Healing the Cowboyâs Heart
When Luke Buckton left Blue Thorn Ranch, heâd hoped to return in a blaze of rodeo glory; instead, heâs limping home with a busted leg. To get back on the circuit heâll need physical therapist Ruby Sheldonâs help. Six years ago, he left Ruby behind, convinced she was too innocent for such a public life. Now his high school sweetheart is stronger, tougher and even more captivating. A high-profile success story like this could make Rubyâs career. All she has to do is rein in Lukeâs bullheadedness, heal his injuriesâand hope his reckless charm doesnât trample her heart againâ¦
âYouâre punishing me,â he huffed.
âIâm treating you. Youâre the one who set the ambitious goal on the tight time frame.â
âItâs not the exercises, darlinâ, itâs the attitude. You want me to hurt.â
She took the bull by the horns. âI do not want to hurt you.â
He stopped again. âYou should. I hurt you.â
It took Ruby a moment to decide how to respond.
âYes, you did.â In for a penny, in for a pound. âYou hurt me deeply, Luke Buckton.â
Luke stopped walking, holding her gaze for a moment. His blue eyes looked like their depths went on forever. âI know that.â
âDid you know it when you left? Did you think about it at all?â
âI wouldnât let myself think about it at first. I let all the dreams and the money dangling in front of my face crowd it out.â
âYou said suchâ¦hurtful things.â
She heard him sigh. âI needed to burn the bridges behind me. I figured weâd both be better off if you hated me.â
âIt doesnât work that way, Luke.â
Dear Reader,
This novel represents our fourth visit to the Blue Thorn Ranch, a place and family Iâve come to know and love. God has taken each of the Buckton siblings (and their cousin) on journeys of faith and purpose, and itâs my prayer that your faith has been strengthened by their stories.
If youâve not yet enjoyed the other three books in the series, The Texas Rancherâs Return, Coming Home to Texas, and The Texanâs Second Chance; please do! There will be one more book in the series coming out in September 2017, so keep watch for it.
As always, I love to hear from readers. You can reach my website at alliepleiter.com, email me at [email protected], like my Facebook page at facebook.com/alliepleiter, or connect with me on Twitter at twitter.com/alliepleiter (@alliepleiter) or Pinterest at pinterest.com/alliepleiter. Of course, if good old mail is your thing, you can always reach me at P.O. Box 7026, Villa Park, IL 60181. Iâm looking forward to hearing from you!
Blessings,
ALLIE PLEITER, an award-winning author and RITA® Award finalist, writes both fiction and nonfiction. Her passion for knitting shows up in many of her books and all over her life. Entirely too fond of French macarons and lemon meringue pie, Allie spends her days writing books and avoiding housework. Allie grew up in Connecticut, holds a BS in speech from Northwestern University and lives near Chicago, Illinois.
My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.
â2 Corinthians 12:9
To physical therapists everywhere
who help so many to heal.
Acknowledgments
There was a heap of technical information to get right in this book, and I had lots of generous help. Dr. David Chen from the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago always lends his expertise for injuries and their symptoms. Nancy A. Hughes, PT, ICCE, enthusiastically shared her insight and great scene ideas as a physical therapist. Ed Crowder was kind enough to read the manuscript for bull-riding accuracy. If there are mistakes or misrepresentations in this book, the fault is purely mine, and not in the excellent information they provided me.
Chapter One
Luke Buckton stood on the porch of the Blue Thorn Ranch, his childhood home, disgusted at how he needed to grip the handrail to keep his balance.
Pain came with a life spent trying to stay on top of 1,700 pounds of bucking bull. Every bull rider knew pain went with the territory. Bull riding was dangerousâthatâs what made it exciting. And profitable, if done right. Sure, you got hurtâeveryone got hurtâbut you âcowboyed upâ after an injury and got back in there, period. Luke hadnât come close to winning the Touring Pro Series championship by paying attention to pain. He ignored it.
The numbness he fought now? That was a whole other kind of enemy. It messed with his mind and defied submission. Luke could ride in pain, could win in painâhe had, in fact, on dozens of occasions. Now, he couldnât always tell where his leg ended and the ground began. He could think âstandâ but couldnât feel it, even when he was standing. That threatened his career worse than the largest, meanest bull on earth.