Adam Benson, cowboy, has gotten sober and is considering a career change. He needs a room to rent and the new lady in town, who came to nurse her dying mother, has one available. But the small Oklahoma town has known recent tragedy... two respected waitresses were killed and law enforcement is still working on the case. Melanie Brooks is in a wheelchair, but her upstairs room is all that concerns Adam.

Melanie comes across as grouchy, but in reality she's having a hard time adapting to her disability, having been a professional dancer until a diagnosis of peripheral neuropathy cancelled her career. Now she's buried her mother and the local real estate agent keeps asking if the house is for sale. Without her asking, Adam arrives with lumber and builds a sturdy ramp over the porch steps. Melanie resents that he overstepped the boundary, but Adam, COWBOY WITH A CAUSE, points out that she might need to leave quickly in an emergency. He tells her that a war veteran in town also uses a wheelchair and nobody feels that he is less of a person. Maybe it is time for the dancer to readjust, but she has no other dream to chase.

Misplaced household items and broken picture glass create a spooky atmosphere for Melanie, and then silent phone calls start to occur. Is someone stalking her? Or is her medication causing her to have mental health issues? Then a stranger breaks into her bedroom and she narrowly escapes. Is this the killer, or does someone else have a motive? Adam feels that she's attractive and starts a romance, but that doesn't stop Melanie from feeling vulnerable.

COWBOY WITH A CAUSE is a different take on small town life, reminding us that major issues arise for people in towns like Grady Gulch just as much as they do in large cities. Carla Cassidy has created interesting characters and writes convincingly about Melanie's dancing past. Adam is a genuine, helpful guy with his own demons to overcome and no preconceptions about disability. Read COWBOY FOR A CAUSE for a romance with an edge of suspense, from a lady who has written over a hundred novels.