New York Times bestselling author Joan Johnston brings to life an unforgettable love story between two strong-willed people from different worlds in her thrilling new novel featuring the Blackthornes of Bitter Creek, Texas, and their formidable rivals, the Grayhawks of Wyoming. Juggling single motherhood and her job as deputy sheriff of Teton County, Sarah Barndollar hasn't lost hope of solving two cold cases of missing young women. When a third vanishes, all hell breaks loose -- because she's the illegitimate daughter of Texas scion Clay Blackthorne and the granddaughter of his mortal enemy King Grayhawk. The crisis pits the two powerful families against each other in a race against time. Playboy Drew DeWitt, a Blackthorne cousin, insists on taking part in the search -- putting him on a collision course with Sarah. Her cop instincts tell her the sexy Texan is trouble. But when evidence emerges of a conspiracy against the U.S. government, Sarah accepts Drew's high-powered help as she negotiates a shadowy landscape of hidden rivals and ruthless greed where every moment counts in saving lives, including her own.

From "New York Times "bestselling author Joan Johnston, the thrilling seventh "Bitter Creek "novel featuring passion and intrigue mixed with an explosive, spine-tingling tale of murder, wrongful imprisonment, and a woman who counts no cost too high to see a killer brought to justice.
FBI Special Agent Breed Grayhawk has the hottest sex in his life with a stranger who calls herself Grace Smith, only to discover early the next morning that she's a convicted double murderer who broke her parole a year ago and disappeared. Now she's his prime suspect in an assassination plot against the US president.
Grace Caldwell--a.k.a. Grace Smith--is determined to find the killer who framed her for the murder of her father and stepmother--and make him pay. She burgles the home of her #1 suspect and nets a surprising haul: a hot-pink, silk-covered diary--the record of a sex-addicted wife's adventures--which suggests that Grace's top suspect is a serial killer. But her theft has been caught on tape, and the man she's been chasing becomes the hunter...with Grace as his prey.

Joan Johnston presents the thrilling saga of two dynastic families, the Blackthornes and the Creeds, with this powerful "New York Times" bestseller -- a novel of intrigue, passion, ambition, and love set amid Houston's towering skyscrapers and the majestic plains of South Texas ranch country.
Luke Creed has sacrificed everything for his career at the prestigious law firm DeWitt & Blackthorne: a chance to run his family's ranching empire, his marriage, even time with his two daughters. Defending a major client in a wrongful death case, Luke crosses paths with his high school sweetheart, Amy Hazeltine Nash, an advocate for the bereaved plaintiff. Now, Luke and Amy are divided by forces beyond themselves -- and overcome by an all-consuming desire. But when the case takes a deadly twist, Luke delves into a dangerous web of corruption that may place his life in jeopardy -- and may also target the one woman who loves Luke for who he really is: rebel, cowboy, loner, and lover.

The historical biographies of Joan's Great Great, and Great Gradnfathers, Eli and Edward, both Sea Captains, plus master ship builders and voyagers brings to life romance, dramatic family life, Atlantic Ocean, Great Lakes sailing adventures, whaling, voyage ship wreck, conflicting religious situations, local government corruption and murder. In addition Captain Eli's government commission to charter the Great Lakes and Captain Edward's Civil War service record under Admiral Farragut.

Dear Reader,

Colter's Wife has always held a special place in my heart because I believe it is the first of my novels that fully conveys my love of the magnificent American West -- the breathtaking landscapes, the excitement and danger of the frontier, and the passionate, strong-willed people who built lives in an untamed land.

Set in Wyoming Territory, it tells the story of Kinyan Holloway, who has no idea how she's going to survive when her husband is killed in a range accident. Kinyan is torn between the Sioux world where she was raised and her responsibilities to her children and their heritage -- the largest ranch in the Territory.

Into her life rides a scarred stranger who's fast with a gun. Benjamin Colter has tried to put vengeance behind him, but the past seems destined to catch up with him. What he wants now is Kinyan Holloway -- and her ranch -- but he can get them only if he defeats a deadly rival and agrees to become a father to three children who want more from him than he's able to give.

