Dear Reader,

People dream big in Texas. The bigger, the brasher the goal, the better. This is the case for Emma Lockhart and Tom Reid. United from childhood, they dated all through high school and college, and even planned to marry. After they finished business school at a prestigious Ivy League college.

Unfortunately, life happens when you are busy making other plans. Tragedy struck. Tom could no longer hold up his end of the bargain. Emma sympathized with her fiance’s plight, but not to the point she was willing to summarily give up all their mutual ambitions. Whereas Tom wanted new dreams. Unable to broker a solution, they broke up and went their separate ways.

Six and a half years later, Emma is back in Laramie County. Big degree and sought-after apprenticeship under her belt, she is no closer to fame and fortune than when she left. Tom, meanwhile, is living the dream. Sadly, he is a widower now, but he has three adorable four and a half year old sons. Two thriving businesses. The family ranch and commercial real estate.

For months, they are able to avoid each other, but when Tom becomes Emma’s landlord, and is tasked with possibly helping her achieve the pursuit that drove her out of his arms, he has a decision to make. As does she. For she has fallen in love with his triplet sons, and they want her for their mommy. What is a woman to do when she knows she can’t have it all? Or can she….?

I hope you enjoy this story as much as I loved writing it.

Best wishes,
Cathy Gillen Thacker

Read an EXCERPT of The Triplets' Secret Wish and check out the other books in the LOCKHARTS LOST & FOUND series.

For more information on other books set in Laramie, Texas, please visit the Series Guide and Book List.

Dear Reader,

There are times when it is easy to know what to do. Others, when trying to figure out what is right, is a lot more elusive.

This is the situation that Faith Lockhart Hewitt and Lt. Zach Callahan find themselves in. Faith has been fostering five-month-old Quinn ever since his birth mother died. She is days away from adopting him when Zach Callahan arrives. The Navy SEAL has just discovered he has a baby boy, and he very much wants to be part of Quinn’s life. But there is a hitch. He is still active-duty military and will not be there to care for his son. The only fair thing to do…the only right thing… is to let Faith help him raise Quinn.

Unfortunately, their plan is not as easy to implement as they hope. Before they know it, they are married. That, too, seems simple enough. They won’t be together more than a few weeks or months a year. So it ought to be easy to just be co-parents, and friends, and leave it at that, right….? 😊

I hope you enjoy this Christmas story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Happy holidays to everyone!

Best wishes,
Cathy Gillen Thacker

Read an EXCERPT of Their Texas Christmas Gift and check out the other books in the LOCKHARTS LOST & FOUND series.

For more information on other books set in Laramie, Texas, please visit the Series Guide and Book List.

Dear Reader,

Families. Both a blessing. And a burden. When we need them and they are there for us, helping and supporting, we are incredibly grateful. But when they don’t agree with what we’re trying to do….it is way too easy to become irritated.

No one knows this better than cowboy/rancher Cooper Maitland. He loves his little sister dearly and was even her guardian for a time. But he’s never agreed with any of her plans. And he really doesn’t like it when she leaves her one year old triplets in his care—without even asking first! After all, what does he know about babies?

Luckily, his next door neighbor and former nemesis, Jillian Lockhart, knows a lot about little ones. She is much more understanding about what his sister has done. Plus, she doesn’t mind doing the neighborly thing and helping out with the kids. Even going so far as offering her home for them to stay in.

Cooper is grateful for Jillian’s help. He really comes to depend on her friendship. But when their attraction for each other flames wildly out of control, things start to get really complicated. Was it love drawing them together, or merely the false intimacy that comes from weathering any sort of trauma or hardship together? Only time, and their hearts, will tell.

I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Best wishes,
Cathy Gillen Thacker

Read an EXCERPT of Their Texas Triplets and check out the other books in the LOCKHARTS LOST & FOUND series.

For more information on other books set in Laramie, Texas, please visit the Series Guide and Book List.

Dear Reader,

I always welcome an opportunity. You never know what will come of it.

Mackenzie Lockhart feels the same way. Orphaned at age 10, she suffered through a time in which she did not have any choices. She was separated from her seven brothers and sisters, living in foster care. Luckily, Griff Montgomery, then 14, was also in the system. Declaring himself her unofficial big brother, he showed her how to protect herself emotionally from hurt, (by shutting down when necessary). How to forge a Can Do attitude (that would enable her to build an independent life, that no one else could take away).

Thanks to that, Mackenzie is able to build the business and self-reliant life of her dreams. Griff is still working toward his goals. To fully achieve them, she realizes he needs her help. So, she makes an impetuous proposal that shocks them both.

Quickly, he agrees, and they begin a journey together that takes them far beyond their wildest expectations.

I hope you enjoy reading this third installment in my 8 book miniseries, LOCKHARTS LOST AND FOUND, every bit as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Best wishes,
Cathy Gillen Thacker

Read an EXCERPT of The Twin Proposal and check out the other books in the LOCKHARTS LOST & FOUND series.

For more information on other books set in Laramie, Texas, please visit the Series Guide and Book List.

Dear Reader,

It can be hard to tell yourself the plain unvarnished truth. Especially when it comes to matters that are close to your heart. This is the situation Cade Lockhart and Allison Meadows find themselves in.

Cade knows he made the biggest mistake of his life, choosing fame over love. Now, that his professional baseball career is over, he wants to make amends. Pick up where he and Allison left off. The only problem is, Allison can’t even see them being casual friends, never mind in a relationship again.

Allison chose career after Cade broke her heart. Eight years later, she is on the brink of a success that is bigger than anything she ever imagined. If she achieves it, she will not have any room in her life for anything else, including the one man… the only man… she has ever loved. And while she tells herself work is enough, she has to wonder. Is it…?

