Outlaw Cowboy

A man looking to keep his ranch finds love in an unlikely place in Helm’s second Big Sky Cowboys contemporary (after Rebel Cowboy). In the town of Blue Valley, Mont., Caleb Shaw is determined to become a better man by making his ranch successful and quitting drinking. Caleb finds Delia Rogers holed up in a cabin on the ranch, looking scared and skinny and more determined than ever, though she won’t tell him what she’s up to. Caleb has always admired Delia’s pluck in difficult circumstances—her father abused both her and her sister—but he knows that he shouldn’t associate with her and break the terms of a deal he signed with Tyler Parker, who has agreed to lease some of his land on the condition that Caleb avoid everyone in his old crowd of troublemakers. Still, Caleb is drawn to the wounded yet strong Delia. She’s afraid to share a difficult secret, fearing that it would disrupt her fragile happiness with Caleb. And soon their mutual lust leads to love, creating additional complications in both their lives. The sex is sizzling, and readers will savor the realism of the characters who are faced with tough decisions in a harsh world. Agent: Courtney Miller-Callihan, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. (May)