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Renee Yancy
Author
On the Trail of Love
Renee Yancy, author

Adult; Romance; (Publish)

Long SYNOPSIS/On the Trail of Love Sadie O’Toole’s unusual inheritance is her grandfather’s grit, a turquoise 1959 Chevrolet Apache pickup, and Bill, the mechanical bull. Eddie O’Toole, a former Marine, raised his granddaughter Sadie after the tragic death of her parents in a car accident. On weekends and every childhood summer vacation, Sadie traveled with her grandfather and Bill to rodeos, country fairs, and wherever people cared to test their skills on a mechanical bull. She learned to change the oil, fix a flat tire, and back up the trailer carrying the fifteen-hundred-pound bull. When Eddie is diagnosed with advanced colon cancer and given only a few weeks to live, he asks Sadie, as his dying wish, to keep Bill and drive the circuit one more time in his memory. After her grandfather’s funeral, Sadie visits Eddie’s best friend, Chet Blake, who has Bill stored in his barn. Sadie wants to take another look at Bill before making her final decision. Chet’s nephew, Henry Blake, a tall, serious young cowboy, catches her talking to Bill, and Sadie takes an immediate antipathy toward him. Recently discharged from prison in Alabama after serving ten years for the crime of 2nd degree statutory rape, Henry is trying to rebuild his life. At the age of nineteen, and at the height of his winning rodeo career, he fell in love with Angélique Rousseau, a girl who deliberately lied about her age to set Henry up so her older brother, con man Claude Rousseau, could blackmail Henry. When Henry refused to pay up, Claude filed charges against him. Now Henry is determined never to fall in love again. Until he meets Sadie. Sadie called off her wedding to fiancé Nick Turyn, a Ukrainian artist, after discovering he didn’t want children. She rightly suspects she will always be number two in his life, after his painting. Now with her grandfather gone, and no wedding on the horizon, what does she have to lose? Sadie decides to throw off the wary thoughtfulness that usually defines her, and take Bill out on the road. With her grandfather’s ashes in a Folger’s coffee can, Sadie packs up the Apache and heads out to Chet’s farm to collect Bill, only to find Henry waiting for her with a suitcase and a sleeping bag. Chet informs Sadie that her grandfather, before he died, prearranged and paid Henry to accompany her on the circuit as protection and insurance. Sadie is furious at her grandfather, Chet, and Henry, who she thinks is too handsome for his own good. She’s already taken a leave of absence from her nursing job, given up her apartment, and put her furniture in storage. Only because her grandfather was a shrewd judge of character does she agree to reluctantly accept Henry as her road trip partner. She starts the trip determined to ignore him and tells him not to expect anything from her, including conversation. Unknown to Sadie, Henry decided to accompany Sadie because Eddie encouraged and mentored Henry those first few tough months after his release from prison. Henry knows he might run into people from his past at the rodeos, especially in Alabama, but for Eddie’s sake, he is prepared to risk it. The circuit takes them from Greenville to New Orleans to Nashville to Little Rock. For Sadie, each town and venue bring back memories of time spent and lessons learned with Eddie. Despite her original antipathy, an undeniable attraction develops between Sadie and Henry, but Henry’s secret past haunts him. Sadie is puzzled by Henry’s reluctance to talk about his past, even more so when his ancient suitcase pops open in the truck bed and she discovers Henry’s gold and silver championship rodeo buckles dated ten years before. Sure enough, on their second gig in Alabama, Henry comes face to face with Claude Rousseau. Sadie observes the meeting from a distance, but Henry won’t talk about it when she asks about the sinister-looking man. Later that day, Claude comes looking for Henry at the mechanical bull ring. Henry isn’t there, and Claude frightens Sadie. When Sadie finds Henry and demands to know what’s going on, Henry again refuses to discuss it but tells Sadie she is safe with him. Henry is falling in love with Sadie and anguishes over how to tell her about his past, sure that if he reveals it, she will reject him. They continue on the circuit, and through mishaps on the road—surviving an All You Can Drink Margarita fest, the Chevy and trailer rolling backwards into a ditch, picking up a ninety-year-old hitchhiker named Tanzania, who dispenses pimiento cheese sandwiches along with free relationship advice— Sadie realizes she is falling hard for the tall, humble cowboy. In Franklin, Tennessee for a hot air balloon gig, Henry and Sadie share a kiss when Henry surprises her with a balloon ride for her birthday. Henry never meant for this to happen, and now he decides he’s got to level with Sadie about his past. The next morning, as he starts to confess, she stops him with a finger over his lips. Sadie has seen and learned enough about Henry’s good heart that she doesn’t need to know. This astonishes Henry. This period of delirious happiness lasts until the next gig in Alabama. Claude shows up again, but this time he leaves Henry alone and finds Sadie, giving her the details from his own twisted viewpoint, of how Henry ruined his sister, Angélique. Sadie is blown away, utterly devastated, and furious at herself for trusting Henry. She cancels the next few gigs, determined to go home and forget about him. She won’t listen to his pleas to hear his side of the story. They have one gig that she can’t cancel, a fraternity party in Mississippi, which turns disastrous when all the drunk frat brothers with one exception, decide to beat up Henry and attempt to gang rape Sadie. Sadie foils them by pulling her Colt revolver and holding them at bay. Henry is badly injured. The police arrive, called by the one frat brother who wasn’t drinking. After giving their statements to the police, Henry is treated, released to Sadie’s care, and they start the long silent drive back to Paducah. Arriving at Chet’s farm, Sadie drops Henry off, determined not to see him again. She goes to stay with her