Enjoy!
Joan Johnston

Joan Johnston sweeps readers back to the untamed American West in a tale of powerful emotions and breathtaking action.
1865: The Civil War was over, but new dangers lay in wait across the open frontier. Disguised as a boy in buckskins, pretty Rebecca Hunter wasn't afraid of any enemy who might cross her path in the Rocky Mountains. She vowed never to belong to any man...until she met city-bred Christopher Kincaid, the stranger she rescued from a fierce band of Sioux. All too quickly she learned how powerful an attraction can be between a man and a woman.
No Indian ambush could scar Kincaid as deeply as the tragic loss and broken heart he suffered in the war. Now, being nursed back to health by Reb in an isolated mountain cabin, he found himself coming alive with a powerful desire for her. But how could he know that his mission for the government would jeopardize his chances of winning Reb's heart, bring down the wrath of a renegade Sioux chief, and test the lengths he'd be willing to go to convince this passionate woman to stay beside him for all time?

The sensational second novel in Joan Johnston's new Western historical romance series set in the world of Bitter Creek.
CAN SECRETS AND SECOND CHOICES EVER LEAD TO LOVE?
After three months in a mail-order marriage, Hannah Wentworth McMurtry is a widow--pregnant, alone, and near death in the Wyoming wilderness. Though she is saved by a man with a face cut from stone, she still grieves the husband who died on their journey west. Hannah needs a husband, but does she dare marry another stranger?
Flint Creed has also lost someone he loved--when the woman he hoped to marry chose his younger brother instead. Now he must find a ranch wife of his own. But every female in the remote Wyoming Territory is too old, too young, or already married . . . until he discovers Hannah on the prairie. Flint doesn't pretend to love her, but he doesn't tell her he loves another woman, either. Hannah doesn't pretend to love him, but she doesn't tell him about the child she carries. Though danger surrounds them on the Wyoming frontier, the greatest threats of all are the secrets within--revelations that could destroy the new life Hannah and Flint have begun to cherish.

"NEW YORK TIMES "BESTSELLER
A DESPERATE DECEPTION
THE PROMISE OF FOREVER
When Karl Norwood's mail-order bride meets an untimely demise on the way to the Montana Territory, Hetty Wentworth steps in to take her place. Hetty has no idea how she's going to pretend to be all the things she isn't--including the mother of two kids. She only knows her deception is necessary if she's going to save two orphans from the awful fate she suffered as a child.
Karl smells a rat when a much younger woman than he was expecting arrives with two children who look nothing like her. But his mail-order bride is so beautiful, he doesn't object--until he realizes that his charming new wife has been lying . . . about everything. Can a woman forced to keep secrets and a man hindered by distrust ever hope to find happily ever after in each other's arms?
Praise for "Montana Bride"
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" A] swiftly paced romance."--"Publishers Weekly"
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""Montana Bride" is a compelling read and definitely a noteworthy addition to a great series."--"Fresh Fiction"
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"Joan Johnston knows how to spin a story that will get to the readers every time. "Montana Bride"] is no different. . . . It was emotional, heartfelt and real. It was honest. . . . It was simply magic from a master storyteller."--"Night Owl Reviews"
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"If you are a fan of historicals, a fan of beautiful descriptive writing, and a fan of steamy romance, you won't want to miss out on "Montana Bride.""--"Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews"
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"Johnston has a keen eye for quirky circumstances that put her characters, and the reader, through a wringer. Laughing one moment and crying the next, you'll always have such a great time getting to the happy-ever-after."--"Romance Junkies Reviews"

Determined to capture the heart of her childhood friend Ethan Hawk, Patch Kendrick, now a beautiful blonde, helps Patch clear his name so that he will be free to love. By the author of "Kid Calhoun."
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Texas Ranger Jake Kearney was astonished to discover that the "Kid" Calhoun he stalked, the same outlaw who saved him from ambush, was a woman--and an irresistible one at that Now Anabeth Calhoun was an unwilling captive of the flinty-eyed Ranger as they pursued a gang of cold-blooded killers . . . and a cache of stolen gold that had mysteriously disappeared. But the lawman's problems had only just begun. Fighting his desire for the outlaw he had sworn would not escape justice, Jake Kearney was soon torn between his duty . . . and his love. . . .
Anabeth knew she had found her match in the rugged loner who taught her the joys of passion . . . while "she" taught "him" the exquisite perils of love. She also knew that Anabeth "Kid" Calhoun was one outlaw both willing and eager to fall into the long arms of the law

