  Author: Jennifer Ryan Publisher/Publication Date: Avon Books; February 24, 2015 Format/Source: E-ARC, Edelweiss/Publisher Amazon Barnes & Noble At Wolf Ranch (Montana Men #1) synopsis:
After years on the rodeo circuit, Gabe Bowden
wants nothing more than land of his own and a woman who will claim his heart
for more than one night. When he has the chance to buy the
enormous Wolf Ranch spread, he snaps up the incredible deal.
Everything is set, until Gabe rescues a woman on the deserted, snowy road
leading to the property, and the half-frozen beauty changes everything.
Ella Wolf rushes to her family’s abandoned Montana ranch after her twin sister is murdered. She knows she’s next…unless she can uncover a secret hidden somewhere at Wolf Ranch. The last thing Ella expects is to be rescued by a rugged rancher with his own agenda. A man who almost makes her forget how dangerous love can be… As an unlikely partnership sparks into something so much more, and a killer closes in, can Ella and Gabe learn to trust one another before it’s too late? Teaser
“Tell me to go and leave you alone.”
“I don’t want to be alone. I want to be
with you.”
He
wanted to ask her for how long, but stopped himself, because soon she’d leave
and go back to that life she thought she’d outgrown, but would want back
because it was familiar. She’d need it back to regain some of the normal from
her past in her new life without her sister.
He let loose the reins on his need and
pulled her close. He dipped his head, his gaze on her rosy lips. He pressed his
mouth to hers for a deep kiss and held nothing back this time. He swept his
tongue along hers, melding his mouth to hers. His fingers gripped her hips, let
loose, and swept up inside her sweater and up her smooth spine. When his
fingertips touched her skin, she sighed and pressed closer.
She rocked her hips against him and he
groaned, breaking the kiss to move down her neck and kiss that sweet spot
between her neck and shoulder. “God, you always smell so good.”
Her head fell back, and he kissed his
way back up her throat to her lips again for another searing kiss.
“Don’t stop,” she said against his
mouth. “Don’t ever stop.”
“I’m just getting started.”
Review
At Wolf Ranch by Jennifer Ryan
is a story of murder and betrayal. It has an attention grabbing start as Ella
found herself in one harrowing situation after another. Ella’s twin sister was murdered. As Ella
searched for answers, she made some reckless decisions, which added to the
sense of danger. I liked the fact that she remained relentless throughout her ordeal. Gabe was a nice addition to the scene. He was protective and knew
how to take charge when necessary. I loved how their attraction to one another
didn’t overshadow Ella’s mission to find out why her sister was murdered.
Although the ending was predictable, I liked the overall story and look forward
to reading the second book in the series, When It’s Right.
I received an e-arc of At Wolf Ranch from the Publisher/Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
AT WOLF RANCH, Ch1 Excerpt:
Chapter One
Three long days without a word. No call.
Not even a text. Ella stared at her phone, willing it to ring. She tapped her
finger on the screen and stifled the urge to call Lela for the hundredth time
that morning.
The coffee shop buzzed with activity.
People headed off to work with their lattes and scones. She sipped at her
caramel macchiato, reading over the newest projections for the cosmetics line
debuting in March on her laptop. The numbers looked promising.
Ella jumped when her phone vibrated on the
table. She snatched it up and read the caller ID.
“Finally.” She swiped the screen to accept
the call. “Lela—”
“Where have you been?” Uncle Phillip’s
demand surprised her.
Why did Uncle Phillip have Lela's phone?
Ella opened her mouth to answer her uncle's
question, but he spoke first.
“I oversee the estate. You answer to me.”
“Twisting the truth again, Uncle. Ella and
I sign off on everything,” Lela said, her tone unusually sharp. “You’re just
a watchdog, there to ensure we adhere to the terms of the will. You have no
real power, but you’ll do anything to steal it away, won’t you?”
What? Ella had
never heard her sister talk to their uncle in such a disrespectful and
spiteful way, or anyone for that matter. Why did her sister call and not say
anything to her? Maybe she'd pocket dialed?
