Swift and Saddled

The second book in the Rebel Blue Ranch series, the story follows Ada Hart, a divorced interior designer from San Francisco, as she arrives in the small town of Meadowlark, Wyoming, the night before starting the biggest job of her career. Ada built her design business after failing out of her interior design program, and a college acquaintance named Teddy referred her to a project at Rebel Blue Ranch. The evening before her first day, Ada sits alone at the Devil's Boot, the town's only late-night bar. A handsome cowboy walks in with a large white dog named Waylon, and the two share charged flirtation. At the end of the night, Ada lures him into the bar's back hallway for an intense kiss. The bartender, Brooks, interrupts them, and Ada flees, accidentally leaving behind her tote bag.

The cowboy is Weston "Wes" Ryder, the man who hired her. He is the middle child of the Ryder family: His older brother Gus will inherit the ranch, and his younger sister Emmy is a barrel racer and horse trainer. Wes has long felt overshadowed and sees the guest ranch project, which he privately calls "Baby Blue," as his chance to build something of his own. The next morning, Wes clears cattle blocking the road into Rebel Blue and recognizes Ada as the woman from the bar. At the Big House, the main family home, Ada meets Wes's father, Amos Ryder, the ranch patriarch, and discovers that the cowboy she kissed is her new boss. She is mortified.

Because the cabin prepared for Ada has flooded, Amos offers her a room in the Big House, putting her under the same roof as Wes. He returns her tote bag and drives her to the job site, the original Big House, vacant for roughly 35 years. During their first walkthrough, the magnetic pull between them resurfaces, but Ada firmly insists the kiss meant nothing and their relationship must remain professional. Wes agrees, though he is hurt. In private, he reflects on his major depressive disorder, diagnosed five years prior and managed with medication, therapy, and physical activity, though he lives with constant dread of the next dark episode.

Ada avoids being alone with Wes during the first weeks of the renovation, though she cannot ignore her growing attraction. She meets Camille "Cam" Ashwood, the mother of Gus's daughter Riley. Ada briefly mistakes Cam for Wes's fiancée. When Ada's unreliable car breaks down, Wes drives her to town and begins teaching her to drive his manual truck. Ada reveals that her ex-husband, Chance, owned the only car and refused to teach her to drive it, effectively trapping her. Wes promises she will never feel trapped again and reciprocates her vulnerability by sharing that he takes antidepressants.

Ada slowly integrates into the Ryder family. At a Sunday breakfast, Emmy blurts out that she knows Ada kissed Wes, embarrassing Ada in front of Amos. Ada asks Wes for driving lessons, and he agrees on one condition: She must stop avoiding him and talk to him. During their lessons, they bond over laughter and easy conversation. A girls' night at the job site with Emmy, Teddy, and Cam gives Ada her first experience of genuine female friendship, and she begins to shed her lifelong defensiveness.

Physical and emotional intimacy between Ada and Wes escalates. Late one night in the Big House kitchen, Wes kisses Ada's neck and tells her she is all he can think about. Their encounter on the kitchen counter is interrupted by Amos's appearance, and Wes walks Ada to her room, promising "another night." Days later, he bakes spanakopita, Ada's favorite food, as a gesture showing he has been paying attention.

A severe storm becomes a turning point. Driving back from the job site, Wes swerves to avoid a calf tangled in barbed wire, and Ada begs him not to leave it. He frees the calf, and they name her Loretta. Back at the Big House, the power goes out as Ada tends to a cut Wes sustained from the wire. They share slow kisses in the dark and have sex for the first time, both disclosing physical insecurities and agreeing to navigate them together.

Ada receives an email from a prospective client in Tucson, Arizona, offering her a bed-and-breakfast renovation starting in August. Instead of excitement, she feels dread at the thought of leaving. Emmy finds Ada spiraling and takes her horseback riding, gently warning her not to treat Wes like a final destination if he is only a pit stop. Ada privately admits she would not recover from losing Wes either.

Wes takes Ada on their first date to a scenic overlook, his truck bed filled with blankets and pie. Ada reflects that Wes may be the first person who truly wants to know her. On Ryder Day, an annual family holiday commemorating the day Amos and his late wife Stella first met, Ada joins the family for a large outdoor dinner. That morning, Chance calls unexpectedly. Ada tells Wes how her ex-husband left without a word and mailed her divorce papers. Overwhelmed by her feelings and the fear of leaving, Ada retreats to Wes's room and discovers his sketchbook filled with drawings of her rose-and-thorn tattoo sleeve. She tries to push Wes away, revealing the Arizona job and insisting the relationship was only temporary. Wes refuses to let distance end them, and Ada agrees to try.

Amos presents Wes with a deed for the old Big House and 15 surrounding acres, telling him his mother would be proud. Wes shares the news with Ada at Baby Blue, where their relationship reaches its peak. He tells Ada he is not ready to say what he truly feels but that he is waiting.

On the morning Ada is supposed to present the finished house to the Ryder family, her anxieties spiral. She draws false parallels between Wes and Chance, fixating on her broken car and the fear of being trapped. She packs a bag, takes Wes's old manual truck, and drives out of Meadowlark without telling anyone. On the road, Ada recognizes she is doing to Wes exactly what Chance did to her and is sickened by the realization. She realizes she loves Wes and that Rebel Blue is her home. She turns the truck around and finds Wes waiting on the hood of his truck by the town welcome sign, Waylon beside him. Wes tells her he does not want to stand in the way of her dreams and that they can make long distance work. Ada tells him she loves him, and they agree to figure out their future together.

Eight months later, Ada has completed renovation projects across the Southwest while maintaining a long-distance relationship with Wes. He picks her up at the airport, and she tells him she has no next out-of-state job because she has arranged to work locally. She tells Wes she would like to marry him someday, and he replies, "Yes, ma'am." They arrive at the Big House to celebrate Brooks and Emmy's engagement, with Emmy wearing their late mother Stella's ring. The novel closes with the Ryder family gathered together, Ada firmly a part of the family she found at Rebel Blue.