Lindsay McKenna - The Wrangler

Can a city boy make good in the Wild West?

After Wall Street collapses, investment banker Griff McPherson trades in his suits and ties for Stetsons and cowboy boots. He returns to the Wyoming ranch he co-owns with his brother, but it’s not exactly a happy homecoming. So to prove to everyone, including himself, that he belongs back in Jackson Hole, he takes a post as a wrangler on another ranch.

Air force lieutenant Val Hunter has just returned to the Bar H ranch to help her ailing grandmother run the property. While it is full of unhappy memories, Val is determined to do right by her home. Her new hire is easy on the eyes and a tough wrangler to boot, yet her instincts make it hard for her to trust him. When a nefarious neighbor endangers her land, Val is forced to accept Griff’s help—but will she finally be able to open her heart?

Praise for Lindsay McKenna

“McKenna’s latest is an intriguing tale…a unique twist

on the romance novel, and one that’s sure to please.”

—RT Book Reviews on Dangerous Prey

“Riveting.”

—RT Book Reviews on The Quest

“An absorbing debut for the Nocturne line.”

—RT Book Reviews on Unforgiven

“Gunfire, emotions, suspense, tension and sexuality abound in this fast-paced, absorbing novel.”

—Affaire de Coeur on Wild Woman

“Another masterpiece.”

—Affaire de Coeur on Enemy Mine

“Emotionally charged…riveting and deeply touching.”

—RT Book Reviews on Firstborn

“Ms. McKenna brings readers along for a fabulous odyssey in which complex characters experience the danger,

passion and beauty of the mystical jungle.”

—RT Book Reviews on Man of Passion

“Talented Lindsay McKenna delivers excitement and romance in equal measure.”

—RT Book Reviews on Protecting His Own

“Lindsay McKenna will have you flying with the

daring and deadly women pilots who risk their lives.…

Buckle in for the ride of your life.”

—Writers Unlimited on Heart of Stone

The Wrangler

Lindsay McKenna

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Dear Reader:

The Wrangler comes from my background of growing up in the rural West. Our neighbors were ranchers, sheepherders or farmers. At one time, we had a milk cow named Elizabeth. At six years old, I learned how to milk. Of course, our barn cats loved milking time, too. They would line up near my stool as I milked Elizabeth. I would take one teat and squirt the stream of warm milk toward the nearest cat. She would stand up on her hind legs, mouth open, gulping it down. Not a drop of milk ever hit the wooden floor. Or the time when a neighbor’s milk cow had a calf and we got to watch it being birthed. I was lucky enough to have such experiences, and inevitably they end up in the pages of one of my books. I can only write what I know and share it with you. It’s not always the big events of life that we remember, but the small, emotionally satisfying ones. Such as giving milk to the kitties at 5:00 a.m. on a chilly morning.

Ranching and farming are a hard way of life, but a worthy one in my opinion. My husband and I bred, raised and showed Arabian horses for a decade in Ohio. My love of horses has been around since I was a three-year-old, when I was put in the saddle for the first time. Being close to the earth, working with it, not against it, brings a fondness to my heart. People raised in cities never know the joy of sitting in a saddle, mending a fence line, digging post holes, working on an old truck engine or repairing a hay baler. They’ve never seen real milk come from a cow. Or heard the bleat of a newborn lamb, or watched the struggling efforts of a tiny foal trying to get to her feet for the first time.

I hope to translate my rural life experiences to you in the Wyoming series. Griff McPherson is Slade’s twin brother. You met Slade in The Last Cowboy. For Griff, born on a cattle ranch in Wyoming, his life is suddenly upended by tragedy. At only five years old, he lost his parents in a car accident. Luckily his uncle from New York City rescued him from a foster home and took him in. Griff went from rural to city life. And along the way he lost his Wyoming soul. This is a story of redemption. Many people are thrown brutal curves in life. Somehow their heart, their inner knowing can act like an unerring compass. It can help them turn around and head in the right direction. Griff is about to make a life-changing decision. Will his Wyoming genes trump the call of rich city life or not?

Lindsay McKenna

Rosemarie Brown, astrologer extraordinaire, who has been a part of my life for more than twenty years and still counting… I’m very lucky to have walked at your side through the good times and the bad times. Above all, I cherish your wisdom, your heart and incredible vision. I hope the rest of your life is nothing but an ongoing rainbow of beauty, happiness and unfoldment. Longtime friends are like diamonds; they are dazzling, but in the case of friends, money can never buy them. Thanks for being there for me, and I’m glad I could be—and always will be—there for you when you need support. Unlike family, real friends stick with you through “thick ’n’ thin.” Friends, in my view, are a greater cosmic family and they love you, warts and all. Thank you.

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

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER ONE

HOME...IT WAS the last place that Val Hunter wanted to be. She stood in the coolness of the Wyoming morning facing her past. The taxi had just dropped her off at the main house of the Bar H ranch. She bitterly recalled when her father, Buck Hunter, had remodeled the old one-story log home. Now, the house rose two stories and looked like an iconic cedar palace. Val’s mouth quirked as she heard the robins singing in the background. They sounded so happy in contrast to how she felt.

She had to enter the home and let her grandmother, Augusta Hunter, know that she’d arrived. Gus, as everyone called her, had been the only bright spot in Val’s upbringing. And she owed it to Gus to come home even though her heart felt weighted. Hot tears jammed into her eyes and Val hung her head and fought them back. Compressing her lips once her eyes were cleared, she picked up her two suitcases and slowly trudged up the cedar stairs as if she were going to her death.

After knocking on the huge wooden door with the emblem for Bar H carved across it, Val waited. It didn’t take long for a small woman with short silver hair to answer.

“Val!” she cried, her face lighting up.

“Hi, Gus. I made it home.”

Throwing her arms around her granddaughter, Gus held her for a long time. “Thank you for coming,” Gus said in a wobbly voice. She released Val and stood back, a cane in her left hand. “Come in. I have coffee waitin’ for us.”

Giving her short, wiry grandmother a forced half smile, Val picked up her luggage. It was always chilly on Wyoming mornings in June. “Thanks,” she murmured, setting down the bags and closing the door behind her. Gus hobbled on her cane as she limped down the hall. “I’ll take these to my old bedroom?”

“Yep, it’s waiting for you.” Gus pointed toward the polished stairs. “You get settled in and then come down and join me in the kitchen. Have you eaten?”