Touch Me Gently

Teague Maxwell, a brilliant, reclusive inventor, knows two things about herself—she prefers the company of animals, and she will die in the next year following her fortieth birthday. Resigned to the inevitable, she hires Baye Cobb from a local pet rescue to find new homes for her menagerie of pets.    

When Baye decided to turn her late grandmother’s farm into an animal rescue operation, she had no idea so many animals would land on her doorstep. In dire need of more funding, more space and much better business management, Baye has no choice but to accept the lucrative offer from Teague—her very eccentric, but largest, donor. She agrees to help rehome Teague’s pets despite her disgust for someone who would adopt so many animals, only to rehome all of them. 

Neither woman expects Teague’s desperation and Baye’s disapproval to explode into undeniable attraction. The more time they spend together, the more they realize it’s not just animals Baye is adept at saving—she could be the one to rescue Teague from her catastrophic fate.

Competitive barrel racer Lacey Bishop has worked her way from homelessness and poverty to needing only a few points to qualify for the National Rodeo Finals when her only horse suffers a career-ending injury. Without the money to buy a new horse, Lacey has no choice but to trust an offer from Two Rivers Ranch to lease one of their best barrel-racing horses.

Horse trainer Wil Rivers is working hard to get her family’s ranch profitable again after the coronavirus pandemic shut them down for more than a year. Her best chance to save the ranch from foreclosure is a million-dollar-plus offer to buy the one barrel horse that could defeat the mare she’s leased to the bewitching Lacey Bishop.

When Lacey discovers Wil’s plan to sell the Two Rivers “money” horse to her fiercest competitor, she sees their chance for a future together and her chance to qualify for the finals disappearing in the rodeo arena dust.

Efficiency expert Perry Chandler lives what she preaches on her internationally popular podcast. She wakes at exactly the same time to begin her precisely scheduled day with no wasted minutes. Perry’s entire life is planned in advance, which is exactly how she likes it. How else do you get anything done?

Holistic, naturopathic physician Ming Lee greets every sunrise with arms outstretched as she opens herself to the earth’s slow, steady rhythm. Millions follow her podcast on how to live a healthier life by refusing to get caught up in the idea you must hustle to be successful. After all, what’s the point of life if you don’t enjoy it?

Perry and Ming are both sure they hold the key to success until the attraction sizzling between them, and the three rambunctious mutts they’re unexpectedly responsible for, teach them lessons in life and love that they never imagined.

Army veteran Catherine Daye long ago accepted her passable looks, mediocre talent, and average intelligence. In fact, she bought a rundown farm on seventy acres to retreat from the world and live out her simple, ordinary life. Atlanta marketing superstar Autumn Swan’s world is anything but simple. Constantly plugged in to what’s trending on social media, it’s her job to keep her clients ahead of the competition. When her favorite cousin dies suddenly, she finds herself the owner of a modest country home, guardian to a sullen, tomboyish ten-year-old, and neighbor to an intriguing woman who isn’t as ordinary as she appears.

Veterinarian Trip Beaumont likes being a big fish in a small pond. There’s hardly an animal she can’t heal or a woman she can’t charm within fifty miles of Pine Cone, Georgia—except for the irritating and elusive new cop who keeps leaving parking tickets on her truck. 

Officer Jamie Grant has never liked rule breakers, but she’s especially incensed when she discovers Trip owns the truck that is constantly parked illegally. She’s searched carefully for a quiet, eclectic community to settle down with her drug-sniffing—albeit gastric-challenged—canine partner, Petunia. Instead, she finds herself on a collision course with the woman who stole her college girlfriend and broke her heart after an ill-conceived threesome.

When the Natural Order’s focus shifts from evangelism to a grab for world dominance, the outcome of the Dragon Horse War depends on two unlikely heroines—an anti-social quartermaster and a reticent seer. 

Lt. Antonia only trusts a neat row of figures or a complete inventory list. So when she suddenly finds herself responsible for a group of hostages kidnapped by the dangerous cult, she’s reluctant to give any credence to the visions of Maya, a beautiful seer. The two women struggle to trust in each other’s abilities, but still are inexplicably drawn together by an attraction that burns hotter than dragon breath. 

Book Three of the Dragon Horse War Series