About Sara's Cowboy
by BA Tortuga
128 pages / 50000 words
ISBN: 978-1-60370-143-3, 1-60370-143-5
Available file types - html, lit, pdf, prc, paperback
Sara McGregor is coming to the end of her guest ranch tour, gathering information to write a book on what’s left of the wild west. Her last stop is in the high country of Wyoming, where California girl Sara feels like she’s hit the end of the earth.
Cal Pearson is a cowboy from the crown of his battered hat to the toes of his scuffed boots. He loves the Wyoming wilderness and the cowboy way with all his heart, and he doesn’t need some high stepping city slicker to tell him how to live his life.
When hard-headed Cal and strong-willed Sara collide on an overnight trail ride, they find the attraction they have for each other as strong as the dislike. Sparks fly, but when Sara has to go back to California, they agree to disagree, thinking they’ll never see each other again.
Fate has a way of making the impossible happen, though, and soon enough Cal and Sara find themselves back together again. They begin to learn that while they might not have much in common, they do have a lot to share. Can Sara find a way to keep her cowboy in the end?
Review
Oleta M Blaylock from Just Erotic Reviews gives "Sara's Cowboy" 4 Stars.
Sara McGregor has been on the road for months doing research for a book about guest ranches. Her VW Bug struggles to her final destination, a ranch in Wyoming. When she pulls up into the yard of the ranch she meets Cal Pearson. Cal is a cowboy and guide for the ranch. Sara and Cal are like fire and ice when they first meet. What can bring a big city girl and a cowboy together?
Sara's Cowboy is set in the mountains of Wyoming. Having visited that part of the country, I could appreciate the vastness and the beauty that Ms. Tortuga describes so well in her book. Cal Pearson reminds me of so many of the men that spend their lives working as cowboys. He is conservative, quiet, tough and honest to a fault. He loves what he does, likes the people that he works for, and is loyal to the brand. Sara is the typical big city girl, convinced that those that live in the country are somehow inferior to those raised in the city. She does come to appreciate the scenery and the peacefulness that a ranch has. I am not sure how these two stay together, especially when they have so little in common. Their differences seem almost insurmountable throughout most of the book. However, when they finally get into bed together WATCH OUT … they burn up the pages! I guess that this is proof that love conquers all. This is a good book and Ms. Tortuga does a good job of writing her characters to be real and believable.
Sample
The little yellow VW Bug coughed and sputtered, almost growling at her as it crawled up a little road in the midst of the Bighorn Mountains. Sara patted the dashboard, unwilling to admit that the sick, scared feeling in the pit of her stomach wasn’t exhaustion and a reaction to the altitude.
“Come on, baby. Up this hill, one more hill. Then I’ll interview Mr. and Mrs. Callahan, spend a day or two taking pictures and we’re gold. Goodbye Wyoming, hello California.” Seven months she’d been on the road, visiting one ranch after another. Sara had been so excited when her agent, Anna, had called in February as she was having breakfast with her folks in the house they shared in Berkeley.
”Sara, lovely, have I got a deal for you. A travelogue. Dude ranches, cattle ranches, cowboys and horses and cows. True romance.”
Sara shoved her dark hair from in front of her face. Romance. Right. Dust and heat. Filthy animals and lizards and bugs – oh, God, the bugs. Still, she needed the money and the book and all she had to do was finished it and maybe – just maybe -- Mom wouldn’t be on the cell phone every seventeen seconds trying to convince her that she needed to head home right now and go back to school.
She just didn’t want to spend her life in the classroom.
The dust kicked up, made both her and the Bug cough, and she rolled up the window. Of course, she didn’t want to spend her life in the boonies either.
It wasn’t that the area wasn’t beautiful – the summer was faded, the evergreens mixing with the changing leaves to make things colorful and bright. The mountains were stunning, a welcome change to the vast desert in Arizona, the flat Oklahoma prairies, the bleak Texas plains.
Still, Sara missed the easy pace of Berkeley. The ocean, the coffee shops, the people who actually seemed to be living in the modern world and not following some ancient cowboy code. Decent vegan restaurants.
Oh, what she wouldn’t give for a nice falafel wrap…
The Bug made it, sputtering and dying in the parking lot, a wisp of white steam leaking out which Sara resolutely ignored. She’d let it cool down, get her interviews and notes and pictures and maybe a night or two of good sleep. Then she’d baby the old yellow car home. Dad could park it in the garage and she could buy a nice fuel-friendly Toyota with the money from her book.
“Looks like that old bomb needs some work, honey.”
The voice was deep and gravelly, and the man attached to it was tall, broad and bowlegged, face and eyes shadowed by a gray felt hat.
Sara couldn't decide whether to be more offended by the honey or the old bomb and she rolled her eyes, grabbing her briefcase from the back seat, cotton shirt trying to pull free from her slacks. "Thank you for the observation. I don't suppose you could direct me to where I might find Mr. Callahan?"
"Sure. He'd be up at the main house. I'll walk you up." The hat got pushed back far enough she could see a weathered face with blue eyes and almost white brows. And a measuring look. "If you're a guest you sure ain't dressed for it."
She resisted the urge to smooth her blouse, check to see if her little black heeled sandals -- and thank goodness she was heading home soon because it was getting seriously chilly for sandals and her good boots were still in the closet at home -- had avoided the dust. "I'm not here to play cowboy, no. I'm doing research for a book and the Callahans have agreed to allow me to interview them, photograph the house."
She got a good look at what she assumed was the main house as she turned. It was breath-taking -- natural wood and stone, huge windows, a vast, inviting porch with fans and cozy seats and what looked like a hand-carved rail all the way around. It was nestled right into the side of the mountain, the afternoon sun turning everything to a warm gold.
Stunning.
"No kiddin'? Well, they sure are nice folks." The man's tone implied that the Callahans would have to be nice to do an interview with her, and maybe that she was nuts. Of course, maybe that offensive drawl was his normal mode of communication. The man held the door for her on her way in and pointed her to a little reception area.
"If they're expectin' you, just tell Sally there and she'll get you set up. Enjoy, honey."
She rolled her eyes, held out her hand. "Sara McGregor. Thanks."
There, she'd introduced herself to tall, broad and laconic.
"Cal Pearson." The man's big hand swallowed hers as they shook. "Pleased. Now I ought to go on back to work. Enjoy."