“Lela, it's me. What is going on?” Ella got
no response. Uncle Phillip continued to speak over her.
“You have no idea what you’re talking
about, my dear.” Uncle Phillip’s soft voice belied the steel in his words.
“Don’t make me ask again. Be a good girl and tell me where you’ve been?”
This time, her sister answered, but didn’t
explain a damn thing. “Uncovering your dirty secret. I know what you did,”
her sister accused.
Secrets?
Butterflies in Ella's stomach fluttered
like a flock of birds taking flight. The uneasy feeling she’d carried with
her these last days intensified.
Ella gathered up her laptop and notebook,
stuffing them into her oversized tote. She dumped the dregs of her coffee in
the trash on her way out the door. The apartment was only a block up from her
favorite café she had breakfast at every Tuesday when the house
staff had the day off. She kept the phone to her ear and headed home to find
out what the hell was going on.
“You won’t get away with this,”
Lela’s voice raised in pitch. It took a lot to rile her sister. Whatever
Uncle Phillip had done touched a nerve.
“Whatever you think you know doesn’t amount
to anything without proof.” Her uncle used that chilling, yet utterly calm
voice.
Ella picked up her pace, sensing the
escalation of the situation into something more than just an argument about
company business. She pulled her bag close to her side under her arm and ran
for her building, knocking elbows and shoulders with other pedestrians. No
time to apologize, she ignored their outraged remarks.
“Oh, I have the proof.”
Proof of what?
“You’re lying.” Uncle Phillip let out a
nervous laugh.
“You wish.”
Ella past her building's doorman and ran
for the elevator, pushing the button three times, frantic for the doors to
open.
“Where is it? Show me.”
Come on. Come on. The
elevator doors finally opened and she rushed inside and pressed the button
for the penthouse. Ella prayed she didn't lose the cell signal and drop the
call. She only ever got one bar in the elevators.
“You think I’d be fool enough to bring it
here. To you? I’ll see you in jail before this day is over.”
“I’ll see you in a grave
first.”
The ice in her uncle’s tone frosted Ella’s
heart. The evil laced there erased all trace of the man she knew. He meant
those ominous words.
Lela gasped and let out a startled shriek.
Ella didn't want to believe her uncle actually struck Lela, but that’s what
it sounded like.
“What. Did. You. Find?”
“Everything,” Lela sputtered.
What? What are you talking about?
“If you’re lying to me—”
“Let me go. It’s over. There’s nothing you
can do. I can prove you did it.”
Did what?
“Don’t look at him,” Uncle Phillip snapped.
Him? Who else is there?
“Please, do some—”
“He’s not here to help you, you stupid
girl. He works for me. Everyone works for me. You should have left well
enough alone.”
Lela shrieked again. Ella's heart dropped
into her stomach.
“This is your final chance. Tell me where
it is and I’ll make this quick. Refuse and I'll take my time. You'll know the
meaning of the word pain when I'm done with you.”
Touch her and I will make you pay.
“Go to hell.”
“Where is it, you little bitch?”
“You will pay for what you’ve done. I’ll
never cave.”
“Tell me what I want to know, and maybe, I’ll
show you mercy.”
“You won’t...get...away...with this,” Lela
stammered, something choking off her words. “The truth will...roll out. Come
out.”
Something about the way she said it the
first time struck Ella, but her mind couldn’t process anything right now. She
slammed her palm against the elevator doors, wishing the damn thing would
hurry up.
Please, Lela, get out of there.
“Last chance. Where did you hide it?”
The intensity in his voice sent a shiver up
Ella's spine.
The elevator doors finally opened. She ran
down the hall to her door, shoved it open, and nearly tripped over Lela's
suitcase. Where had she been?
“If you won't help me, I'll find someone
who will.”
Who is she talking to?
“Uncle Phillip, please. Put the gun down.”
“Where. Is. It?”
“I'll never tell you where I hid it.”
Ella ran across the living room. Her gaze
locked on her uncle's outstretched arm, the gun in his hand level with her
sister's chest. Her father's blood red ruby pinky ring winked in the morning
light streaming through the windows.
“Tell me,” her uncle yelled.
