Ballantyne's Battle

Rane Ballantyne is instantly attracted as he watches his niece’s riding instructor, Brit Andover, flying over jump after jump as she pilots her big gelding around the Grand Prix level course. When they meet, he is gratified to see she feels the same spark of attraction he does. But while Rane wants to see where it leads, Brit is wary of any possible romance. She’s busy, too busy, trying to keep her head above water in the uncertain and demanding business of training and showing horses as well as giving riding lessons. Rane becomes her newest student, and insists on private lessons. Brit cannot afford to turn away a paying client but she does try to dissuade him by turning his lessons into torturous episodes of endurance. Over time, his determination slowly overcomes Brit’s resistance. She admits she, too, wants what he wants for them: Even as Brit aches for what he describes, even as they do grow closer emotionally and physically, she is still afraid because she has never told how he reminds her of her first love, a man who is still very much part of her world.