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Emily Walters needs help fast. Her ex-husband is being released from prison and Adam swore he’d never let her go. She knows he’ll come for her. Her only choice is one of the bad boys of Dry River, Lucas Taggart. Lucas raised a lot of hell when he was younger and never backed down from anyone. It's what Emily needs in a protector and a husband. She offers him half of her ranch in exchange for protection and marriage. Whispering Pines is one of the largest horse ranches in the States. Would it be enough to entice the brooding man?


Lucas Taggart isn't interested in marriage but he is interested in Whispering Pines and when he looks into Emily’s eyes, he knows it wouldn't be a hardship being married to her, as long as it's a real marriage.


When Adam shows up to claim the woman he still thinks of as his wife, will Lucas have to do the unthinkable to protect the woman he's come to love with all his heart? What happens if or when Adam is finally out of the picture? Will Emily still want Lucas around and will she ever return his love?

158 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 27, 2015

298 people are currently reading
287 people want to read

About the author

Susan Fisher-Davis

85 books77 followers
Susan was born and raised in a small town in the western part of Maryland surrounded by the Appalachian mountains. She moved to Tennessee in 1996 with her husband and two children. She's been writing for as long as she can remember and is currently writing three different series. The Men of Clifton Montana which will be seven stories and The Bad Boys of Dry River will be six stories. The Callahans will be about four cousins. Although it is best to read the stories in order, all can be read as standalone. She is also writing four standalone books. Excerpts from her books can be read on her webpage: susanfisherdavisauthor.weebly.com and you can also sign up for her newsletter there. Susan tries to thank each person for their review.
She would love to hear from her readers and promises to answer all email:
susan@susanfisherdavisauthor.com

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5 stars
423 (54%)
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203 (26%)
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86 (11%)
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44 (5%)
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16 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
Profile Image for Mischenko.
1,034 reviews94 followers
November 7, 2019
It's true that romance isn't one of my favorite genres, but as an eclectic reader, every now and then I like to read something different. This book clearly fit the bill.

Emily's ex-husband Adam is being released from prison and she's worried he'll come looking for her. He's psychotic and there's no way he's going to let her move on without him. Emily knows the only way to protect herself is to find a man to protect her. The problem is that everyone is afraid of Adam; nobody has the guts to stand up to him. She chooses a man named Lucas who's known to be one of the local bad boys. She offers him half of her family's ranch, Whispering Pines, if he'll marry her. Lucas thinks Emily is beautiful and the ranch is enticing, but he isn't sure if he's making the right decision. Even though they've known each other since they were kids, should Lucas be settling down with a girl he doesn't know very well, and so soon?

This was a bit heavy with the sexual content for me, but scenes seemed to be wrapped up fairly quickly. The story and characters were easily enjoyable and the main characters were well-developed. It was actually quite thrilling at times and held my interest. There wasn't anything super predictable in the story, but it was a tad drawn out at times.

What's not to love about the Wyoming ranch setting? After watching the second season of Yellowstone, it's the exact setting I was looking for. It's not as descriptive as I'd hoped but worked out okay.

Overall, I enjoyed this. The book is written well except for a few words that were missing throughout the story, which were easy for me to overlook. I'll likely finish the series because  each book covers one of Lucas's friends (all mentioned in this book) and I'd like to learn more about them.

4****
Profile Image for Lisette Kristensen.
Author 36 books270 followers
September 29, 2019
This was a good, held my interest all they way through. Good tension and some harrowing moments. If you like modern day western romance this is for you. My only issue was that Emily, the heroine, was all over the place in my opinion. Not bad, just inconsistent at times in her attitudes.

Good characters and well written. Recommended.
Profile Image for Coco.V.
50k reviews132 followers
Want to read
February 6, 2025
🎁 FREE on Amazon today (7/21/2019)! 🎁
Profile Image for Amy.
Author 26 books24 followers
February 13, 2015
Good start to a new series featuring some dreamy Bad Boys.

Emily Walters is a woman in need – in need of a husband and protector. She was married once upon a time. She was married to a horrible man who verbally abused her and was a criminal on top of that. When he went to prison for embezzlement, she divorced him. Well, to say her ex wasn’t happy about that is an understatement. Now he’s about to get out early on good behavior and she’s terrified he’s going to come after her just as he pledged to do. The only one who can possibly make her feel safe is Lucas Taggert so when he agrees to marry her for half ownership of her horse ranch, she hopes it’s enough and that she hasn’t gotten in over her head with a man who says he wants a real marriage not just one in name.

