Showing results by author "L.B. Dunbar" in All Categories

Quiet. Serious. Protective. Words Stone Sylver would use to describe himself. And yet, something in his classic blue eyes said he was so much more. Buried beneath the years of raising his younger siblings and working as a small-town sheriff was a man looking for love.

Autumn Kulis wants a baby. It’s that simple and that complicated because one thing stands in her way: She doesn’t have a man in her life. And at almost 40, she isn’t getting any younger. On a two-week trip to her brother’s lakeside cottage, a plan forms. Make a list of three men. Sleep with each of them. Allow nature to take its course. Only, a certain someone gets in her way.

Olivet Pierson needs his land. Name your price, Mr. Harrington. She has her reasons, and this muscular mountain of masculinity isn’t going to get in her way. However, her heart has a different plan after she accepts his crazy conditions: three nights up on the ridge. George Harrington is a quiet giant of a man. No sale, Cricket. He’s a war hero, a widower, and COO for the family brewing company, but his life lacks spontaneity. Then, she arrives, chirping away at him, roaming his body with those sky blue eyes and negotiating for something on which he won’t put a price.

Harland Bull Eaton has lost many things - his first wife, his beloved mother, those three women he proposed to.... Oh, and there was that time he almost lost the family dairy farm due to a scandal. He's losing faith in just about everything, especially love. But one night, his friends give him a dare. Just buy that gorgeous redhead a drink. The big-city bombshell he's set his eyes on swirls him into a tailspin that lands them in bed for a one night stand he's pretty sure he'll never forget. But this time he won't let his heart ride herd on his common sense. 

I’d been in Curmudgeon Bakery for one of those lemon baby-Bundt cakes I’d been craving since I found out I was pregnant. The draw had nothing to do with the baker himself. Tall, tatted, and edgy, he looked more like a biker than a man who makes baked goods. I hardly knew him other than taking a tumble in a rainstorm in front of his shop... and then tossing myself at him after he rescued me. We shared a moment, but it’s not what you’d think. Months later, he delivered my baby among his cookies and cakes. Talk about a second chance encounter.

When a mysterious silver fox becomes intrigued with this small town’s most disliked society woman, he finds she’s more than a little trouble and possibly a whole lot of heart.

I hate Christmas. I don’t know who thought every female must love shopping, wrapping, baking, and hosting, but I’m missing the memo. On top of that, I manage a top-end department store. Sprinkle in the fact I’ll be turning 40 during this holiday season, and my life is a Christmas cookie recipe gone wrong. And every year I become a little more Scrooge-ish. But the spirit of the most wonderful time of the year (insert sarcasm) seems to have a plan for me and my midlife-crisis attitude.

Breast cancer survivor Edie Williams is ready to live. Divorced. Mother of two. She's planned the vacation of a lifetime for a reboot, only to encounter an awakening adventure - Tommy Carrigan.

When a sexy, mature man-of-means encounters a silver vixen, healing her broken heart might be worth more than gold. Dolores Chance. When I was falling apart, I fell in love. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. I ran away from life and ended up running into...his dog. Actually, his dog ran into me. I don’t care for dogs. Then I met the owner. Garrett Fox. When my neighbor’s sister came to visit, I promised to show her around town. I’m an investor in things, not people, not emotions. I’m not a fan of love. I’ve been burned before. Then I met Dolores.

Meeting Ross Davis, professional baseball coach and my sports crush, is a funny story involving a stalled elevator, the potty dance, and an attempt to get into his hotel suite. In my defense, that last one was an accident. He came to my room instead with a bottle of scotch and a sad soul. My one night was not a stand, but more like a lie-in. As in, we snuggled and talked and not another thing happened. So, nothing surprises me more than seeing him again when he becomes the manager of the Chicago Anchors, my hometown pro-team, and our paths intersect once more.

Love wasn’t part of the blueprint when high school sweethearts reunite in their small town. But this former military man never forgot the girl he left behind and he’s more determined than ever for a second chance to rebuild their relationship brick by brick and heart by heart. Getting locked in the men’s restroom during my mother’s funeral wasn’t exactly how I expected to run into my high school sweetheart. The one who got away. The one who broke my heart.

Love doesn’t break us; it makes us whole, my nana used to say. However, one minute, my world is set on fire, literally. The next, I am raising a six-year-old as a single mom without a clear path ahead of us. No place to live. No job. No money. I’m returning to Sterling Falls to claim what’s mine, then there will be no looking back on this beloved small town, a place I consider a handful of sand in the hourglass of my life. Then again, Clay Sylver has shaken up that ancient time clock. The silver fox in his forties is a bit cocky, but solid in every way that matters.

Love was a losing battle for this country music darling and a single dad, baseball star until one night brings them together and one small town sets the playing field for a possible winning streak. They call me Lady Boss. Maneater. Queen. But beneath the makeup, blond wig, and glitzy costumes, I’m just a country girl who likes to sing. I don’t hate men, I’m just struggling to find a good one. I’ve learned my lesson. Fool me once, and it will never, ever happen again. So I’m baffled when I meet Ford Sylver.

Archer McCaryn has been a mystery to his family. At 45, he isn’t certain who he is anymore. When he returns to the family’s lakeside cottage, he finds there is someone in his garage apartment. In fact, she’s in his bed, and he doesn’t have a problem with the beautiful, single mother staying there as long as she doesn’t want into his heart.

As the CEO of a major department store, I know firsthand that Christmas joy can be bought and sold just like anything else. That's right. When it comes to the most wonderful time of the year, I’m a grinch in a penthouse. But when a gorgeous, red-headed firefighter saves me from a heart attack with a kiss and a whispered plea, even I can’t begrudge her a simple favor — be her date at her younger brother’s holiday wedding. Turns out, there’s nothing simple about it.

I wasn’t supposed to love him. I wasn’t even supposed to acknowledge him. But my entire life, I’ve had heart-eyes for my oldest brother’s former best friend, Cortland Haven. I can’t help it that boys can be stupid, and a feud broke apart a long-time friendship and divided once-close families. Now, we’re older and wiser. And with a little over a decade age gap between us, and a divide greater than that between our families, my heart still hasn’t gotten the memo. No, that fickle organ has other plans for Cortland and me.

When the divorced mother of the groom goes head-to-head with the single father of the bride, they might be the next couple experiencing a heart-to-heart. When my son asked me to take his ticket for the honeymoon that didn’t happen, I balked. What would I do on a 10-day vacation in Belize? More importantly, what caused my son and the love of his life to call off their wedding? I didn’t have an answer, and he wasn’t sharing, so I traded places with him. Over a week of sunshine and me-time was on the docket, until he arrived.

Let’s start here. The twelve days of Christmas are actually after the holiday. And my dad, being the great guy he is, and the battalion chief of the fire department, signs up one of his rebellious firefighters for a retreat because of his bad behavior. The guy is a total grouch. But when he misses the bus for the adult redemption camp, Dad sticks the guy with me for twelve days. Alone.

Naomi Winters will be 40 soonish, and she’s only been with one man. One night. One time. Long ago. She believes everything happens for a reason, and the universe spoke about Nathan Ryder. Nathan Ryder isn’t the same man who hightailed his bike out of Green Valley, 18 years ago. As a rule breaker, women are one area he acts a fool. Case in point, the local librarian. He can’t get a read on her, but she’s one risk he’s willing to take. Again.

That’s my name, my birthright, and my curse. I didn’t always hate being a Harrington. At one time, I took it as a privilege. I used it to my advantage. But a name doesn’t stop you from losing everything, and after six haunting years, that everything is back forcing me to face the past or give up a future.