It all boils down to mistakes and how we handle them and what life dishes out for us. How we react to changes, good and bad, determine just what kind of stuff we are made of. Toughness is often just for show when it's all we can do with a broken heart. And yet even with a little piss and vinegar a tough man knows when it's time to let another side of him show even if it makes him feel vulnerable. Kathleen Eagle does cowboys really well and with ONE LESS LONELY COWBOY she offers a look at a modern day Native American too.

Lily and Iris, mother and daughter both named after flowers are anything but fragile. For all Iris' life it has been her single mother and herself. Just the two of them and they've done pretty well. The economy though threw a monkey wrench in the works for these two when Lily's teaching position was cut. They were doing the best they could but now some hard choices would have to be made. That meant that the twelve year old would have to leave her life and friends behind and her mother would have to face down the disappointed father who had cast out a pregnant unwed teenage daughter. But things do change and life has a way of teaching all of us lessons some good and others just plain necessary. Moving back even temporarily to her father Mike's ranch in Montana was something Lily dreaded and yet could turn out to be a lifesaver for Lily and Iris. It might give them a new start in a place where there are unbelievably still a lot of found memories for Lily.

Things have changed at the ranch. There is now a hired man, a cowboy, who is her father's right hand man. And if she is correct in her estimation this man, Jack, is important to the future of the ranch. There is so much she wants to know about her father. Maybe she will be able to fill in the blank spaces of all these years apart from her father and his lands.

Jack has been dividing his time between Mike's and other neighboring ranches but with Mike's health deteriorating he is spending the lion share with Mike. Now with the arrival of the ladies things are definitely going to get interesting. For one Lily has been kept in the dark about her father's health and her plan to get a local teaching job is taking a back seat to helping out at the ranch. This of course means spending a great deal of time with Jack and no amount of denial is going to prevent the inevitable. Jack is impressed with these two bright, charming and witty females. But can he bank his pride and get involved with the bosses daughter.

I am a huge western fan and my library is filled with Kathleen Eagle books. I just loved spending time with these wonderful characters. I truly didn't want the visit to end.

Book Summary

HE'S READY AND ABLE... 

Jack McKenzie is an old-school cowboy. A loner making a good living at a Missouri ranch, he just wants to collect his pay, keep to himself and-most important-forget the past. But the return of his boss's daughter changes everything...and makes him long for more than his solitary life.... 

BUT IS SHE WILLING? 

The last place Lily Reardon had ever imagined going was home, but there she is-the prodigal daughter with a child of her own. Estranged from her father, she struggles to reconnect. Slowly, with the help of strong, silent ranch hand Jack McKenzie, she begins to see her past-and even her future-in a new light. But can Jack trust in love enough to take his place in Lily's renewed family?