Fleeing England as a destitute widow, Lady Verity Talbot settles in the wilderness of the Wyoming Territory. In the arms of a buckskin-clad stranger, she recognizes the unforgettable kind of passion from the man she left behind 20 years before. But this time Viscount Linden, now a frontiersman, would not let her go so easily.

In this dazzling prequel to the New York Times bestsellers The Cowboy and The Texan, Joan Johnston takes us back to a time when Texas was a young and wild republic, and three strong-willed sisters carved out a destiny that would spawn two legendary dynasties. Here is the spellbinding tale of a woman captured by Comanches--and of the proud warrior who vows to make her love him.

Comanche Woman

Born to a white father and his Indian bride, Long Quiet believed his destiny lay with his Comanche brothers. But his heart secretly belonged to Bayleigh Stewart, daughter of the richest cotton planter in Texas, who’d been abducted by a marauding brave and sold to the highest bidder. For years he’d searched for the violet-eyed beauty, and now a strange twist of fate led him to her.

Called Shadow by her captors, Bay had almost given up hope of rescue, when a rugged stranger in buckskins appeared, risking his life to bring her home...and awakening a passion that burned hot and true. Bay knew her place was with her family. But Long Quiet hadn’t found her only to lose her again. He had to convince this woman--his woman--that her true home was with him... as together they would fight for a love strong enough to bridge two worlds....

The prequel to the New York Times bestseller The Cowboy

Sprawling 1840s Texas comes alive in the hands of Joan Johnston, New York Times bestselling author of The Cowboy and The Texan. Introducing the unforgettable Creed dynasty, transporting us back to a wild, lawless frontier, Frontier Woman brings us a stirring, passionate story of Texas Ranger Jarrett Creed and the free-spirited beauty who captures his heart ... a woman sworn to love no man....

Captured by Comanches as a boy, Jarrett Creed grew to manhood torn between two worlds. But with the young republic under siege from ravaging Mexican armies and marauding Indian tribes alike, he made his choice. Now, as a secret government mission brings the Texas Ranger to lovely Cricket Stewart’s door, he must choose again.

The youngest daughter of a wealthy gentleman planter, Cricket lives life as she pleases and vows never to be a wife to any man. Until the day Jarrett Creed saves her from avenging Comanches ... by claiming her as his bride.

The last thing either expects is to fall in love. But as a traitorous conspiracy and a secret tragedy test their newfound union, a wild-spirited beauty and a Texas lawman will discover just how far they will go for their precious homeland ... and for a love that could free them from the sorrows of the past....

He vowed to wed, bed, and abandon her. But love got in the way...
Joan Johnston sweeps you back to Regency era England and Scotland with a love story that will take your breath away. Here is romance at its best as Johnston brings back unforgettable characters from her bestsellers Captive, After the Kiss, and The Bodyguard in a spellbinding novel of seduction and betrayal.
She was the reigning belle of the "ton" for the fourth Season in a row, but Lady Regina Wharton, the Duke of Blackthorne's daughter, was determined to avoid the perils of marriage. She had already seen enough to distrust all men. Then Clay Bannister, the dashing Earl of Carlisle, dared to steal a kiss and stir new and exciting desires.
Scarred by tragedy, Carlisle intrigued her with his mysterious past and his dark, dangerous charm. She never suspected she was about to marry her father's most vengeful enemy--or that her greatest defense would be the passions he could not resist....

