Julie Benson
Cowboys. Feisty heroines.
Happily ever after.
To Love A Texas Cowboy
New York artist Cassie Reynolds moves to Wishing, Texas to raise her orphaned niece, and discovers she’s in way over her head. Then she meets Ella’s financial guardian, Ty Barnett, a handsome hardworking rancher, with his own ideas on child rearing.
Ty and Cassie clash over almost everything, especially Ella, but when two people have the welfare of one child at heart, suddenly they find themselves looking at each other in a whole new light…
Will Ty make room for another lady in his life? And will Cassie allow herself to love a Texas cowboy?
To Catch A Texas Cowboy
Grace Henry needs a reboot. Laid off and unable to find a new job in her native NYC, Grace heads West to Wishing, Texas to run her best friend’s bed and breakfast. But before she hits the city limits, to her luck, Grace rear ends the chief of police’s truck. As the mouth watering western dream peels off his shirt to clean her cut, she reminds herself what cops are like—cynical, inflexible, curious and controlling. Her NYPD father taught her that fact.
FBI agent AJ Quinn is undercover in Wishing to catch a forger. Though his best friend lives in Wishing and he always longed to buy land there, Wishing is an annoying detour from his purpose, working major cases and fulfilling the vow to his father to make a difference in the world. But when Grace crashes into his life, AJ suddenly finds himself questioning his direction and determination to remain single.
Though Grace and AJ insist they don’t want a relationship and are wrong on too many levels to count, when the head says no, the heart says yes...
To Tame A Texas Cowboy
They want different things, but they just might need each other.
Barrel racer Cheyenne Whitten returns to Wishing, Texas, after an injury, determined to recuperate and return to the rodeo circuit. But living with her over-protective mother only adds to Cheyenne’s problems. Desperate to move out and reclaim her independence, Cheyenne believes a service dog is the answer. That is, until she learns the waiting list for one is up to five years.
Having lost his fiancée two years ago, Cooper Abbott wants to run his veterinarian clinic and rebuild his life. A calm, stable, uneventful life. Then Cheyenne shows up asking for help getting a service dog, and Cooper finds he can’t refuse the feisty redhead.
Cheyenne and Cooper insist a relationship is the last thing they want. Cheyenne is focused on her health and returning to the rodeo. Cooper’s heart is still raw from loss. But it could be they’re exactly what each other needs.
To Marry A Texas Cowboy
She lives by a set of rules. He aims to break each one.
When Zane Logan returns to Wishing, Texas, he’s shocked to learn that his grandmother has hired an assistant to manage her wedding planning business as she heals from surgery. With five marriages between his parents, just the thought of weddings breaks him out in hives. To look out for his grandmother’s financial interests, Zane takes charge. He doesn’t trust easily, especially when the assistant is prettier than a Texas spring day.
Childhood taught McKenna Stinson an important rule: never count on anyone but yourself. She dreams of working hard to have her own business. Stepping in for a successful wedding planner in a small town known for big weddings is the perfect opportunity...until her employer’s grandson announces he’s the new boss. He’s cynical about love and knows nothing about weddings—so why is she falling for him?
Even worse, Zane's so hot McKenna has to make up two new rules: don’t date a man more attractive than you and never, ever, date a man you work with.
Wishing Texas Series Inspiration
The inspiration for this series came from the guys above. They became friends when they were in Squadron 21 in the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M University. My oldest son, second from the left, called me as I was heading home from writing at Starbucks. He was heading to "the ranch" as they called a friend's family property in east Texas. He's the young man on the far left. I told him to have fun and ended the call. I laughed and said these young men would still be friends years from now. They'd be in each other's weddings, children's baptisms, for every major event in each other's lives. I literally gasped as the series idea hit me.
What if four friends from a squadron in the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M continued to get together years after graduation? Lives would've taken them different places, maybe even away from Texas, but they remained connected to each other and the land—“the ranch”—they’d spent so much time at during their college years.
Fearing the idea would disappear as magically as it appeared, I prayed for another red light, and when I thankfully hit one, I grabbed paper and pen and scribbled down my thoughts. When I arrived home, the pieces I envisioned for the series poured out of me. The friends’ names came to me: Ty, AJ (Andrew Joseph), Zane and Cooper. I saw their different personalities. Ty, the rancher, cared for everyone in his life, and was the glue holding his friends and family together, but failed to realize how he’d closed himself off emotionally. AJ, the idealist, possessed a strong moral compass and a military background, but lacked the family he’d always wanted. Tall, quiet Cooper, a veterinarian, felt more comfortable with his four legged patients than with women. Lastly, Zane the charmer with enough personality for all of them, ran a computer gaming company, but still stayed connected to his Texas roots.
All my stories capture my heart for one reason or another, but the Wishing Texas series is special because the tiny seed idea came from my oldest son and his friends. However, Alex and his friends from Hellcat 21 are all exceptional young men and have maintained their strong friendships, my heroes came strictly from my imagination. I fell in love with Ty, AJ, Cooper, and Zane the minute they revealed themselves to me. I hope they capture your heart as well.