Short Westerns

A pampered debutante who's lost everything, a gruff Pinkerton Agent who doesn't work well with others, and a mail-order marriage that could blow up in both their faces. Gwendolyn Whitley was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. The daughter of a shipping titan, she’s never wanted for anything until her father dies and she finds out he only left her with a pile of debt. Now, she has no other option but to find a job to support herself. She remembers her friend, Nadine, wrote to her about her new life as a Pinkerton Agent. Gwendolyn wonders if she could be one, too? Bradley Holmes isn’t...

A collection of twenty-four adventure, western and humor stories by the short story author John T. Watts. This is the first of two volumes. Volume II being comprised of different subjects and genres.

A happily ever after with my summer fae men was within our reach...until the Heart of the Mists tied me to one of the foreboding winter arch-lords. I can't escape the connection between us. The enemy can speak from right within my soul. I'm not willing to give up on my happiness so easily, but I can't let the realms descend into all-out war. I'll brave the uncertainties of the winter realm if that's what it takes to protect the men I love. My chilly Unseelie arch-lord isn't quite what I expected, though. There's passion beneath his icy front...and also so much pain.

Jackson Evans, the billionaire owner of Ivy Ridge Ranch, hires the private investigator who, seven years ago, uncovered the truth of his wife’s betrayal. Jackson fell hard for Valerie Meyers back then, but he was too embroiled in the chaos of a bitter divorce to be able to even think about such things. Valerie feels similarly about Jackson but doesn’t think he’ll ever reciprocate her feelings. Nevertheless, she’s happy to be back in Copper Canyon, among old friends. But what Valerie discovers in her investigation is far more sinister than anybody could have imagined. As dark secrets...

This bundle includes Basil of Baker Street, Basil and the Cave of Cats, Basil in Mexico, and Basil in the Wild West.

Here are 16 stories, where good meets bad, and everything in between, from the legendary author of the West, Elmer Kelton. Law of the Land chronicles some of his most exciting and dangerous tales of the Old West, collected together for the first time - including the exciting first publication of a never-before published Kelton story, “Biscuits for Bandit”.

If you like kooky mysteries, you’ll love Mabel and Irma. Short Read for that airplane flight! A feisty 60-something woman and a spirited spirit solve a murder. After a cross-country trip driving an F-150 and hauling a vintage camper Mabel Gold has proven to herself—and her doubting kids—that she still has it in her. She’s not sure what, but it’s something. Brooklyn smarts? Or, perhaps, after transplanting herself to Florida, it’s just sheer wacky-ness. Florida is full of it. But that’s what she needed when she left her two-timing husband and his bimbo new wife back in Long ...

I Never Dreamed There was a Rugged, Handsome Mountain Man In My Future… But in the Mountains of Montana, I get my Second Chance at love... and so does he. Rylie Mills’ life is about to change forever: A vacation fling becomes insta-love in the nth degree? I never dreamed this could happen to me. Ever. It was the last thing I ever expected, especially since I came on this mini-vacation telling myself over and over that I wasn’t here for any reason other than to relax and recharge I can’t shake the feeling that I belong in the city, not out here in the Montana mountains, and I have a ...

Now that Joy is back in Rocky Ridge, she’s hoping she’s made the right decision. Though life with her husband in LA had been turbulent, she’d at least had a job and a steady income. Now she’s got to rebuild from the ground up and jobs aren’t as plentiful in the small mountain town as they were in the city. Her daughter is depending on her, so this move to her home town has to work. Running into Joy was the last thing Aaron expected. She’d been his best friend and his biggest crush back in the day. They tried to date once. He’d been smitten and she’d decided that a guy with ...

Some people dream of a gentle retirement enjoying crochet or cricket, but for two sexagenarians, a more cadaverous future awaits… Newly retired teachers, Etta and Dora, take a walk along an old mule track connecting their mountain-top villages, each hoping to soothe the distress she feels at the paltry pension she will receive. Meeting at the fabled Witches’ Cave, they put aside their woes – the naked body of Sibilla, Castelmezzano’s beautiful witch, lies dead at the foot of the old oak tree. Did she plummet from the sky during a Sabbath flight as the superstitious locals are ...

America's richest legends come from the frontier - from the land where the events of a single moment might erase the lines between law and lawlessness, between safety and mortal danger, between heroes and villains. The carefully selected stories in this collection are vibrant proof that the great American West is a fertile ground to storytellers. Here's the most varied collection of short stories, by 17 highly acclaimed Western writers.