“Never.”
“Then you're of no use to me anymore.”
The crack of the gunshot stopped Ella in
her tracks. Her sister's eyes went wide when the bullet plowed into her
chest. Blood blossomed over her cream colored sheath dress, like some
gruesome poppy. Lela wilted in slow motion into a heap on the floor. Her legs
kicked in a quick jerk, and she never moved again.
Ella stood frozen, rooted to the spot just
outside the library doors, her gaze fastened on her sister's lifeless green
eyes.
“Damnit, we needed her alive.” A man she
couldn’t see said from inside the room. It took her a second to place the
voice. Detective Robbins.
What is he doing here? Why didn't he help?
Self preservation kicked in and she
scurried to the side of the door. Hands shaking, her stomach in knots, a
whirlwind of thoughts circled her mind, but nothing explained why her uncle
killed her beautiful sister. It couldn't be, she denied the stark reality.
She leaned over and spied through the crack in the open door.
Uncle Phillip kneeled next to Lela and
touched his finger to her bloody neck. “If I’d had more time, I could have
gotten her to talk.”
“You mean if you hadn't lost your temper.”
Ella’s heart broke into a billion sharp
pieces that slashed her soul to shreds. Her other half — gone. The emptiness
engulfed her. She covered her mouth with both hands to hold back the scream
of pain rising up her aching throat. Her eyes filled with tears and Lela’s
face, the same one Ella saw in the mirror each morning, swam in front of
her.
Uncle Phillip stood, tugged at one shirt
cuff and then the other to straighten his crisp white shirt. Her father’s
ruby cuff links sparked with a glint of light from the overhead chandelier.
He ran a hand over his more gray than dark brown hair, smoothing it back. Composed
again, he turned to the door. Her breath hitched and stopped. She thought he
saw her. His next words startled her even more.
“The stupid girl doesn’t know when to
quit.” He pulled a handkerchief from his gray slack’s pocket and wiped his
sweaty face, devoid of wrinkles thanks to his many trips to the dermatologist
for Botox injections.
“You’re lucky she called me.”
“Did she tell you what she found?”
“No. She asked me to meet her here. Her
confidence in whatever she had on you convinced me to take her seriously. If
she actually had something and shared it with anyone, you’ll go down for
everything.”
“Don’t think you won’t fall with me,” her
uncle threatened.
The detective moved forward, blocking her
view of her uncle, and stared down at Lela. “What do you want to do with the
body?”
Lela was a body. Bile rose in Ella's
throat.
Her uncle clinked open a crystal decanter
at the bar across the room, pouring himself a drink of the expensive bourbon
he preferred. She prayed he choked on it.
“Give me a minute to think.” The ice in his
voice melted and turned less definitive and more hesitant.
“We need to find that evidence. If it falls
into the wrong hands—”
“Shut up.” Her uncle sounded as out of
control as she felt. Her insides in chaos, not a single thought of what to do
taking shape in her mind.
“We need to retrace her steps over the last
few days. Find out where she went. Who she saw. We’d have the state attorney
and FBI banging down the door if she gave the evidence to anyone. She hid it
somewhere. We need to find out where and get it.”
“Easier said than done. She was smart.”
“Not smart enough to pull this off. She
contacted you without ever considering your association with me. She was
naive.” He toed Lela’s still body with his Italian leather shoe.
“Our business arrangement has been mutually
beneficial, but if you think I’ll be your patsy, you’re wrong. So, think,
damnit, where would she hide the evidence?”
“I don’t fucking know.” Her uncle slammed
the empty glass down on the desk. “But Ella might.”
“Do you think Lela told her what she
uncovered?” Detective Robbins asked.
“No. Ella asked me and the staff several
times if Lela came home or called. I’m almost certain Lela worked this out on
her own and left her recalcitrant sister out of it.”
“Almost certain isn’t good enough. Why the
hell didn’t you cover your tracks better?”
“I did.”
“If you did, we wouldn’t be here right
now.”
Ella needed to call the police and have
them arrest these two for killing her sweet, gentle sister. But the police
were standing right there, helping destroy her life.
