REUNITED WITH THE RANCHER – Sara Orwig
Texas Cattleman's Club: Blackmail , Book 3
Harlequin Desire #2504
ISBN: 978-0-373-83831-8
March 2017
Contemporary Series Romance

Royal, Texas – Present Day

After Tom and Emily Knox lost their only son in a tragic accident, their marriage fell apart and they're currently living separately. One day Emily receives an anonymous email with a picture attached showing Tom with another woman and two small children. The emailer claims Tom has another family, and unless Emily pays the blackmailer, they'll make the information public knowledge to embarrass her. An angry Emily confronts Tom and learns the woman and children in the picture are the family of Tom's late military friend, and he was only helping them out. Tom is concerned that someone out there is blackmailing Emily and decides to stick close to her. Meanwhile, the divorce proceedings start, as Emily says it's time to end their marriage.

Tom convinces Emily to let him move into her house, which she has been in the process of remodeling. With his assistance, they work on the house during the day, and at night they talk and get to know one another again. Of course, being so close again rekindles the attraction which first brought them together. But their son's death is like a wall between them. Has too much happened to ever allow them to love again? Will they find out who the blackmailer is?

Losing a child is hard for couples, and in REUNITED WITH THE RANCHER, it causes Tom and Emily's marriage to crumble under the weight of despair. They tried to conceive another child afterwards, but Emily discovered she is now barren. There were no big fights—they just drifted apart—but the chasm is so wide that they now aren't speaking to one another. When Emily gets the blackmailer's email with the picture, she immediately assumes it's true, and the knowledge forces her to finally end her marriage to Tom.  After confronting him first, he convinces her of the truth, but the fact that someone would try to pull them even farther apart worries him. Is someone trying to harm Emily? Despite their marriage woes, Tom will not let anyone hurt Emily.

Their days are filled with fixing up her house, while the nights are occupied with talk and remembrance of the good old days when they were in love. These memories also have them reliving the times when making love was something they cherished doing with each other. Tom and Emily are soon kissing, and because of their past history, lovemaking follows. Their “reunion” is sweet, but both feel it will be short-lived because their marriage bonds are broken. In REUNITED WITH THE RANCHER, can Tom and Emily find their way back down the happily-ever-after road?

REUNITED WITH THE RANCHER is part of the Texas Cattleman's Club: Blackmail series, and a few characters from other books make brief appearances, but this tale can be read as a standalone. Can Tom and Emily rebuild their crumbling marriage, or is too late? Discover the answer in the intriguing REUNITED WITH THE RANCHER.

Patti Fischer