Jeannie Watt - Cowgirl in High Heels

Her luck’s changing for the better…right?

Making the tough decisions has always been easy for big-city human-resources specialist Ellison Hunter…until a surprise pregnancy changes everything. Now it’s her life that needs major reorganization. Putting her personnel expertise to use on her family’s Montana ranch is the perfect escape—even if it means contending with ace rancher Ryan Madison.

His stubborn pride and loyalty to the staff? Those she can handle. But his sexy grin, cowboy charm and instinct to protect her and her baby catch her off guard. As attraction spins into something more, Ellie finds herself even further out of her element. But maybe, with Ryan, she’s exactly where she belongs.

He wanted to touch her

Ellie could sense it. And worse yet, she felt the same, as if a wall had fallen away and she’d realized it was possible to touch.

Dear heaven, how she wanted to. She wanted to step closer, take Ryan’s face in her hands and kiss him. Softly the first time, hard and deep the second time. To find out what all those lean muscles felt like under her fingers. She wanted to wrap herself around him, experience what this cowboy had to offer and for one brief moment just feel and not think.

But it wasn’t possible. That was what had gotten her into this situation, and she’d been stupid to let herself meander along this path. She was pregnant. She was leaving. She couldn’t toy around with this guy—it wasn’t fair to either one of them.

Ellison stepped back.

Dear Reader,

Have you ever heard the saying that life is what happens while you’re making other plans? Well, life happens to Ellison Hunter in a big way when she discovers she’s pregnant and that the father of her child is not the guy she thought he was. All of her carefully crafted plans disintegrate, and the next thing she knows, she’s in Montana, on a ranch, dealing with cows and cowboys and a lifestyle that’s utterly foreign to her. Ellie isn’t wild about unfamiliar environments, but now that she’s there, she’s determined to make the best of it, for both herself and her baby.

Enter my cowboy hero who’s too busy to make plans. He takes what life tosses him and deals with it—and he wants to help Ellie deal with her problems, too, but Ellie’s not ready to depend on anyone. Not now…maybe not ever.

I’ve made a few plans over the years that got knocked off track by life happening—like, say, the time I was supposed to go to Washington, D.C., as an intern and instead met and married my husband. I never saw that coming and I’ve never regretted the rapid career change that ensued. Funny how life works out.

I hope you enjoy reading about Ellie and Ryan as much as I enjoyed writing the story. Please visit my website at www.jeanniewatt.com, or contact me at jeanniewrites@gmail.com. You can also follow my adventures sewing vintage clothing at retrosewingromance.blogspot.com.

Happy reading,

Jeannie Watt

Cowgirl in High Heels

Jeannie Watt

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeannie Watt lives in the heart of rural Nevada in a historic ranching community. When she’s not at the computer writing, she collects and sews vintage clothing patterns—her new obsession—and makes mosaic mirrors. Every now and again she and her husband slip away to San Francisco to run a 10K and soak up the city, but for the most part she enjoys living in her quiet desert setting, thinking up new ways to torture her characters before they reach their happily ever after.

To Gail Thompson.

Thanks for all the great years working together.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Excerpt

CHAPTER ONE

SHE WOULDN’T NEED black pumps on a ranch...would she?

Ellison Hunter hesitated for only a moment before she tucked her trusty Christian Louboutin shoes, toes stuffed with the original tissue, into their usual spot in her travel bag. She had no idea what she’d be facing in Montana, but would hate to need her pumps and be without. These particular heels, a splurge she’d never regretted, gave her a sense of power and control, which was exactly what Ellie needed right now.

The phone rang for the third time in the past two hours as she reached for a stack of underwear to tuck into the spaces around the heels and Ellie considered ignoring it—except that an unanswered call would eventually be followed by a rapping on her door. So much for control and power.

“Montana?” Kate Warren asked without saying hello. Ellie’s closest friend was well aware that Ellie was holding out on her, that she hadn’t divulged the true reason for her abrupt departure from her job and an impromptu trip across the country for an undetermined length of time. And Ellie wasn’t going to spill her guts anytime soon because she was still coming to terms with the reason herself.

“My uncle needs me,” she said.

“But...Montana?”

“It’s where he lives,” Ellie replied patiently, although she felt her back start to go up. Her usual calm demeanor was getting harder to maintain with each passing day.

“No,” Kate said. “He lives in Santa Barbara, and I could understand you going to help him there, but—”

“A surgical practice doesn’t prepare you to manage people.” Which was what Ellie did. She managed people. Helped organizations run more smoothly by evaluating their personnel and their practices. Up until two months ago, her life had mirrored her profession—it had run smoothly, according to plan.

And now...

Ellie scrunched up her forehead as she balanced the phone on her shoulder and reached for more underwear. Think about it later.

“Ellie, I know you’re dealing with some kind of a problem,” Kate blurted. “And I think it’s totally unfair of you not to let me help—”

“I’m fine,” Ellie snapped and then let out a sigh. Not fine. “Okay...I need to get away.” That was the truth. “I...need a break. When I talked to my aunt and she told me that the ranch Uncle Milo bought was about fifty years behind the times... Well, it seemed like a good opportunity to change scenery and help them out at the same time.”

A long silence met her words. Kate had known Ellie since they’d first been assigned as bunkmates at boarding school seventeen years ago. Changing scenery was not something Ellie had ever been concerned with.

“Ellie...” There was a soft note of desperation in her friend’s voice, one that made Ellie come very close to confessing.

Not yet. Not until she had some kind of plan in place. Not until she’d come to terms with everything. Telling her aunt the truth had been ridiculously difficult, and she was not ready to repeat the experience. And then there was always the chance that she wouldn’t have to confess—which was why she hadn’t yet told her mother.

You’re only six weeks along. Sometimes...things...happen.

Her aunt’s words had given her a smidgeon of comfort two weeks ago when she’d simply had to tell someone the devastating news. How horrible was she that she kind of hoped something would happen? That the pregnancy would end itself naturally before the first trimester; that she could go back to her old life and never, ever make a mistake like this again?

Really horrible.