The room was silent for a moment, and Ella
was certain they’d hear her ragged breathing. She jumped when her uncle spoke
again.
“Detective, let me tell you a story.” Uncle
Phillip’s voice was eerily calm. “Our studious, prim, Lela earned her
master’s degree and worked as an executive at the company to satisfy the
terms of the will and earn her place at Wolf Enterprises. Sadly, her Princess
Party Girl twin sister barely made an effort, working in the mailroom and
every other odd job at the company. While it satisfies the general terms of
the will, Lela's carried the weight and shouldered all the responsibility for
the business.
“Lela finally had enough and confronted her
sister right here in this room. Ella, party girl that she is, had been out
all night and was high, not at all in her right mind. The fight escalated.
Ella knows I keep a gun in my desk drawer. She grabbed it and shot Lela. She
panicked, but somehow had the wherewithal to try to cover it up, making it
look like a robbery gone wrong. With Lela gone, she will inherit the company
and other Wolf assets.
“It’s heartbreaking, isn’t it? Such a pity.
Lela had such a promising future. I couldn’t be more heartbroken.
“Set the scene, Detective, and then find
Ella. Take her to a hotel. Not a dump, but not extravagant either. She's
hiding out. Make the place look like she's been on a bender, drinking, doing
drugs. The pain and grief send Ella over the edge and she ODs. No one will
question it. Use your contacts in the police department and morgue to prove
what happened...make the evidence show Ella murdered Lela.
“This is more than I signed on for,”
Detective Robbins said.
“Don’t think you’re so indispensable. There
are plenty of others on my payroll in this town, higher up the food chain
than you, that would do my bidding without blinking.”
“I’ll get it done. I’ll need to use some of
those contacts to pull this shit off.”
“You know who to use to make this clean. I
want all the evidence, reports, and public perception to corroborate the
scenario I’ve outlined.”
Uncle Phillip kneeled by Lela and used his
handkerchief to remove her diamond stud earrings. The ones their mother
always wore. He unclasped Lela’s bloody necklace with the pendant of a heart
made out of roses that matched hers. Ella reached up and wrapped her
trembling fingers around the one against her chest and sighed. Lela’s ring
came next. Ella gave her the emerald encircled with diamonds for their
twenty-first birthday. The night they shared a quiet dinner in an exclusive
uptown restaurant and planned their future and fulfilling their parents'
wishes and dreams for them.
She took a step forward to snatch the ring
and everything else her uncle took from them back. She wanted to claw his
eyes out and see him in a grave. Not her sister. Not Lela.
“What are you going to do with that?” The
detective indicated the handful of gold and gems.
“Don’t worry about it. Do your job. The one
I pay you extremely well to do.”
Her uncle went to the bar, grabbed a towel,
and wiped down the gun. He wrapped it in the towel and handed it to the
detective. “The household staff knows I keep this gun in the top drawer of my
desk. Unlocked. Easy enough for Ella to take it and use it on her sister.
Plant it, along with the drugs and alcohol at the hotel room. Make sure the
report shows Ella's prints are on the gun and it is a ballistic match to the
bullet in her. Tomorrow morning the staff will arrive for work and discover
the body. You've got until then to find Ella and kill her.”
Ella had wasted enough time. She needed to
get away. Fast.
Her gaze fell on her dead sister. Her soul
pleaded with Lela to wake up and make this all just a bad dream. But Lela
remained motionless on the floor.
Ella backed away from the door, turned,
rushed back to the foyer, and grabbed her sister’s suitcase, coat, purse, her
own tote, and walked out the door, closing it with a quiet snick of the
latch. Maybe she'd find a clue in her sister's things.
She took the elevator down and walked
through the lobby and out the door in a daze. The doorman took the coat
draped over her arm. “Let me help you with that, Miss Wolf.”
She mechanically stuffed her arms in the
sleeves of Lela's favorite cobalt blue coat. Her sister's scent brought tears
to her eyes. She blinked to keep them at bay. The doorman hailed her a cab
and she tossed her stuff in the backseat and slid in.
“Where to?”
