A Shelter for the Cowboy
(2026)(The tenth book in the Walker Ranch / Big River Valley series)
A novel by Tess Thornton
She believes in second chances.
He’s not sure he deserves one.
Claire Bennett came to Shepherd’s Canyon to save lives—just not her own. Running a working ranch that pairs troubled teens and wounded veterans with hard-to-place horses was never supposed to be easy, but between tight funding, public scrutiny, and a ticking deadline tied to the land itself, failure feels closer every day. If the program shuts down, a lot more than dreams will be lost.Eli Shepherd has nowhere else to go. A former soldier with too many ghosts and a reputation for keeping people at arm’s length, he’s back on the land that made him—bound by family obligation, responsibility to his brothers, and a horse no one else can handle. Shepherd’s Canyon is his last stand, whether he’s ready to admit it or not.
When Claire and Eli are forced to work together to keep the ranch alive, the healing they witness isn’t limited to the people who come through the gates. As trust builds and walls come down, they begin to realize that broken things—horses, hearts, even families—aren’t beyond repair.
But when the past threatens to undo everything they’re fighting for, they’ll have to decide:
Is Shepherd’s Canyon just a place to survive…
or the home they never knew they were searching for?
Genre: Romance