Lucas Taggert can afford to buy his own ranch but he’s wanted one like Whispering Pines since he worked on it as a boy. Wanting to prove himself more than one of the Dry River Bad Boys, he agrees to marry Emily so he can do that and help her build Whispering Pines into something even bigger. Besides, being married to a beautiful woman wasn’t going to be a hardship, right? He didn’t figure on being so attracted to her or falling in love with her. Now he worries he might not be able to protect her like she needs and if this nightmare with Walters ever ends, will she still want him around?

Okay, I admit it, I wasn't too enthusiastic in the beginning about the premise of marriage simply because she needed a protector. After all, she could have hired someone to pretend to be her husband, right? But once they were married, the story picked up well as they got to know each other better. Emily's desire for Lucas was forged in a youthful crush, and Lucas definitely had the hots for her so as the relationship became more stable, falling in love just had to happen.

LUCAS, the first book in the Bad Boys of Dry River, Wyoming might not have started out with a bang but as the story moves forward, we meet some very interesting secondary characters, including the other Bad Boys who we will definitely want to get to know better. The secondary characters help pull this story together in that small town way where everyone knows everyone else and their business. It's because of this closeness you feel in this small town that Adam might have discovered too easily Emily and Lucas weren’t married had they not made it official, and that would have given Adam entirely too much power. As it is, Adam Walters is the kind of bad guy you really despise. I like that!

As her editor, I might have made a lot of changes, had her bring out Emily and Lucas’s characters a bit more but on her own, she did well introducing us to this new series and so I’m proud of Susan. She created a good solid start to a series featuring some dreamy Bad Boys who will be taking us in many directions while keeping close to the roots that make them who they are. Her next one in the series features Montgomery Bradford who we meet in LUCAS – so hang on to your hats, it’s going to be a very bumpy ride with these Bad Boys of Dry River, Wyoming.

Susan Fisher-Davis creates some down home, good-people characters in the Bad Boys of Dry River, Wyoming. It's not hard to imagine them as friends. LUCAS by Susan Fisher-Davis is a good read, and a great start to a brand new series. A series you’ll want to come back and visit again. She demonstrates just how sexy cowboys can be – and romantic.

***eARC provided by author in exchange for an honest and unscripted review.
Profile Image for Jennifer Schultheis.
1,316 reviews6 followers
January 30, 2015
Lucas by Susan Fisher-Davis is a winner...plain and simple. Once I started reading this book, I was hooked. Hooked to where I ignored everything around me. It was that good! This book is well-written, the characters are fully developed, and the story line is entertaining. I adored Lucas. He's such a great character. Passionate, loyal, protective and hot.....everything I love in my heroes. The passion he and Emily share, comes off the pages like a ignited firecracker. Beautiful and explosive. This is one book where I'm not trying to figure out why the characters are together. Emily and Lucas belong with each other and the author does a great job at describing this, through the character's actions. If you've never read from this author, I seriously recommend you checking out her books because Susan Fisher-Davis never disappoints. Besides, I don't know how she does it, but she has the best book covers ever!
Profile Image for Sara Strand.
1,181 reviews34 followers
December 6, 2017
I'm going to start this review by saying this is 100% not a book I would see on a shelf, read the description, and put in my cart. I only read it because it came in my recent Bubbles & Books subscription. Secondly, this book is listed as "erotic romance" on the title page and I'm telling you it absolutely is not. Well, unless you consider the author insinuating the characters are having sex as filthy, then by all means. I've hardly read a more vanilla standard romance, so if you are going into these 148 pages looking for erotic romance you will be disappointed.

The premise of this book is Emily runs a successful ranch but has an ex-husband in prison set to be released soon. Instead of trusting the authorities to help her (because the ex-husband is just so rich, he buys them all off) she decides the best way to protect herself is to get married to a "bad boy". And by "bad boy", I'm talking a guy who was a little punk as a kid but turned into a decent, law abiding citizen. So she asks Lucas if he'd do this (he's not a total stranger, though- he helped her when she was a kid and fell off a horse but that was years prior and she's harbored a crush on him since, of course) and he agrees.

He AGREES on a damn whim. No, I take that back, he agrees knowing he'd own half of the ranch Emily owns.

Because every decent marriage is based on bribery.

