About

Animal rights activist meets cowboy when grad student Charlie Banks signs up for a “horse whispering” clinic at Latigo Dude Ranch. Unfortunately, there is no dude ranch—just a windblown Wyoming horse operation complete with a dozen green-broke horses and one bitter, broken-hearted cowboy.

Nate Shawcross’s ambitious girlfriend tried to force her horse-savvy honey into fame as a “horse whisperer” by distributing glossy brochures touting training clinics without his knowledge. Now she’s given up on him and gone, and horse lovers from all over the country are arriving at the ranch expecting a three-week workshop. Nate’s not about to let a bunch of greenhorns ruin his horses, but family issues forced him to mortgage the ranch, and he’s willing to do just about anything to save his home.

Charlie loves horses, but she hates cowboys. As far as she’s concerned, they’re ignorant rednecks who torture animals for their own amusement. Only an assignment from her thesis advisor to study the non-verbal communication between the trainer and his animals keeps her at Latigo—that, and the broken axle on her car. It’s going to take the local mechanic at least a week to get the part she needs to hit the gas and go.

When Nate’s injured in an accident, Charlie finds herself playing hostess. As a wary friendship develops, she begins warming to the work—and to the cowboy. The two of them are opposites in every way, but their shared dedication to the land and the horses makes them realize that his strengths are her weaknesses, and what he lacks is what she has to give.