You Had Me at Cowboy

Marts’s second Cowboys of Creedence contemporary western (after Caught Up in a Cowboy) delivers charismatic, quirky characters. Just once, steadfast and responsible rancher Mason James would like someone to see him as Mason—not as superstar hockey player Rockford James’s brother. Journalist Tessa Kane is barely making ends meet, and then her job is threatened; her last hope is to deliver an in-depth profile on Rockford and his fiancée, Quinn. She braves a party for Rockford and Quinn, trying to score an interview, but things go unexpected ways. Mason certainly doesn’t expect to find his true love in a supply closet, where he encounters Tessa trying to change her outfit. It’s love at first sight for Tessa, too, so she accepts his request to be his wedding-weekend date, but she worries Mason will think she only wants access to Rockford. Some of Tessa’s grandmother’s antics strain credulity, but readers will cherish the scorching sex, snappy dialogue, well-paced plot, and the appeal of the small Colorado town setting. Agent: Nicole Resciniti, Seymour Agency. (Dec.)