And she was on probation? When did that happen?

  “What probation officer?” Emery managed to croak around the lump that returned to her throat.

  “The one who’ll decide if you stay out of jail or end up serving time.” Henry patted her arm and glanced out the window as they headed south of Portland. “You might as well try to relax, Emery. It’s more than five hours before we’ll reach the ranch.”

  Relax?

  Her uncle and her father had both lost their minds if they thought she could relax. Would they really leave her on a ranch in the middle of nowhere? Expect her to do manual labor or whatever Mrs. Cole’s grandson deemed necessary to meet her community service requirements?

  A sound somewhere between a groan and a gasp rolled out of her.

  Much to her surprise, her father placed his arm around her and gave her a hug. “Everything is going to be okay, Emery. You just have to trust us.”

  Trust was in short supply since the two men she loved the most were carting her off to some forsaken ranch while her mother was too far away to stop them.

  “Mother,” Emery whispered, reaching for her handbag. Her mother would put an immediate stop to all this nonsense. She pulled out her cell phone and started to call her mom. Abruptly, the phone was yanked out of her grasp.

  “You won’t be needing that.” Her father stuffed the phone in his jacket pocket. “Now, do as your uncle said, and try to relax. It’s a long drive, and fretting won’t make the miles pass any faster.”

  Emery felt like a prisoner as they traveled to Summer Creek. The men watched her as though she might make a mad escape the two times they stopped to use a restroom. In some town Emery had never heard of, the driver got them all deli sandwiches for lunch.

  While her father and Henry appeared to enjoy their meal, Emery could hardly swallow a bite around the fear-formed knot stuck in her throat.

  Once they left Bend, the landscape around them changed to one that seemed like a scene from a post-apocalyptic movie. Scraggly trees and scrubby brush were interrupted only by gnarly flows of rock that Emery was sure came from volcanic eruptions centuries ago. Randomly, a farm or ranch sprouted up, adding a welcome break to the view of mile after mile of nothing.

  Hours had passed. Emery’s nerves became more jangled with each minute that brought them closer to Summer Creek. Her father and uncle both snoozed, but in spite of her exhaustion, Emery couldn’t rest. Not when her entire world had been so unexpectedly upended.

  Perhaps her father and uncle were attempting to teach her a lesson. If she acted contrite, asked for forgiveness, and promised to mend her foolish ways, maybe they’d take her home and never speak of the incident again.

  Somehow, though, she had the distinct idea that the two men intended to stand by their decision to abandon her in the wilds of Oregon to learn whatever cryptic lesson they deemed it important for her to know.

  The car slowed, and the driver turned left off the highway onto a two-lane paved road. Farms and fields that had yet to spring to life after the winter turned the world shades of gray and brown lined both sides of the blacktop.

  James and Henry glanced out the car windows.

  “Looks like they’ve put in several pivots since the last time I came hunting out here,” Henry said, pointing to a machine in the middle of a slightly greening field.

  “I bet that helps cut down on the labor. Remember the summer we worked for that farmer changing handlines? Whew, that was hard work,” James said with a grin.

  “It was hard work, but the girls admired our tans and muscles,” Henry teased.

  Emery never knew her father had worked on a farm, or her uncle. Rapidly, it became apparent there were many things she didn’t know about the two of them.

  Only a few minutes passed before they drove into town, or at least Emery assumed it was supposed to be a town. The buildings that greeted them appeared, for the most part, run-down or deserted. More than a dozen old buildings that might have been lovely at one time looked ready for a wrecking ball.

  A sign in front of a tall brick building to her right proclaimed it to be Summer Creek City Hall. Further down the street the tell-tale stripe of a barber’s pole identified the Klean Kut Barbershop.

  In front of the post office, a purple-haired woman pushed a wheelbarrow with a behemoth dog inside, or maybe it was a really ugly pony. Just across the street at the grocery store they drove past an animal eating a plastic grocery sack.

  “What is that?” Emery asked, leaning toward her father to better see out the window.

  “A goat,” James replied. “They’ll eat anything that isn’t nailed down and some things that are.”

  Emery wondered why a goat meandered free and unattended in town, but decided she’d rather not know. She turned and looked out the window on her uncle’s side of the car, staring at what appeared to be a saloon, complete with an old stagecoach parked out front. A neon sign proclaimed it to be the local bar and grill.