best friend, Jen, who informs Sadie that her ex-fiancé Nick has had some good fortune and is the talk of Paducah, having received a lucrative commission to do all the paintings for a billionaire’s new office building in Paris, France. Sadie is happy for Nick, but she tells Jen it changes nothing about her feelings for him, although when they run into him in town later, Nick persuades Sadie to have dinner with him. At dinner, Nick explains his fabulous commission and urges Sadie to reconsider their engagement and go to Paris with him. He even agrees to have children now. Sadie resists, although she starts seeing him again, promising nothing. On their way to dinner one night, Nick makes a quick stop at Home Depot for framing materials, where they run into Henry, and Nick discovers that Henry was on the road with Sadie. Henry is incredulous that Sadie is back with Nick, especially after all she revealed to Henry about him. Sadie continues to see Nick, and Nick presses Sadie for an answer. One evening they attend the symphony and during intermission, Sadie sees Henry, with a beautiful blonde on his arm. She is instantly jealous, and when Henry spots her and comes over, she is icy, until he introduces his date as his cousin. When the cousin goes off to the powder room and Nick speaks to a business associate, Henry tries to talk to Sadie. Nick returns to find them in heated conversation. He is furious and asks to speak to his fiancée in private. Henry leaves, in shock at the word fiancée. After the concert, Nick demands to know where he stands in Sadie’s affections. She is angry with him for calling her his fiancée in front of Henry, when they aren’t engaged. They have a row and Sadie breaks it off with Nick. Undeterred, he sends flowers every day and manages to coax Sadie into coming to his apartment to talk. While there, she sees a letter from his former lover and mother of his daughter in Ukraine, pleading for help to support their daughter. Sadie realizes that Nick isn’t interested in supporting the one child he has and that he would be an indifferent father if Sadie had a child with him. She ends the relationship with Nick, realizing she is still in love with Henry. To keep herself busy, Sadie starts the process of settling her grandfather’s estate and getting his bungalow ready for sale. But the house brings back too many happy memories, and she begins to picture herself living there, imagining Henry with her. Almost before she knows it, she’s in the truck heading toward Chet’s farm. Henry has been working on restoring Chet’s barn, and when he steps into view in the hayloft, bare-chested and covered with sawdust, Sadie has never wanted anyone more. She tells Henry she loves him, and wants to hear his story from his own lips. Henry can barely believe it. She asks him to go back on the road with her for one last big gig, the USTRC Championship Rodeo Finals. And it’s in Alabama. On the way, Henry tells her his story. Sadie thinks Angélique might be a victim of Claude Rousseau, too. They arrive and do their gig at the rodeo with no sign of Claude. Unknown to Henry, Sadie has reserved a single room in a lovely bed and breakfast for she and Henry, instead of the usual two rooms at a Motel 6. Sadie and Henry spend a perfect night making love. The next day, Sadie asks Henry to marry her. Henry tells her past as a convicted sex offender is going to follow him the rest of his life and she replies “I know. That’s why I want to get married. It’s the only way you’ll believe me when I say it doesn’t matter.” They get married that same day in the inn’s gazebo, and return for the final night’s gig at the rodeo. There is still no sign of Claude and Henry breathes easier. The night is almost over when Henry goes to buy dinner and doesn’t return. Sadie is worrying about Henry when a bedraggled woman with a black eye approaches Sadie and urges her to get out of town with Henry before something bad happens. It’s Angélique, older and beaten down. She tells Sadie her real name is Anna, and relates the sad story of being used and abused by her brother to blackmail young men. Anna tells Sadie that Henry was the only man she ever loved. She knows Claude is up to something bad and warns Sadie to find Henry and get out of town. Claude has taken Henry at gunpoint to the deserted parking lot, where Anna finds them. Henry doesn’t recognize Anna’s voice, being semi-conscious after a pistol whipping at the hands of Claude. Anna tries to talk Claude out of hurting Henry, but he backhands her and tells her to get in the car. Claude drives to the isolated hunting cabin where he and Anna have been living. He ties Henry up and taunts him that he’s going back to get Sadie. Henry tries to talk him out of it, but Claude leaves. Henry discovers there is another person being held prisoner in the dim cabin, a woman who has been terribly beaten. It’s Angélique. Claude abducts Sadie and brings her back to the cabin, where he tells Henry he is going to kill Sadie in front of him. While Claude was gone, Henry managed to loosen Anna’s bonds and she freed herself. She is working on Henry’s knots when Claude returns. She hurries back to her chair and pretends to be unconscious. Sadie has her Colt revolver on her, hidden in the special pouch inside the back of her jeans. Claude points his gun at Sadie’s chest while, behind him, Anna lifts her head and holds a finger to her lips. Sadie tries to keep Claude focused on her while Anna creeps into the bedroom. Henry has managed to wriggle out of the ropes holding his wrists behind the chair. “Say good-bye, Henry,” says Claude. He fires at Sadie at the same time as Henry leaps up, his ankles still tied to the chair, and takes the bullet meant for Sadie. Sadie whips out her Colt but before she can fire, there is another gunshot and Claude is dead at the hands of Anna. Anna calls 911 and runs away. Henry goes to surgery for a chest tube as the result of a sucking chest wound. Anna finds Sadie in the Surgery waiting room and tells her she is going to turn herself in and tell the police about Claude. She promises to do all she can to get Henry’s conviction overturned. Henry survives, and he and Sadie return to Paducah to start a new life.
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