Ella couldn’t think past the fear and grief
eating away at her insides. She didn’t know where to go or who to turn to
that she could definitely say wasn’t in her uncle’s pocket. Detective Robbins
would check with all her friends. She couldn’t risk going to one of them and
putting them in danger.
Her gaze fell on her sister’s suitcase and
the baggage tag still on the handle. She didn’t know the BZN airport code.
The purse lay on her lap, her fingers clutching it in a death grip. She made
herself relax and unzip the bag. She found the airline ticket voucher inside.
Bozeman.
Why did you go to Montana?
They hadn’t been back to the family ranch
since her father died in a plane crash when they were fourteen.
“Where are we off to?” The driver asked
again, pulling her out of her dark thoughts. A plan started to form.
“Airport.” She barely choked out the word.
She’d retrace her sister’s steps, find out
what she’d been doing the last three days, where she went and who she saw.
She’d find the evidence Lela died for, and God help her uncle when she did.
About the Author:
Jennifer
Ryan is the New York Times & USA Today bestselling author of The Hunted
Series and The McBrides Series. She writes romantic suspense and contemporary
small-town romances featuring strong men and equally resilient women. Her
stories are filled with love, family, friendship, and the happily-ever-after
we all hope to find.
Jennifer lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and three children. When she isn’t writing a book, she’s reading one. Her obsession with both is often revealed in the state of her home and in how late dinner is to the table. When she finally leaves those fictional worlds, you’ll find her in the garden, playing in the dirt and daydreaming about people who live only in her head, until she puts them on paper.
Connect with the Author:
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/JenRyan_author
Website:
http://www.jennifer-ryan.com/about.h
At Wolf Ranch Giveaway
The Montana Men Blog Tour Schedule
At Wolf Ranch February 16- March 6
2/16
Lacey’s Love of
Literature
2/17
The Indie
Bookshelf
2/18
Kat’s Book
Promotions/Kat’s Indie Book Blog
2/19
Bookslapped
2/20
Book Lovin’
Mamas
2/21
Hooked on Books
Forever
2/22
Who Picked This?
2/23
Brenda’s Book
Beat
2/24
Expressions of a
Hopeful Romantic
Fire and Ice
2/25
Fresh Fiction
Pretty Sassy
Cool
2/26
Falling in Fall
Book Blog
Confessions from
Romaholics
2/27
Love. Life.
Read.
2/28
Ramblings from
this Chick
3/1
Reading on the
Rocks
3/2
Short and Sassy
Book Blurbs
FMR Book Grind
3/3
Stories and Swag
Reading Drinking
and Relaxing
3/4
LBM Book Blog
Bookcrastinators
in Wonderland
3/5
Ramblings of a
Book Lunatic
Becca the
Bibliophile
Give Me Books
3/6
Sweet N Sassy
Bookaholics
Book Junky Girls
Sexy Ways of
Reading
When It’s Right March 23-April 3
3/23
Book Junky Girls
Book Lovin’
Mamas
3/24
Expressions of a
Hopeful Romantic
Short and Sassy
Book Blurbs
The Indie
Bookshelf
3/25
Fresh Fiction
FMR Book Grind
3/26
Fire and Ice
Hooked on Books
Forever
Give Me Books
3/27
Love. Life.
Read.
Falling in Fall
Book Blog
3/28
Who Picked This?
Ramblings from
this Chick
3/29
Lacey’s Love of
Literature
Bookslapped
3/30
Bookcrastinators
in Wonderland
Confessions from
Romaholics
3/31
Stories and Swag
Reading Drinking
and Relaxing
4/1
LBM Book Blog
Pretty Sassy
Cool
Reading on the
Rocks
4/2
Brenda’s Book
Beat
Becca the
Bibliophile
4/3
Ramblings of a
Book Lunatic
Sweet N Sassy
Bookaholics
Kat’s Book
Promotions/Kat’s Indie Book Blog
Sexy Ways of
Reading
|
Sunday, March 1, 2015
Blog Tour, Review, Excerpt & Giveaway: At Wolf Ranch by Jennifer Ryan
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