So they get married but Lucas decides he wants it to be a real marriage for all intents and purposes, and Emily agrees, but she's no hussy- she wants to get to know him first before having sex. (Are you rolling your eyes yet? Just wait, it gets better!)

But WAIT, you guys! Ex-husband is out (Adam) and he's crazy as a loon, y'all! He's killing people left and right because nobody is going to take his Emily away! Instead of making his character really despicable and have him being physically abusive or something, turns out Adam is just mildly verbally abusive but basically a misogynistic pig. Emily is terrified of him though, hence Lucas. Lucas is a bad ass though, so he's going to save everyone.

I won't ruin it for you but know there's a happy ever after. But can I just talk about something that drove me NUTS when I was reading it? These people take a shit ton of naps. I have chronic fatigue, I understand being tired ALL of the time but this is over the top. Emily has a conversation, needs to lay down. She did payroll, need to lay down. Adam calls, need to lay down. Also, for someone who describes herself as self sufficient, she relies on Lucas a LOT. She can't even take one of her 375 naps without him. It's just too much. This entire book was laughably terrible. I don't even want to donate this book anywhere, I honestly want to toss it in the trash.
Profile Image for Reya (Uncountable Books).
47 reviews61 followers
June 26, 2021
This was an entertaining book that was a delightful, easy read. I’m all for a good marriage of convenience story, but I have to say that the premise for this one was a bit more difficult to go along with.

Emily Walters’ ex-husband Adam is being released from prison. Afraid of what he’d do to her, Emily searches for a husband and protector. Her best option is Lucas Taggart, who is one of the bad boys of Dry River. Emily’s offer half of her ranch in exchange for marriage and protection. Lucas initially thinks Emily is crazy, but he decided to take the deal after considering the pros and cons. After all, Emily is beautiful, and the ranch is enticing. Marrying her isn’t much of a hardship.

The story is well written and held my attention straight through with the right amount of tension and the occasional harrowing moment right around the corner. The romance between Emily and Lucas is the perfect combination of push and pull that just makes you want to turn the page. Sometimes, it felt like the plot was more forced rather than having a natural flow, especially the parts that included Adam, both mentions and interactions. I admit that I found the romance between the main characters was my favorite part of this story, while the Adam sun plot was a bit of an annoyance. 

Overall this was a nice simmering romance with an interesting, if not believable, premise. This book was a solid introduction to a series I can’t wait to explore.
Profile Image for Marie.
5,144 reviews52 followers
October 24, 2020
'Wait. What. You do?'

Lucas is known as one of the 'Bad Boys' but is he really dark and dangerous or could he be her soul mate? He is a protector at heart and he started protecting Emily when he was just 12 years old, so no way he is going to let her down now. Seeing him struggle as he falls deeper and deeper in love with her is sweet and shows just how much of a gent he is, he may tease and enjoy her blushes but he never pushes as he fights to keep himself under control.
The sparks between them singe the pages but they also increase the danger between them. Adam is determined that if he can't have Emily no-one can and he will happily kill anyone who stands in his way...especially Lucas.
I got this book as a free download, it is the first I have read by Susan Fisher-Davis but I really enjoyed it and cannot wait to read the rest of the series, which is available on Kindle Unlimited....Montgomery here I come!
Profile Image for Stacy J..
1,345 reviews12 followers
May 29, 2018
This was my first book by Susan Fisher Davis and I loved it. I will definitely be reading more from her!

I found the concept of this book to be interesting. A woman in trouble with her ex-husband going to the one man that wouldn't be afraid of him and also the one she had a crush on as a kid and ask him to marry her for protection. I loved reading the push pull between the two as they both were interested in each other but still wanted to get to know one another. It wasn't instant love. I loved that Lucas was a man on honor and even from the very beginning when he didn't know Emily very well, you knew he would protect her.
Profile Image for Lorie - Bookaholic.
365 reviews19 followers
April 29, 2023
Suspenseful and romantic

I loved this story line and plan on reading the rest of the series. I couldn't put down my Kindle.

This is the first book I have read by this author and I see she has many more cowboy type stories. They all look interesting to say the least.

I could go on and on just like those who have left their reviews, but I'm going to stop there. The only thing about this story that annoys me is when something is taken out of contents, or they are not getting the whole story correct, and someone is getting thrown out of the house. It's like "come on already."

Luke needs to take Emily over his knee!




