In The Market For Love
Shanna Hatfield
(Hearts of the West, #1)
Publication date: March 6th 2025
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
He’s never opened his heart to anyone. She wears her emotions on her sleeve. When romance blooms, will they realize love is what they both need?
Ransom Kressley possesses the gift of gab, striking good looks, and a blistering disdain for his family’s Idaho ranch where he resides with his father and identical twin brother. His genuine passion is football, but a knee injury shattered his dreams of an NFL career. After years of channeling his frustration and anger toward those who care about him most, Ransom resolves to change. He accepts a job in Portland as a promotions manager for an arena football team and eagerly steps into his new life. As he makes a fresh start, his past continues to plague him, interfering with his chance to get to know the woman who lingers in his thoughts.
Despite her sunny smile and tender spirit, Kelly Truman isn’t in the market for love or even a relationship when she agrees to have lunch with her best friend’s soon-to-be brother-in-law. Familiar only with Ransom Kressley’s notorious reputation, Kelly is determined to keep her guard up around him. However, Ransom proves to be nothing like she expected. Soon, she realizes she cherishes time spent with the man, but fears trusting him with her heart.
When their friendship evolves into something more, will Ransom’s charm and silver tongue split them apart or bind them together?
A sweet romance full of warmth and humor, In the Market for Love is a story of hope, forgiveness, and redemption.
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EXCERPT:
Arlo, the tech nerd she’d been dating for the past few months, had turned out to be Mr. All Wrong. For a guy who looked normal enough, he overflowed with emotional drama and ended up being both clingy and needy. In short, Arlo was far more than Kelly was willing to deal with. She’d broken up with him two weeks ago and had zero regrets about doing it.
She had enough going on in her life with work. She didn’t need a high-maintenance boyfriend sapping all her energy in her free time.
For now, she was blissfully unattached.
Why, then, were images of Ransom Kressley’s smile infiltrating her thoughts with increasing frequency? It was ridiculous.
She sat up and glanced at her watch. Five more minutes, and she’d head back inside. Eyes closed, she returned to basking in the sun. The squeak of the tasting room door and the sound of footsteps on the gravel let her know she was no longer alone.
She opened her eyes and looked up to see Ransom smiling down at her. Maybe she’d fallen asleep and was dreaming. That seemed the more logical reason why he’d be standing over her with the sun backlighting his thick hair and gilding his broad shoulders that were encased in a blue polo shirt. A shirt Kelly was fairly certain she’d help him choose the day of his shopping spree after Christmas.
“Hey, stranger,” Ransom said, his smile widening as he sank beside her on the bench.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, still not entirely convinced she wasn’t dreaming.
“Some friends wanted to go wine tasting, so I offered to be the designated driver.” Ransom motioned toward the tasting room. “They’ve been tasting,” he used air quotes to emphasize tasting, “since noon. I, for one, am ready for dinner. Any suggestions on places to go for a starving man?”
Kelly grinned. “If the starving man prefers lots of meat like his cavedweller ancestors, I know just the place. It’s in Newberg. Smoked meats that are to die for. Sides of baked beans, mac ‘n cheese, and coleslaw. For dessert, get one of their house-made candy bars.”
“See, this is all good info to know, and it’s making my mouth water thinking about it. Do they have brisket?”
“How do you have smoked meats without it?” Kelly asked and bumped her shoulder against Ransom’s. “Yes, they have brisket, pulled pork, ribs, and chicken, and once in a while, you’ll even find burnt ends there.”
“Okay, I’m totally sold.” He rubbed his hands together in anticipation.
“If they’re packed and you can’t get in, there’s a really good Greek place if you head back toward Portland through Sherwood. You can’t miss it.”
“Thanks, Kelly.” Ransom gave her a long glance. “How have you been? Are you still going out with the IT guy from the tech company?”
“Arlo? Nope. Too much drama and crying for my tastes. To clarify, they were his tears and drama.”
Ransom chuckled. “Smart girl. So, what’s next?”
Kelly shrugged. “I think I’ll take a break for a while. We’re heading into our super busy season in the tasting room when I generally work more hours, so I don’t really have time for dating, at least if it requires a lot of mental anguish and preparation for the date.”
“Dates are supposed to be fun, not torture. Maybe you’re just doing it wrong.”
Kelly laughed, aware he was teasing her.
The door to the tasting room opened, and a tipsy brunette in hot pink stilettos and pants so tight Kelly wondered how she could move in them waved at Ransom with an annoyingly high-pitched giggle.
“There you are Ran-Ran. I thought maybe you left us.”
“I’m right here, Aria.” Ransom stood, although he didn’t look excited to rejoin his date. “Are you ready to go?”
“No! Lydia just got a chandalay.” She hiccupped, tossed her unnaturally glossy hair, and went back inside.
Kelly raised an eyebrow, then looked at Ransom. “And what were you just saying to me about doing dating wrong?”
Author Bio:
USA Today Bestselling Author Shanna Hatfield writes sweet romances rich with relatable characters, small town settings that feel like home, humor, and hope.
Her historical westerns have been described as “reminiscent of the era captured by Bonanza and The Virginian” while her contemporary works have been called “laugh-out-loud funny, and a little heart-pumping sexy without being explicit in any way.”
When this farm girl isn’t writing or indulging in rich, decadent chocolate, Shanna hangs out with her husband, lovingly known as Captain Cavedweller. She also experiments with recipes, snaps photos of her adorable nephew, and caters to the whims of a cranky cat named Drooley.
To learn more about Shanna or the books she writes, visit her website http://shannahatfield.com or find out more about her here: linktr.ee/ShannaHatfield
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