(This story used to be part of the Mail-Order Brides of America series. It is the same story but has a new cover and series name.) Having previously lived at Mary’s Home for Girls, Allison is now a nurse working for the town doctor. She enjoys her job but she wants to have a family. She doesn’t feel she will ever find a man who would want to marry her in North Carolina because of her age (she is 28 and is considered an old maid) and her height (she is almost as tall as most men). She makes the decision to be a mail-order bride and starts to correspond with Mitch, a man who owns a small ...

An Enemies to Lovers Romance Colt Being a Briggs holds more power than the law badge I wear. Some say my father bought me this position, but the folks of Storm Canyon voted me in. However, neither my name or badge mean anything to Aria Fairchild. When I'm tasked with making sure she sells her grandfather's estate to my family, I throw all my Briggs charm at her and come up dry. Aria is smart, determined, and wilder than the fillies I'm known for taming. In my attempt to win the estate, she steals my heart. Will I choose my family or will my loyalty lie with love? *** One feud. Two families-...

The one thing you can’t buy is love… Cord: I lost a gambling wager, and now I have a debt to pay to my business rival. I can either fork over the intellectual rights to the new app I just created that's predicted to earn millions, or I can return to my hometown in the Texas desert and convince the one who got away to fall in love with me again. The only thing is, I don’t do love. In fact, I’ve been accused of being heartless. But now I find myself packing up and heading back to my roots and the one person I swore never to see again, the one I gave my heart to years ago and who ...

Emma Wainwright didn’t believe in love. Love was a matter of superfluous chemical reactions within the body that certain environmental influences exacerbated—or so her former scientist husband claimed. Until those outside influences, resulted in a chain reaction of unexpected and epic proportions, toppling her world. Now alone, penniless, and undeniably pregnant, the bookish bluestocking sets out to tackle her most fascinating experiment of all—dealing with her new husband, William. William ‘Willie’ Thomas barely understood the language his new bride was speaking, as she stood ...

When a cheerful new teacher arrives in a small Wyoming town, she must thaw the heart of a grumpy oil field manager and show him that love is worth the risk—even as their different worlds threaten to tear them apart. Bethany's sunny optimism and Jake's guarded demeanor clash from the start, even as their undeniable chemistry sizzles. But when Jake's past heartbreak resurfaces and small-town gossip runs rampant, he pushes Bethany away, convinced he's not worthy of her love. Bethany must prove to Jake that he deserves happiness and fight for their chance at forever. Can Bethany's warmth melt...

My ranch. My rules. Carrie is mine. Maybe having my brother and his fiancée home for Christmas wasn’t the best idea. But Carrie knows the rules and the consequences. A storm is brewing. Things only get worse – tragic, in fact. Then the tide turns and beauty rises from the ashes. All I can do is hold on tight to my girl, and try to be the best man and friend I can be. But will it be enough? Forever Daddy is book two in the Sweet Texas Love series, but can be read as a standalone. Publisher’s Note: This sweet romance contains elements of power exchange and domestic discipline. If these...

For as long as she could remember, Sandra Pilling loved horses and enjoyed being a part of the Cheyenne Frontier Rodeo and all of its exciting activities. She had started working there after graduating from high school in a concession stand selling popcor, hotdogs, soft drinks, and candy...and now that she was in her early twenties she had worked herself into a position with a little more responsibility and a larger paycheck. One evening as she is making her rounds around the horse stalls, she makes an announcement that the complex will be closing in ten minutes. Rusty Bigsley, one of the ...

TALES OF NYARLATHOTEP is the fourth book of the Books of Cthulhu series by Crossroad Press (Tales of the Al-Azif, Tales of Yog-Sothoth, The Book of Yig). It is an anthology featuring pulpy tales of horror starring Outer God and his myriad plots as well as games. Nyarlathotep is functionally omnipotent and treats humanity like ants underneath a magnifying glass. He is impossible to kill but perhaps capable of being thwarted. Or maybe that's just what he wants you to think.

Deadwood meets Cthulhu in this wild and profane Western romp featuring zombies, werewolves, evil spirits, and one pissed-off gunslinging preacher. The Wild West has never seen the likes of the Reverend Jebidiah Mercer, a hard man wielding a burning Bible in the battle between God and the devil, in an endless struggle he's not sure he cares who wins. With its five stories laced with fast-paced action, nonstop humor, and spine-tingling horror, Deadman's Road is your ride to hell....