512 reviews4 followers
August 29, 2024
Rating: 3.5 rounded to 4 stars

In general, it's not bad cowboy romance story with a protective MMC and a bit of steam. However, the plot felt a bit dragged in some places with a bunch of naps the FMC took and
1,124 reviews3 followers
July 6, 2019
A SURPRISING THRILLER

A very intense drama about a woman who is running scared because her ex is being released from prison. Her plan is to get a husband in hopes that will keep her ex away. Soon after his release, threats begin on the ranch, starting mostly with horses. As the incidents become more often and severe, he finally is able to kidnap her. Edge of the seat suspense until a very surprising ending.
Profile Image for James a Schmidt.
305 reviews2 followers
September 4, 2020
“Lucas Bad Boys of Dry River,Wyoming Book 1

This book by Susan Fisher-Davis was terrific! It has everything you could ever want,hunky Cowboys,damsels in distress,intrigue,
romance,sex and friendship.It really helps when your wife’s ex husband comes to kill everyone and your best friends are the Sheriff and the F.B.I ! This book has it all,and just when you think it’s over,you’ve got another quarter of the book to read!
It’s great,try it!
Profile Image for Sandra White.
196 reviews5 followers
April 6, 2019
You have to love the Bad Boy....

Lucas and Emily.... what more needs to be said?

Susan Fisher Davis writes about modern cowboys in a way that will keep you up reading until the very end!

Even though her books are stand alone stories, you will meet cowboys who have their own stories to tell. Once you start a series, you won't want to stop!
Profile Image for Pamela.
1,252 reviews11 followers
January 10, 2019
Awesome read

Two characters who never expected love, danger around every corner, emotions was rolling and insecurities was running high. Susan Fisher Davis has started us out in this series with a spectacular read. Awesome characters and a exciting journey
Profile Image for Bambi Sommers.
Author 14 books19 followers
April 9, 2019
Hot cowboys!

Our heroine marries for protection against an irate ex husband. So much fun watching her surprise feelings for her new protector while chilling watching the ex stop at nothing for revenge!
440 reviews3 followers
December 9, 2020
Lucas and Emily are in love and in danger from her ex

Follow Lucas and Emily as they try to deal with a mean ex husband who is determined to make her pay for divorcing her. Can’t wait for the next book in this series.
254 reviews1 follower
January 6, 2021
Another gripping story

Susan fisher -David writes absorbing stories. These series are set in great locations with engaging cast of characters, it is a bonus that you get to meet familiar characters in each story
304 reviews3 followers
October 28, 2021
Great story, but.....

Five star rating for the story, three star for the content. To much graphic sex and foul language. The story is to good for the author to use these tactics. It doesn't make the story better, it reflects a lack of confidence. She wrote a great story otherwise.
Profile Image for KDLediting.
1,758 reviews4 followers
July 10, 2022
5 stars

A romantic suspense page turner! You know who the bad guy is, but the lengths he goes to will shock you! An edge of your seat page turner with a happy ever after that will make you smile
Profile Image for Sandy.
2,492 reviews10 followers
August 11, 2019
Love it

Love This author. She makes her men sexy and her women able to tame them. This book had a lot of terror and get it was a great love story.
752 reviews
January 25, 2020
Great read

The suspense thruout the book made you just want to see what's next Loved the way it kept you wanting to read more looking forward to the mention series
6 reviews
May 25, 2020
Liked the book

Good book. I will read other books by this author. Sure they will be just as good or better. Thank you.
Profile Image for Linda Rae Williams.
286 reviews3 followers
November 13, 2020
Good for the genre

I do like western romances and this is a good one. It has a plot, interesting things happen to interesting people! The words are spelled right too
54 reviews
April 6, 2021
Lucas Bad Boys of Dry River

Wonderful book! Enjoyed reading from front page to last past. Plot was suspenseful and kept you guessing how it would end.
Profile Image for Karrie Connely.
171 reviews2 followers
April 10, 2021
Marriage of convenience

What started out as a marriage to protect turned to real. She propositioned him to get protection for herself. She fell in live and so did he. Good writing
Profile Image for Gaby.
5 reviews
August 18, 2021
This is book reminded me of those badly written fan fictions I used to read on my teen years. I literally don’t know what else to say because honestly everything about the book was terrible.
270 reviews5 followers
November 22, 2021
Great book

I love a good Suspence, romance! This book will definitely keep you wanting more! Great Storyline! Read it you will like it, I promise!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews

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