Series: Cowboy (Book 2)
HIS HEART IS AS WILD AS THE HORSES HE TRAINED...
Nate Shawcross is perfectly content to spend his days
training wild horses. So when a beautiful greenhorn unexpectedly shows up for a
seminar from the famous "Horse Whisperer" of Wyoming, all Nate wants
to do is send her packing...
THE LAST THING SHE EXPECTS IS A LESSON IN ROMANCE...
Graduate student Charlie Banks came to the ranch to learn
about horse communication, but when she meets the ruggedly handsome cowboy, she
starts to fantasize about another connection entirely...
Nate needs to stay focused if he's going to save his
ranch from foreclosure, but he can't help being distracted by the brainy and
breathtakingly sexy Charlie. Could it be that after all this time Nate has
finally found the one woman who can tame his wild heart?
Good city girl/country boy romance. Charlie is a psychology
grad student from New Jersey. She has a Plan for her life - finish school, get
a good job, then look at the possibility of a relationship. She's not
especially happy to be sent to the wilds of Wyoming to do a research project on
“assessing the parallels between the training techniques of Western livestock
managers and the nonverbal cues with which humans communicate their wants and
needs.” That means dealing with <gasp> cowboys, whom she considers the
lowest of the low. As a card-carrying member of PETA, she believes them animal
abusers of the worst kind. But she has no choice, and off she goes, only to
have her car break down miles from the ranch house. Lucky for her, she's
rescued by the "horse whisperer" himself. But there's quite a shock
waiting for her.
Nate is surprised to have this city girl show up for a
seminar that he has no idea he's giving. It's all he can do these days to stay
focused on making ends meet so that he doesn't lose the ranch he loves. It
turns out that his ex-girlfriend sent out flyers advertising the seminar, took
deposits, and then took off with the money, plus everything in their checking
and savings accounts. Nate is flat broke and isn't sure he can come up with the
money to feed the incoming "students," much less refund their
deposits.
The first meeting between Charlie and Nate was interesting.
She's got a pretty big chip on her shoulder about men in general and cowboys in
particular, and she is free with her opinions on both. Nate was blindsided by
the whole seminar thing and isn't particularly welcoming. The sparks fly
between them when she jumps to conclusions about his training methods. She'd
like nothing more than to leave, but with her car out of commission and no
chance of a refund on the seminar, she's stuck there. Charlie's rough edges soften
a bit when she meets some of the horses, and her love of animals comes to the
fore. I loved the scene with Junior and how quickly she connected with him, and
Nate's surprise that it happened at all.
I liked the development of their relationship. It is very
much an opposites attract at first. Charlie is outgoing and blunt, and about as
independent as could be. Nate is quiet, shy, and more than a bit grumpy thanks
to circumstances. The attraction between them is strong, but both try to fight
it. Charlie has her plans and doesn't intend to let anything distract her. Nate
is just trying to keep it all together. Charlie feels bad for Nate, especially
when the other three students arrive, and finds herself wanting to help him.
The more time they spend together, the more they find they have in common. The
attraction also burns hotter each day. I felt a little sorry for Nate as he
frequently found himself tongue-tied around Charlie, though his looks were far
more eloquent. He ultimately won me over when his daughter Sam arrived, and his
evident love for her showed a different side to him. I also liked seeing him in
his element with the horses, and his ability to make his students understand.
It was obvious that Nate was falling hard for Charlie. Though he dreams of
something bigger between them, he doesn't believe it could happen. Charlie
falls just as hard but pushes him away even harder. She has her plans and
fights her desire to change them.
Things get complicated when Nate's ex arrives back on the
ranch. Sandi is a piece of work and knows exactly how to manipulate Nate to get
what she wants. I got very frustrated with Nate and the way he let her bully
him into doing what she wanted. Charlie saw Sandi for what she was. I ached for
Nate when Sandi started in on her demands and threats and wanted him to push
back. It took an intervention from Charlie and fellow student Doris for Nate to
see what was happening and find his backbone. I did like the final solution,
and the epilogue was great.
The secondary characters of the other three students were
great. Doris was an older lady, a rancher who was still interested in learning
more about horses. She is practical, a bit blunt, and ends up almost like a
mother figure to Charlie and Nate. She had very definite matchmaking tendencies,
and it was fun to see her try to nudge the two together. Phaedra is the goth
teenager with some serious daddy issues. She isn't all that happy to be there
at first, and there are some pretty difficult scenes as she settles in. I liked
how she and Charlie connected and the difference that Charlie made in her
outlook. The last arrival was Phaedra's dad, a movie star who hasn't seen her
in ten years. Taylor turned out to be a nicer guy than I expected, with more
behind his issues than first suspected. He was more down-to-earth than I
expected and I liked his growing friendship with Nate.
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