Out Standing in His Field

Gideon Ashcombe inherited four generations of family land and six weeks to prove he hasn't lost it.

Foxbarrow Farm is quietly, catastrophically behind on its bank loan, and the only thing standing between Gideon and foreclosure is a state assessment he never asked for and can't afford to fail. He's exhausted, guarded, and allergic to being helped by anyone, least of all a stranger the state is sending to move into his own caretaker cottage and judge whether four generations of Ashcombe stubbornness deserves to survive.

Finn Delacroix didn't expect his first solo assignment to come with quite this much riding on it, for the farm or for himself. Easygoing, relentlessly kind, and quietly desperate to prove himself after a burnout that nearly ended his career before it started, Finn moves onto Ashcombe land determined to give Gideon's farm every fair chance the numbers will allow.

Six weeks of forced proximity, harvest work, and a small town's entire tourist season riding on a single festival turn a wary assessment into something neither of them saw coming, but the same deadline that brought them together is the one thing standing squarely in the way of whatever they're building.

The pumpkins are ready. The bank is not waiting. And Elmstead Hollow's Harvest Festival has never had quite this much depending on one grumpy farmer letting himself be loved.

A grumpy-sunshine MM small-town romance, standalone, with a guaranteed happy ending. The first book set in Elmstead Hollow.