Wrangling The Cowboy's Heart. Carolyne Aarsen
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Love Under the Big Sky
Back home in Montana, free spirit Jodie McCauley plans to stay at her late father’s ranch for just two months. Then she’ll sell the Rocking M and head off on her next adventure. But first she’ll have to take her beloved horses from wild to sellable. That means asking the boy she once loved for help. Finn Hicks is now a deputy sheriff and a horse trainer. Working so closely with Jodie, his feelings are suddenly resurfacing. But Finn remembers her as a wild child, not the family-oriented woman he’s looking for. A second chance seems impossible, but is there still hope for the rugged cowboy and his first love?
He glanced over at her just as she looked at him.
Jodie wore her hair loose today, and it flowed over her narrow shoulders like melted chocolate. She gave him a wry smile, and for a moment he saw Keith McCauley looking back at him.
“You look just like your father,” he said.
You’re up on a mountain with a girl you’re growing attracted to and that’s what you come up with?
He gave himself a mental forehead smack.
“Thanks. I think,” she said, pushing her hair away from her face.
Unbidden came the memory of the moment in the corral the other day. Part of him wanted to give in to the attraction he knew was growing between them, but that would be foolish. She was leaving, and in spite of that, she wasn’t the right person for him.
Or so you keep saying.
He tried to banish the voice. Tried to be the practical guy he had always strived to be. He didn’t want to end up on the wrong side of a broken heart again.
CAROLYNE AARSEN and her husband, Richard, live on a small ranch in northern Alberta, where they have raised four children and numerous foster children and are still raising cattle. Carolyne crafts her stories in an office with a large west-facing window, through which she can watch the changing seasons while struggling to make her words obey. Visit her website at carolyneaarsen.com.
Wrangling the
Cowboy’s Heart
Carolyne Aarsen
You are my hiding place;
You will protect me from trouble
and surround me with songs of deliverance.
—Psalms 32:7
To Linda Ford, who helped me
every step of the way with this book.
Could not have done it without you, girlfriend!
And to Melissa, my editor, who helped
give this story shape and substance.
Both of you are proof that books
are never written in solitude and that
good partnerships make for good stories.
Contents
Seriously? Two speeders in half an hour? Was there some unknown crisis people were outrunning?
Deputy Finn Hicks was not in the mood to deal with this. In two hours he was supposed to be delivering the eulogy at his old friend and mentor’s funeral. He had one more call, then he hoped to head home, shower and get to the church on time.
But he couldn’t let this go. The little blue car blew past him at least twenty miles per hour faster than the posted speed.
Finn pulled in a deep sigh, flicked on the flashers of his cruiser, spun it around and stepped on the gas to catch up with the vehicle speeding toward town. This shouldn’t take long if the driver cooperated.
Out-of-state license plates. Broken rear taillight, and it wasn’t stopping.
He beeped the siren to get the driver’s attention and then, finally, the car slowed and pulled over onto the shoulder.
Finn did a rapid run-through of the plates and his heart turned over in his chest.