? He was always the calm, responsible half of their marriage. He never got too excited and never got too upset. He had always been the voice of reason and was such a good, kind man and had been her friend since the first day of medical school. She had loved and respected him in so many ways, but her marriage had been based on the whims of immaturity and the hopefulness of youth, not on true love. Initially, it was his calmness that had made her feel as safe and secure on the inside as she had always wanted to be. It was that need combined with the hardheaded idea that she thought someone might want to finally love her forever.

Billie was a forever type of girl.

Her mom had passed away her junior year in college, followed by her dad in her second year in med school. “Just love me,” she used to say over and over to Matthew. He was now her only family. He had tried, really he had, she mused. However, he just loved being a doctor and the power and privilege that came with it. He loved it so much that there was little room in his life or heart for his wife. He had, however, wanted both of them settled with all the respect and entitlements that come with medical success. She had tried to tell him of her dreams for happiness. She told him that she wanted to travel to see great spaces, practice medicine, and return to the secret pleasures of her youth, riding. He would just chuckle and figuratively pat her on the head as if assuming she was just daydreaming aloud. The need to follow her dreams only seemed to grow as time passed. The more that she tried to explain, the less he seemed to listen, immersed in his world of patients and patience. Then, without warning, he was gone. Taken by cancer so quickly, she still had to catch her breath and blink to believe it was real.

What am I going to do now? she had thought.

Billie shifted her mental gears and thought with the single-mindedness that she had always possessed. “I am going to be a success but on my terms, my way, and apparently, alone.” Well, sort of, unless you counted the two huge dogs in the back of truck that could double as elephants. She wasn’t about to leave Madison and Zeus behind.

She could always do this. In the face of fear, she had always pulled up her bootstraps, lifted her chin, cried quite a bit, and done what she had to. Laughingly, she realized that there was no longer anything in this world she had to do. She was now on her way to do what she
wanted
to do. Finally.

* * * *

“How did I get here?” mused Jackson while sitting on his horse, Lachlan.

Geez, he thought. Two years ago, he’d just figured it was time to settle down and finally act like a mature man. A rancher his whole life from a family of lifetime ranchers, there was nothing else in this world that even tempted his soul. He was the eldest of three brothers. All shared a love for the crisp, clean Wyoming air and the land on which they were raised. At a mere six feet six inches he was everything you would imagine a Wyoming rancher to be. He was big and brawny, the type of thickly muscled physique that came from a real day’s labor and defined a rugged man. With sensuous green eyes and rich chocolate brown hair, he was definitely a man to make a woman stand up and take notice. Jackson bore the air of responsibility that only the oldest brother could wear. He had spent a lifetime of bailing his brothers out of scraps with other boys, schoolhouse pranks, and as they matured, some very irate female encounters. He had to laugh at that. The Powell boys sure did get into sticky female situations. He had had his fair share as a younger man, but now, at thirty-six, he was more mature and, as he thought, past his wild ways. Well, it had just been time.

He had married Gwen, a longtime Stony Creek girl who knew her way around the ranch, tough winters, and men. “Ah hell, that last part hadn’t been so bad.” Jackson laughed. She sure had tried to wear him out. She just hadn’t touched him inside. “Damn, I am starting to act like a woman,” he grumbled. He didn’t need love, he needed understanding of his seriousness, he needed a woman to get that his job was his only true love. Not so sadly, she left him in a flurry of tears, drama, and runny mascara not more than a year ago.

“You have no idea how to love a woman,” Gwen had spat out.

“Really? You seemed quite loved not two days ago,” Jackson had said.

“Ugh, Jackson, you don’t love me. You only need a body for pleasure and to keep the bed warm,” she yelled. “You are a cold, unfeeling man. You have no joy in anything except those stupid cows and horses! I need a man who wants me around, wants to have some fun, ya know! Dinner, dancing, and shopping, Jackson. These are things women want! You are supposed to cherish me, adore me, and spoil me.” Wow, Jackson had never thought of that, never wanted that…with her.

“I worked and slaved on your ranch for what? You never bought me a gift, never made me dinner, and I don’t see any babies running around here, so what the heck do you need me for? Nothing. I am sorry, but Len Drexel—you know, the guy who hates your guts—has offered me something different, and I am going to try it on for size,” Gwen had said finally. “It’s over.”

Suddenly, the sun had come out and as sure as he knew his name, relief poured out of him. “Sorry things didn’t work out, Gwen. I know you wanted more,” he said.

“Jackson, what I want is to be a woman, to have fun, and a life. You are too damn serious and domineering. Women just don’t like that. Lighten up a little bit, will ya?” she griped. “I have already seen a lawyer and the papers should be delivered in a day or so. I would like to say that I am sorry, but I’m not.”