Cowgirl in the Kitchen By Julie Jarnagin

She's back in her hometown, living with her Dad, and putting together a restaurant.  It's a rundown bank building, she and her brother are financing it, and she needs a general manager.  When she finds him, he turns the job down.

Serenade Books gave me the opportunity to read this book for review (thank you).  It has been published, so you can grab a copy now.

Jentry doesn't know the whole story on Gavin.  She just knows he does have restaurant experience and she needs him.  He won't work for her brother, there's history there.  So she tries to convince him to work for her.  He says no until Gracie's allergy problems are too expensive for him to handle without good insurance.  Then he says yes.

Her brother is adamantly against Gavin.  Gavin's whole life is his five year old niece whose mother (his sister) has died of cancer.  He wants no more trouble.  As it turns out, it wasn't Gavin who was in trouble, it was his sister.  He was protecting her.

He's also protecting his heart.  He can handle a woman walking away from him but Gracie wants a mom and it kills her. So no romance.  That's okay, Jentry is going to be a world-class barrel rider and has no time to hang around in small towns.

You can guess what happens next.  These are two people at a cross roads in their life who have to decide what is the most important.  Gavin has to open up and allow himself to feel again.  Jentry has to decide if competing is more important than family.  Sometimes life is hard but there are always choices.