Worth The Trouble (Texas Trouble #9)

Horse trainer and female ranch hand Roxanne Baker's daddy had warned her about smooth-talking city boys at sixteen. She had always taken his advice as gospel until she met the poster boy for smooth-talking city boys, Ethan Cassidy.

Until then it had been easy, because she intimidated most men in her profession, most men in general. When she didn't intimidate them, Rocky became a stumbling idiot around them, not able to string two words together.

When Ethan, her only female friend's brother, visited the R & R Ranch for the bull riding adventure a year prior, then proceeded to save his sister from a flooded creek, Rocky developed a serious case of hero worship. At Terri's wedding, that turns into much more.

The next time she sees Ethan though, he is a changed man, definitely not the charming alpha firefighter who had made love to her in the hayloft all night long. He wants nothing to do with her, and Rocky is determined to find out what happened to him and help him find that man again.

Spec Ops Paramedic and Firefighter, Ethan Cassidy has the world by the balls. In his job and his involvement with the Texas Task Force 1, Ethan takes risks every day that would turn most anyone's stomach, both to save lives and to feed his adrenaline addiction. He knows that every day could be his last, so he milks every ounce of zest out of life that he can find.

Roxanne Baker's long legs and cherry-flavored lips are just the kind of zest he likes best. The capable and country-beautiful female ranch hand intrigues him when he visits his sister's ranch to learn to ride rodeo bulls. She won't give him the time of day however, so he waits until Terri's wedding and tries again with her.

After the wedding and a wonderous night in the hayloft with Roxanne, Ethan goes back to Henrietta and his life is changed forever by an accident on the job. Ethan is depressed and refuses therapy to rehabilitate, because what's the use? He will never be a firefighter or paramedic again. He is thirty years old and his life is over.

His sister won't let him wallow though, she comes and drags him back to the ranch where she and Roxanne give him no choice but to work hard to recover. When Rocky joins an equine search and rescue team, and invites him to join too, he finds his motivation and new purpose.

A fire investigation of the accident scene shows that his accident may have been no accident at all. Ethan is shocked to discover a member of his fire crew might have been behind trying to kill him.

A child goes missing in Palo Duro Canyon State Park and the equine search and rescue team is called upon to help the Texas Task Force find her. Ethan and Roxanne work together as a team there, but other forces are at work too to make sure they don't leave that wilderness alive.

Working together in the canyon, both Ethan and Roxanne find exactly what they've been searching for--love. They soon realize that holding on to that love will take using every skill they possess, but know in the end it will be worth the trouble.