  After passing a handful of houses and an abandoned mill, they left the town behind, heading north. Only a few minutes passed before the car decreased speed and turned into the road to Summer Creek Ranch, or so the sign attached to a post announced.

  “Take a good look, Emery. This is where you’ll either redeem yourself or enjoy your last months of freedom,” her uncle said, motioning to an old but solid house painted the color of the sagebrush around them. Flowers planted along the front of the dwelling had yet to burst into bloom.

  “I believe in you, Emery. Don’t let us down,” her father said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as the car rolled to a stop in front of the house.

  Resolved to facing the situation with dignity, Emery accepted the hand her father gave her as she stepped out of the car into the bright spring afternoon, into an uncertain and unwanted future.

  Get your copy of Catching the Cowboy today!

  Books by Shanna Hatfield

  FICTION

  HISTORICAL

  Baker City Brides

  Tad’s Treasure

  Crumpets and Cowpies

  Thimbles and Thistles

  Corsets and Cuffs

  Bobbins and Boots

  Lightning and Lawmen

  Dumplings and Dynamite

  Pendleton Petticoats

  Dacey

  Aundy

  Caterina

  Ilsa

  Marnie

  Lacy

  Bertie

  Millie

  Dally

  Quinn

  Evie

  Hardman Holidays

  The Christmas Bargain

  The Christmas Token

  The Christmas Calamity

  The Christmas Vow

  The Christmas Quandary

  The Christmas Confection

  The Christmas Melody

  The Christmas Ring

  Gifts of Christmas

  Gift of Grace

  Gift of Hope

  Gift of Faith

  Hearts of the War

  Garden of Her Heart

  Home of Her Heart

  Dream of Her Heart

  CONTEMPORARY

  Learnin’ The Ropes

  Love at the 20-Yard Line

  QR Code Killer

  Rose

  Summer Creek

  Catching the Cowboy

  Rescuing the Rancher

  Protecting the Princess

  Grass Valley Cowboys

  The Cowboy’s Christmas Plan

  The Cowboy’s Spring Romance

  The Cowboy’s Summer Love

  The Cowboy’s Autumn Fall

  The Cowboy’s New Heart

  The Cowboy’s Last Goodbye

  Holiday Brides

  Valentine Bride

  Summer Bride

  Easter Bride

  Rodeo Romance

  The Christmas Cowboy

  Wrestlin’ Christmas

  Capturing Christmas

  Barreling Through Christmas

  Chasing Christmas

  Racing Christmas

  Keeping Christmas

  Friendly Beasts of Faraday

  Scent of Cedar

  Tidings of Joy

  Boughs of Holly

  Wings of an Angel

  Romance by Chance

  Taste of Tara

  Saving Mistletoe

  Silverton Sweethearts

  The Coffee Girl

  The Christmas Crusade

  Untangling Christmas

  Welcome to Romance

  Blown Into Romance

  Sleigh Bells Ring in Romance

  The Women of Tenacity

  Box Set with Bonus Prelude

  Heart of Clay

  Heart of Hope

  Heart of Love

  CHILDREN’S BOOKS

  Steve the Mule

  NONFICTION

  A Cowboy Christmas

  Farm Girl

  Fifty Dates with Captain Cavedweller

  Recipes of Love

  Savvy Entertaining

  Savvy Autumn Entertaining

  Savvy Holiday Entertaining

  Savvy Spring Entertaining

  Savvy Summer Entertaining

  About the Author

  PHOTO BY SHANA BAILEY PHOTOGRAPHY

  USA Today bestselling author Shanna Hatfield is a farm girl who loves to write. Her sweet historical and contemporary romances are filled with sarcasm, humor, hope, and hunky heroes.

  When Shanna isn’t dreaming up unforgettable characters, twisting plots, or covertly seeking dark, decadent chocolate, she hangs out with her beloved husband, Captain Cavedweller, at their home in the Pacific Northwest.

  Shanna loves to hear from readers.

  Connect with her online:

  Website: shannahatfield.com

  Facebook: Shanna Hatfield’s Page

  Shanna Hatfield’s Hopeless Romantics Group

  Pinterest: Shanna Hatfield

  Email: shanna@shannahatfield.com

  Smashwords: Shanna Hatfield’s Profile

 

 

  Shanna Hatfield, Learning the Ropes

 

 

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