Lindsay McKenna - Chase The Clouds

Dear Reader,

Most folks outside the Sierra Mountains where I was born, raised and now own a horse ranch, would think I’m a hard-nosed, crusty son of a gun. I’m sure Danielle Daguerre, who had to honor a contract her ex-husband signed with me to tame my rogue stallion, Altair, would agree.

In fact, I’m like Altair in many ways: rough around the edges and stubborn. I need Dany to fulfill the obligations of that contract—whether she wants to or not. My ranch, the Cross Bar U, sits up high in the Sierra Mountains, near where part of the California gold rush took place. I know Dany, an Eastern-bred woman, didn’t want to come out west to my ranch to work with that hardheaded stud of mine and get him ready for the Grand Prix circuit of show jumping.

She felt the stud and I were a complete loss and neither one of us could be tamed.

I knew Altair needed a softer touch—a woman’s touch. I knew Dany was the woman to tame that red-devil stallion. What I didn’t realize was she was going to tame me, too!

Sam Reese

Ranch Rogues

1. Betrayed by Love

Diana Palmer

2. Blue Sage

Anne Stuart

3. Chase the Clouds

Lindsay McKenna

4. Mustang Man

Lee Magner

5. Painted Sunsets

Rebecca Flanders

6. Carved in Stone

Kathleen Eagle

Hitched in Haste

7. A Marriage of Convenience

Doreen Owens Malek

8. Where Angels Fear

Ginna Gray

9. Inheritance

Joleen Daniels

10. The Hawk and the Honey

Dixie Browning

11. Wild Horse Canyon

Elizabeth August

12. Someone Waiting

Joan Hohl

Ranchin’ Dads

13. Rancher’s Wife

Anne Marie Winston

14. His and Hers

Pamela Bauer

15. The Best Things in Life

Rita Clay Estrada

16. All That Matters

Judith Duncan

17. One Man’s Folly

Cathy Gillen Thacker

18. Sagebrush and Sunshine

Margot Dalton

Denim & Diamonds

19. Moonbeams Aplenty

Mary Lynn Baxter

20. A Home on the Range

Judith Bowen

21. The Fairy Tale Girl

Ann Major

22. Snow Bird

Lass Small

23. The Countess and the Cowboy

Linda Randall Wisdom

24. Heart of Ice

Diana Palmer

Kids & Kin

25. Fools Rush In

Ginna Gray

26. Wellspring

Curtiss Ann Matlock

27. Live-In Mom

Laurie Paige

28. Kids, Critters and Cupid

Ruth Jean Dale

29. With No Regrets

Lisa Jackson

30. Family Affair

Cathy Gillen Thacker

Reunited Hearts

31. Yesterday’s Lies

Lisa Jackson

32. The Texas Way

Jan Freed

33. Wild Lady

Ann Major

34. Cody Daniels’ Return

Marilyn Pappano

35. All Things Considered

Debbie Macomber

36. Return to Yesterday

Annette Broadrick

Reckless Renegades

37. Ambushed

Patricia Rosemoor

38. West of the Sun

Lynn Erickson

39. Bittersweet

DeLoras Scott

40. A Deadly Breed

Caroline Burnes

41. Desperado

Helen Conrad

42. Heart of the Eagle

Lindsay McKenna

Once A Cowboy…

43. Rancho Diablo

Anne Stuart

44. Big Sky Country

Jackie Merritt

45. A Family to Cherish

Cathy Gillen Thacker

46. Texas Wildcat

Lindsay McKenna

47. Not Part of the Bargain

Susan Fox

48. Destiny’s Child

Ann Major

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To Nancy Csonka and Joan Schwartz, fellow horsewomen, who share my love of a good horse, the outdoors and our friendship

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

About the Author

Also by Lindsay McKenna

“Mrs. Daguerre, I can assure you I’m not used to having people fall short of their obligations to me. Especially ones where a legal contract is signed and services are promised.”

Danielle stiffened in her chair and stared across the small office that was located within the main stabling barn. She was tall for a horse trainer, almost five foot nine, but she felt diminutive against the man who stood in the doorway blocking the afternoon April sun that slanted across his broad shoulders. Easing out of the black leather desk chair, she folded her arms against her small breasts, feeling positively threatened by his detached coolness. His eyes, the shade of pewter gray, assessed her with mild interest.

“Mr. Reese,” she began, taking a firm tone that she would normally use with misbehaving horses, “my ex-husband signed that document over a year ago to ride your three-day-event thoroughbred, I didn’t.”

He gave her a thin, cutting smile, one corner of his generous mouth pulling upward. Removing the Stetson from his rich, dark hair, he let the hat dangle in his right hand. “Right now I don’t care who signed it. I’m sorry that your marriage was broken up, but an agreement is an agreement.”

“Your stallion, Altair, has a nasty name on the show circuit,” she reminded him stubbornly. As much as she hated to use her ex-husband’s name, she went on, “Jean’s notes tell me that he’s shy of water jumps, headstrong and impulsive and won’t listen to his rider.”

His cool, twisted smile remained as he studied her across the distance. “Yes, I’m afraid he’s a bit like me in some respects—hard to handle.”

Dany’s nostrils flared with a show of contempt. Pointing at the fact sheets compiled on the jumper, she said, “You can’t take a range horse and make him a Grand Prix jumper, Mr. Reese. It just can’t be done. Your stallion has been mishandled too long, and I don’t have the time or inclination to try and retrain him for you, contract or no contract.”

His gray eyes glittered with an unnamed emotion. “Altair was out of the finest thoroughbred stock money can buy, Mrs. Daguerre. The fact that his dam was stolen and then abandoned in the middle of the Nevada desert with Altair at her side has no bearing on his abilities. It’s true he was raised in the wild with a herd of mustangs. He was caught as a four-year-old by wranglers who busted him for use as a cow horse.” He shrugged his broad shoulders. “I saw him by accident when I was looking over a herd of charlois, and bought him immediately.”

Dany tried to quell her frustration. “It’s a very touching story, Mr. Reese but—”

“You haven’t heard all of it,” he ground out softly.

Something in the tone of his voice warned her to remain motionless. “All right,” she capitulated, “tell me the rest of it. But it won’t change my mind.”

“The more facts you have, the better you’ll be able to weigh your decision,” he parried.

“I’m waiting.…”