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Recent air force veteran and reluctant cowboy, Rusty “to the rescue” Russell, has decided to set his sights on the independent-minded event planner who says she’s too busy to get involved. That mind set is what makes Kristy Winslow a perfect candidate for a casual relationship. Because with past traumas still haunting him, he doesn’t dare commit to anything more. But keeping her at arm’s length is becoming more difficult than he bargained for. Available in e-book format at:

Chapter 1

“You want me to do what?” Rusty Russell shook his head at his youngest sister, Junie, a lock of auburn hair falling over his brow. He wasn’t used to longer hair after the air force buzz cuts, but that was all the more reason he was determined to grow it out. Not super long, just enough so someone would notice he at least had hair. “If Parker is sick, let me stay with him and you go meet with this event planner.” That was the sensible thing.

His sister pulled off her work apron and hung it up on the hook by the back door of the small shop. Of the three siblings, Junie was the only one with blond hair, like their mother, and the only one of average height. He, along with his middle sister, Lexi, had their father’s reddish-auburn hair, and Rusty had surpassed his father’s six-two height during his senior year of high school. But they all had blue eyes, and there was definitely a family resemblance in the prominent cheekbones and heart-shaped face they all bore.

The long worktable in the back of Junie’s floral shop was strewn with hacked-off flower stems, fading petals, and cast-off sprigs of leaves as the mingled fragrance of multiple flower types scented the room.

Junie looked pained. “His nursery school teacher said Parker is asking for me. When he’s sick, he always wants me with him. And she said he has a fever. I wouldn’t feel right leaving him.”

“What about Mom? Make use of the fact she’s up here now.” His parents were back in Gillette—from New Mexico, where they’d retired—precisely to spend more time with Parker during the summer months.

“Mom and Dad are having lunch with some friends in Casper today.” Junie reached across the worktable and touched his arm. “This event planner said she’s only available today. If you can take this meeting for me, I have Sandy, the high school girl whose been helping me, coming in to mind the shop. Please.”

He took a step back and peeked through the doorway into the front of the retail space, crammed with flowers of all shapes, sizes, and colors sitting in vases, in bowls, tucked in refrigerators. How could he say no? Especially since he had nothing better to do. Still . . .

“I don’t know anything about flowers, Junie. When I said I’d help out during these summer months, I was thinking more of making deliveries.” At thirty years old, he was a little long in the tooth to be a delivery boy. But after leaving the air force in January, finishing up some college credits this past semester, and applying for a civil service position, he did have time on his hands while he waited to hear about his acceptance into the police academy.

“All you have to do is show her my portfolio, contained in this notebook.” She thumped the binder on the table. “This way she can see my work. Tell her she can keep the portfolio and I’ll phone her tomorrow to follow up on pricing. Please, Rusty. For your little sister. For Parker.”

He heaved a sigh. He could never refuse either of his sisters. Or his little nephew. He grabbed the binder off the table and tucked it under his arm in a sign of surrender.

Junie winked. “And I hear she’s single, so who knows.”

Since he’d gotten out of the air force, his sisters had been trying to fix him up. Trouble was, all the women he met were looking for a commitment, and he wasn’t a candidate for a happily ever after. Never would be. “How do you know she’s single?”

She tilted her chin up. “Social media.”

Of course. Everyone’s life was chronicled on the Web. He would probably regret this. Nothing could come of it anyway. “You owe me a home-cooked meal.”

“Isn’t Lexi having the family over tonight?”

Lexi had married the rancher next door to their former family ranch.

“Never enough home-cooked meals when you’re a bachelor.”

“You’ve got Mom and Dad staying at the house for the summer. You hardly need my cooking.”

“Well, you owe me one once they leave.”

“For sure.” She leaned over the table, stood on tippy-toes, and kissed his cheek. “Rusty to the rescue.”

He smiled. That was what his air force buddies used to say.

Excerpt from The Cowboy’s Country Charm ©2025. These are works of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialog in this book are the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, places, or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.