Colt Stafford has been away from the ranch so long, working
on Wall Street, that his father's housekeeper points a gun
at him when he returns, as they've never met. She's on her
own and Colt's father is unwell. Just as well Colt has come
home after the latest stock scandal; the family needs him
to be BACK IN THE SADDLE.
Grey's Glen, Washington State, is a quiet area, which suits
Angelina Morales well. She was once a detective with the
Seattle police force - now she's a hardworking ranch
housekeeper. A couple of generations removed from Ecuador,
she has a widowed mother and a young son. Angelina better
hope the Staffords don't fire her for pulling a gun on the
son of the boss. Then again, she's a great cook and the
ranch hands respect her.
Colt appreciates the good hearty food - it's blowing snow
on the sagebrush and a thousand head are due to calve. His
father Sam waits in hospital to see him, conscious that his
bullying, land-grabbing ways have not endeared him to
anyone, locals or family members. Time to change, time to
put matters right. If it's not too late.
This is certainly a fractured family. We see a list of
problems, like a wife who left one brother and another
brother's wife who died of an overdose. Sam's first wife
died young and when he remarrried he forbade his sons to
mention their mother in case it upset his new wife.
Feelings are still raw and when Colt raises troubled
issues, he's told to leave it, he went off to raise his own
money away from the ranch, and how's that working out for
him? Colt stays quiet, but thinks that when the markets
rebound he'll go back to Manhattan.
Descriptions are so vivid that I looked out the window
expecting to see snow falling. Ranch life isn't sugar
coated, with calving operations and snowbound isolation. We
do understand how some women couldn't stay here; we realise
why some people love the life. We also meet two ranch
daughters whose father, unusually, won't let them ride or
do ranch chores. Naturally, life gets a lot more
complicated. The generational cycle is very much to the
fore in Ruth Logan Herne's tightly-wound tale, which may
also be read as an inspirational novel, with themes of
redemption and return home. BACK IN THE SADDLE is a
luscious sweet romance with a strong heroine and a hero who
learns what he really needs.
It’s been a long time since Colt Stafford shrugged off his
cowboy legacy for shiny Manhattan loafers and a promising
career on Wall Street. But when stock market manipulations
leave him financially strapped, the oldest son of legendary
rancher Sam Stafford decides to return to the sprawling
Double S ranch in Gray’s Glen, Washington. He’s broke, but
not broken, and it’s time to check in with his ailing
father, and get his legs back under him by climbing into the
saddle again.
He doesn’t expect to come home to a stranger pointing a
loaded gun at his chest—a tough yet beautiful woman that Sam
hired as the house manager. Colt senses there’s more to
Angelina Morales than meets the eye and he’s determined to
find out what she’s hiding...and why.
Colt’s return brings new challenges. Younger brother Nick
has been Sam’s right-hand man at the ranch for years and
isn’t thrilled at having Colt insert himself into Double S
affairs. And the ranch’s contentious relationship with the
citizens of Gray’s Glen asks all the Stafford men to examine
their hearts about what it truly means to be a neighbor.
And as Wall Street recovers, will Colt succumb to the call
of the financial district’s wealth and power—or finally the
courage to stay in the saddle for good?
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