Before It's Too Late (Half Circle Creek #1)

Jack and Bella have been friends for as long as they can remember, yet now they want more. But will the rapist outlaw who’s cleverly disguising himself as a saddler let them have the happiness they deserve?

Arabella Askingly, the youngest daughter of Half Circle Creek’s leading midwife, is in the very beginnings of a courtship with her childhood friend and town deputy, Jack Klister. Their relationship starts out on steady footing, but everything is swiftly rattled when a labor call ends in a reeling catastrophe that causes Bella to slip into a deep depression. But just as hope begins to dawn again, another obstruction is tossed into the path of her happy ending with Jack.

Jack Klister doesn’t like Beau Smith, the new drifter in town. When Beau’s flirting with Bella gets out of hand, Jack’s jealousy unleashes. He knows Bella wouldn’t do anything behind his back, but there’s something about Beau that thoroughly disturbs the town deputy. When Jack has to go to Virginia City to get information on a man he’s arrested, he discovers something terrifying about Beau that sends him rushing back to Half Circle Creek in hopes he can get there before it’s too late.