'Noooobody does it better. Makes sad for the rest. Noooobody does it half as good as yoooou. Baby, baby, you're best.' Sorry, I just had to serenade Karen Templeton a little bit there. ;) What I mean is, nobody does Romance which involves pregnancy, babies, or children better than Karen Templeton, I swear. I'm expecting my fifth baby, so I think I know what I'm talking about. There are some good ones, but there are also some pretty lame ones too. For example, I once read this novel which was perfectly wonderful in every other way. But, when the couple got around to making love for the first time, the Heroine was, I think, seven months pregnant. They made love face-to-face. Although the author successfully communicated how frisky a pregnant woman can be, she made no mention of how challenging it is to make love face-to-face in the last trimester, especially when the couple has no previous experience!.
Anyway, on with REINING IN THE RANCHER.
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Thea grew up with a jerkwad father and, consequently, married a jerkwad. This is fairly typical for women who have no idea they can find and deserve anything better. Thea eventually figured it out, but not until after three emotionally crushing miscarriages. Little wonder she has a hard time identifying and opening her heart to true love when if finally comes along. She got involved with a Real Man with issues, stemming from his own failed first marriage, and didn't find out until after they both messed up their relationship that she was pregnant.
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The story starts with Thea driving out to tell Johnny he's going to be a dad, again. Johnny has a 17 year old daughter from his first marriage and before Thea can get her news out, Rachel informs her father that she is pregnant. Johnny promptly freaks out, which sends Thea emotionally running for cover. She puts off telling him. After all, two surprise pregnancies in one day could send the poor guy into cardiac arrest. Or, as Karen puts, he might just 'have kittens.' I think that's slang for freaking out.
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With no past heartache to slow them down, Rachel and her boyfriend plan their wedding for after graduation, which isn't too far away. Not every girl wants a high-powered career, you know. Heck, I would have done the same thing if I'd found HH in high school. Some of us are just born mommies. Like me, Rachel plans to take college classes in between babies.
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Of course, Thea finally does tell Johnny and he freaks, but he doesn't completely lose it. He asks her to marry him, but she turns him down because she knows he's only asking her because of the baby. She doesn't believe he loves her and I don't blame her. I mean, I knew they loved each other from the start, but neither one of them have guts to admit it. And that's no way to start a marriage.
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Meanwhile, Thea has an ongoing freak-out of her own. After losing three babies, she's absolutely terrified of losing the new one. Having had a miscarriage, I can totally relate. And I only had one. Even though she's past the danger zone for miscarriage (first trimester) she's still terrified and hasn't brought herself to make a prenatal exam appointment. I was puking scared that first time too. Luckily, her friends are making babies all over the place too and Johnny won't back off. They finally get her to the doctor, who happens to be a friend in this small town.
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Hearing the baby's heart beat, seeing him on the ultrasound screen, and a massive dose of pregnancy hormones compelling her to bond help Thea adjust and begin to hope, and begin to open her heart to Johnny too.
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Love those pregnancy hormones. I know there's a belief that pregnant women don't like nookie, which was probably perpetuated by the poor guys who are mated to the few pregnant women who hate it. However, the fact is a lot of pregnant women are extremely lovey-dovey. If they have lovey-dovey mates, they really have a great time. Karen totally nails the pregnancy love-making thing. I'd put the Heat Level at Sensual. I don't think REINING IN THE RANCHER is on the shelves anymore, but it's definitely worth ordering. Just pop over to Karen's website- http://www.karentempleton.com/
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