Daisy knew that someday, somehow, she would pay for wanting what no proper woman wanted...
The ravishing Duchess Daisy vowed to save Severn Manor by marrying Nicholas Calloway, a Texas bounty hunter come to claim his family's ancestral lands. But the moment they met, the slate eyed barbarian took Daisy's breath away. She proposed a marriage of convenience. But she hadn't reckoned on flash-fire passion with the savage new duke...
Nicholas Calloway came to England to discover the truth about his bastard birth, then sell his inherited estate--with Duchess Daisy's help. Her price was marriage. He agreed, determined to have her on his own terms-only to find himself hostage to the fiery redhead he couldn't leave behind...
The highly acclaimed bestselling author of Outlaw's Bride, Joan Johnston brings to life two extraordinary characters--an outrageous duchess and an unlikely duke--in a love story that enchants and enthralls to the very last page.

The Blackthornes and the Creeds. Two powerful Texas dynasties–and lifelong enemies. Set in the heart of the modern-day West, New York Times bestselling author Joan Johnston brings to passionate life the clash of wills between Blackthorne and Creed . . . as a man and woman discover a love stronger than the forces trying to tear them apart.

Summer Blackthorne swore she’d never forgive Billy Coburn for running out on her and their future together. But that was before she found out she wasn’t Jackson Blackthorne’s child–Billy was. And now the “Blackthorne Bastard” has come home for a final day of reckoning...to the town that damned him and the woman he had always wanted. Only Summer can satisfy the hunger burning deep within him. Only she can help him hold on to his own unwanted son. It will be a marriage of expedience only. Until doubts and mistrust vanish in the heat of passion...and a man and a woman who never stopped loving each other fight bitter blood and impossible odds for a glorious second chance....

From genteel Boston to the wilds of Montana, she is searching for a safe haven for her family--and finds unexpected love.
Having lost her beloved husband, a whaling captain, to a watery grave, Molly Gallagher refuses to risk more heartbreak. Determined to keep her headstrong son from following in his father's footsteps, she agrees to become the mail-order bride of a Montana country doctor. She tells her new husband that she can never give her love to another man; what she doesn't tell him is that she has a young daughter and a rebellious teenage son.
Molly's ruse might have worked, but Seth Kendrick has secrets of his own: a willful daughter determined to end the marriage before it even begins--and a double life keeping his neighbors safe from outlaws. In an untamed land of vigilante justice, Molly has no choice but to trust this gray-eyed stranger whose stubbornness matches her own, whose kisses unleash flash floods of desire--and who may be the one man in a million who could win her fiery, faithful heart.
"A book you will read and remember for a long, long time . . . Wonderful characters light up the pages."--"Rendezvous"

The New York Times bestselling author of The Cowboy, The Texan, and The Loner weaves her seductive magic once again as she journeys back to the lawless frontier of Nineteenth-century Texas to bring us the story of two warring hearts and a seduction that began amid the fires of passion and treachery...

Cruz Guerrero wanted Sloan Stewart from the first moment he laid eyes on the headstrong beauty. But Sloan, eldest daughter of a wealthy cotton planter, belonged to another man—until the day she came to him, a woman in trouble on the lawless frontier …and he made her an offer she could not refuse. Now he is ready to claim what is rightfully his—even as a long-ago betrayal threatens to tear her from his arms forever.

Sloan swore never to be used by a man again. Only sheer desperation made her strike a bargain with the aristocratic nobleman. Now he has come to collect on the vow they made together, seducing her with tender words, determined to make her want him as he wants her. Caught in the bitter cross fire of a traitorous enemy and an embattled republic, a man bound by honor and a woman wounded by passion must dare to trust in a love that’s strong and wild and true…

Sworn to protect her, he was forbidden to touch her....

Joan Johnston is a masterful creator of unforgettable characters and stories that make you feel as if you're falling in love again. Now she sweeps you back to Regency-era Scotland, where a determined young woman challenges a man's world--even as she embraces the outsider who protects her life and steals her heart....

When the tall, rugged stranger stepped out of the shadows and rescued her from a fate worse than death, Katherine MacKinnon knew she had found her bodyguard. With his steely arms and reckless courage, he would shield her from her clansmen, who refused to accept her as laird, and from the hated Duke of Blackthorne, who controlled her family's lands. As her desire grew for the mysterious man who was constantly by her side, she had no idea that she was falling in love with the enemy himself....