The Rancher's Destiny - Carolyne Aarsen

Ryder Doerksen spent his life learning not to need anyone. Three foster homes before he found Mama Faye. One woman who gave him stability, a real home, and a reason to trust. Now she's gone, and the biological mother he never knew is reaching out from a hospital bed in a small town called Kittering Creek.

He tells himself he'll go, settle the unfinished business, and leave. A week. Maybe two. Then on to Thunder Bay and the new life waiting for him.

He didn't plan on Sage Tkachuk.

His mother's home care nurse is sharp, warm, quietly competent, and carrying her own weight of guilt she won't talk about. She's also the last kind of complication Ryder needs when he's already standing at the edge of a family he doesn't know how to belong to.

Sage has her own reasons for keeping her distance. A canceled engagement left its mark, and she has plans that don't include falling for a man who has one foot out the door.

But Ryder keeps showing up. For the children's Christmas play, for Sunday dinners loud with laughter, for her.

And Kittering Creek has a way of making a person reconsider what they thought they wanted.

Some people spend their whole lives looking for where they belong. Sometimes belonging finds them first.

The Rancher's Destiny , the final book in the Hearts of Kittering Creek Series, is a story about roots, redemption, and a love that just might be worth staying for.

Pick up your copy today and come home to Kittering Creek.