Distracting the Deputy by Shanna Hatfield | Clean Romance Book Excerpt

Distracting the Deputy
(Summer Creek #4)
By Shanna Hatfield

Western Romance, Christian

Paperback & ebook, 301 Pages

June 22, 2021 by Wholesome Hearts Publishing

When he’s not evading grabby-handed octogenarians, mentoring troubled teens, or rescuing rascally youngsters from disaster, Deputy Knox Strickland can be found upholding the law in the eastern Oregon region he patrols. He avoids making plans for tomorrow, focusing instead on doing his best today. Then one chance encounter with a beautiful woman in a wheat field turns his world upside down. Knox is left questioning what secrets she’s hiding, and how hard he’ll have to work to scale the fortress she’s built around her heart.

Zadie Redmond isn’t like most women. A life spent looking over her shoulder has destroyed the promising future she’d once envisioned. Her days are spent leading hunting and fishing adventures, or teaching tiny ballerinas the proper way to plié. She fills her evenings with do-it-yourself projects while worrying about the day her past catches up with her. In an unexpected moment, the local deputy swoops into her world like a storybook hero and she knows nothing will ever be the same. Zadie will do anything to keep Knox safe from the danger lurking in the shadows, even if it destroys her chance at love.

Will Knox convince Zadie she can trust him with her secrets and her heart?

A sweet romance full of quirky small-town fun, Distracting the Deputy is a story of hope, help, and hanging on to what matters most.

Excerpt from Distracting the Deputy

She rushed out of the store and was loading the pile of groceries into her SUV when a pair of big, tanned hands reached into her cart and lifted five bags, setting them into her vehicle.

“Did you help Mrs. Dunigan?” she asked Knox without looking at him. Even if she hadn’t recognized the hands, his delicious scent pervaded her nose and tickled her senses.

“I think that ol’ girl might have been quite a player back in her day. She kept squeezing my arm as I helped her with her groceries. After I walked her to her car, she pinched my bum. Twice!”

Zadie couldn’t stop the giggle that burst out of her. A picture of Knox trying to help an elderly, frail member of the community only to be accosted by a grabby-handed octogenarian settled in her mind. “Now that’s funny.”

“No, it isn’t! It’s unsettling and unnatural, and it made me feel like a hunk of beef in a butcher’s window.”

“Oh, poor Knox. He’s too handsome for his own good.” Zadie offered him mock sympathy with her lower lip rolled out in an exaggerated pout while batting her eyelashes at him.

He made a growling sound deep in his throat and took a step closer to her. “You keep doing that, and I’ll forget about the promise I made to you in the wheat field the other night.”

She sucked in her lip, set the last bag in the SUV, and slammed the hatch shut. “That won’t be necessary, Deputy Strickland.”

Knox rolled his eyes. “Back to that are we? Don’t you think, after what we shared, we could be friends?”

“Friends, yes. Anything else, absolutely not.”

About the Series

Summer Creek is one of those small towns—the kind brimming with quirky inhabitants, pets with personalities (like a meandering goat named Ethel), meddling matchmakers, tumbling-down old buildings, and dreams. So many dreams. These sweet, uplifting romances explore the ties that bind a community together when they unite for a common purpose and open their hearts to unexpected possibilities. Heart, humor, and hope weave through each story, touching the lives of those who call Summer Creek home.

Readers who love Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove series and RaeAnne Thayne’s Haven Point series will enjoy coming home to Summer Creek.