Give the Lady a Ride

“She’s no bigger than a newborn heifer,” is Talon Carlson’s first impression of Patricia Talbert when he discovers the ranch he’d hoped to inherit now belongs her. Part-time bull rider, full-time ranch foreman, he realizes his entire future rests in the hands of a tiny woman who doesn’t know beans about either.

The lure of living someplace where no one knows her or cares that her father is a senator sends Patricia into the waves of indecision. New York is home; it’s familiar. But on the Circle Bar Ranch, no one will use her as the gateway to the senator. Maybe on the ranch, she can separate herself from her father and develop an identity of her own.

Inside an ornately carved box, Patricia finds letters her aunt had written to her uncle, both deceased. The love her aunt had expressed was deeper than anything Patricia had ever experienced in her own failed marriage. But it is the faith shining from page after page that brings her to tears. Had she known this wise woman, maybe she would have learned to trust the Lord, too.

One last letter in the box, to Patricia from her uncle, turns her waves of indecision into a tsunami. He wanted her to stay at the ranch. The temptation is strong, but she has responsibilities in New York. She’s torn, and her growing attraction to Talon isn’t helping.

The same letter throws Talon’s life into chaos also, because if Patricia decides to leave the ranch, she is to give it to him. All Talon ever wanted was to own a ranch, this ranch. And now, his dreams are just one small woman away. Using as evidence the loss of everyone he’d ever loved, Talon is convinced God wants him single. But his growing appreciation of this spunky little lady is shaking that conviction. . . to the point he questions whether he wants the ranch more than he wants her.

Time is slipping away, and Patricia needs to decide what to do. But she can’t. To give herself at least one more week for the stay-go battle raging within her to settle, she issues Talon a challenge. “Teach me to ride bulls.”

From here on, they’re in for the ride of their lives.

Birth of Ride

Although I’ve written stories and poems since I learned how to write, I was forty-nine when I started writing in earnest. Fifty when I completed my first novel. My first, full-length, fully awful novel.

My success story, Give the Lady a Ride, is the result of a NaNoWriMo contest. The point of the contest is to write 60,000 words toward a novel – in a month. I wrote 15,000. I got too wrapped up in editing and researching to make the deadline. And even though Ride is finished, it’s still not quite 60,000 words. Oh well. I love it anyway. Besides, it was one of five finalists in the contemporary romance category of the ACFW Genesis Competition!

Never have I had more fun researching a book than with this one.

My bull riding socialite materialized out of two programs on CMT: Cowboy U, a fun competition where city folks meet ranch chores, andTy Murray’s Celebrity Bull Riding, where men from all walks of fame try their hands at making the eight. Research into the exciting world of bull riding took me to the Vernon Guidry Rodeo Ranch near Madisonville, Texas. Vernon raises bulls for the ride, the eight-second success pursued by young men worldwide.

Interviewing Vernon was a pleasure. The man is a quintessential cowboy: polite, soft-spoken, and passionate about his ranch. My experience with him provided my setting needs, including the sights, sounds, and smells (some of which clung to my car for weeks after) of ranch life.

When he invited me to return to the ranch to watch him “buck the babies,” I cartwheeled through my mind: Yes, Yes, Yes! Three rolls of film, pages of notes, and one sunburn later, I had facts, scenes, and characters floating in my head, demanding life.

And life I gave them, in the 55,356-word romantic comedy, Give the Lady a Ride.

The setting is on a ranch near Hico, Texas (left). My own family’s ranch was near there, and we came to love the little town. If you’re ever in Texas, consider this little town a place to see — especially during the Texas Steak Cookoff!  

 

 

 

And while you’re there, take in some time at the Koffee Kup and try a slice of pie. The meringue pies are truly a treat — even featured in Texas Highways at one time. The Koffee Kup is a favorite for both hunters and bikers, so there’s no telling who you’ll see inside. Oh, and ask about Billy the Kid. That’s a sure conversation-starter.

Okay, enough of sounding like a rep from the Hico Chamber of Commerce.

I’ve enjoyed every part of writing Give the Lady a Ride. I hope you enjoy reading it (when it comes out, that is!)