Enter four Christmas matchmakers. And their beloved twelve year old black Labrador retriever, Zeus. The Bailey quadruplets love the holiday season! They think Allison and Cade should be together. The four-year-olds do everything they can to bring a renewed romance about. And so does Zeus. Because what’s Christmas without a little mistletoe?

I hope you enjoy Book #2 of THE LOCKHARTS LOST AND FOUND.

Happy reading and merry holidays!
Cathy Gillen Thacker

Read an EXCERPT of Four Christmas Matchmakers and check out the other books in the LOCKHARTS LOST & FOUND series.

For more information on other books set in Laramie, Texas, please visit the Series Guide and Book List.

Dear Reader,

I am pleased to announce a new eight book series, Lockharts Lost And Found. Four sisters and four brothers, ages 1 through 12, were tragically orphaned, and split up. Robert and Carol Lockhart brought them all back together, and foster-adopted them in Laramie, Texas. Now grown up, the eight siblings do not yet have the kind of loving, enduring relationships their birth and adoptive parents had, but all understand the value of family, and want that kind of love for themselves. And each and every one of them love dogs as much as I do! So, each story will have a beloved canine (or two) in it, and I will be posting photos of the fictional pets as part of the introduction to each story. (This is why I’ve also chosen puppies for my series flash.) These canine pals provide comfort and love to all the Lockhart siblings. Speaking of…

Oldest son, Gabe Lockhart, is a doctor with Physicians Without Borders. He feels personally responsible for his birth parents’ deaths. And has attempted to atone by dedicating his life to helping people who need it most.

Susannah Alexander was also orphaned as an adolescent and sent to live with a dutiful relative. She has grown up to be fiercely independent, vowing never to be a burden to anyone again.

Her desire to have children on her own, via a set of inherited embryos, puts her directly in Gabe’s path. He wants to keep her from making a huge mistake. She doesn’t want his need to be the hero interfering in her life. But her quintuplets, who quickly come to adore Gabe, have other ideas…

The beautiful golden retriever in this story is named Daisy, and is inspired by my very own golden… Daisy.

I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did writing it! And the rest of the series, too!

Happy reading!
Cathy

Read an EXCERPT of His Plan for the Quintuplets and check out the other books in the LOCKHARTS LOST & FOUND series.

For more information on other books set in Laramie, Texas, please visit the Series Guide and Book List.

Hello Readers! Home on the Ranch: Texas Family Rescue is available featuring WANTED: TEXAS DADDY from my TEXAS LEGACIES: THE LOCKHARTS series as well as a title by Author Patricia Thayer. If you've missed an earlier book, check out reissues here.

Dear Reader,

Christmas is not just a time of joy, it’s also a time to reflect, and Bridgett Monroe is in a funk. Everyone else in her family is married with kids, and living the life she dreams about. Unfortunately, the closest she can get to familial happiness, is in the time she spends with widower Jack McCabe, and his three adorable little girls. So when pressed to write an annual Christmas letter, she instead writes two—one ridiculously happy, one ridiculously glum. Neither is ever supposed to be seen! But you know what they say about life, it’s what happens when you are making other plans….

Jack appreciates Bridgett, and the help she has given him, more than he could ever say. Most of all, he wants Bridgett to be happy, and to have everything she yearns for. So when he gets wind of her two holiday letters, he rushes to her aid, determined to help her, the way she has always helped him. The surprise? He may have to set aside their agreement, to be only friends, to make this their best Christmas ever!

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

Happy reading!
Cathy Gillen Thacker

Read an EXCERPT of A Tale of Two Christmas Letters and check out the other books in the TEXAS LEGENDS: THE MCCABES series.

For more information on other books set in Laramie, Texas, please visit the Series Guide and Book List.

Available next week! Check out these reissues of A Texas Cowboy’s Christmas and Lone Star Christmas! Each book also includes a bonus title from either Judy Duarte or Caro Carson. Love these covers!

Dear Reader,

No one wants to disappoint others, or be disappointed themselves.  But it happens.  The challenge is dealing with it.  Finding a way to be happy—and make others feel the same—without giving up anything that is fundamentally important or essential to you.

Lulu McCabe is definitely feeling the pressure.  The only daughter of Frank and Rachel McCabe, and sister to her five brothers, she is constantly protected and advised.  Some of the attention is warranted, she admits.  It took her a while to figure out what she wanted to do with her life.  (Besides get married and have a big, loving family of her own.)  She definitely made some Big Mistakes along the way.  And knows, if her family ever learned about the most important of them, wow, would they ever be disappointed in her!

Sam Kirkland is her direct opposite.  He doesn’t give a hoot what others say or think as long as he knows in his gut (and his heart) that he is doing the right thing.  Of course, he’s made some Big Mistakes, too.  The most devastating, with his current nemesis, and former girlfriend, Lulu McCabe.  He has no more use for her, than she has for him, until three orphaned triplets enter their lives.  The duty is Sam’s.  Lulu’s only Back-Up Guardian, should Sam fail, and Sam has absolutely no intention of crashing and burning the way he and Lulu once did.

Of course, we all know what happens when we’re busy making other plans.  Life.  And in this life, Lulu and Sam and those three little boys are meant to be together.  The only question is, will Sam and Lulu be able to rekindle their love?  Here’s hoping…!

Happy reading!
Cathy Gillen Thacker

Read an EXCERPT of Their Inherited Triplets and check out the other books in the TEXAS LEGENDS: THE MCCABES series.

For more information on other books set in Laramie, Texas, please visit the Series Guide and Book List.