Recently divorced Abby Andrews and her three children are driving through Wyoming to her mother’s home in Spokane, Washington, when their van dies on the side of a deserted gravel road. The smoke pouring from the engine lets Abby know that things aren’t looking too good.

          Hope and help do arrive when Ty Monroe stops to offer his assistance. Abby doesn’t know it, but Ty considers her and her family the answer to his prayers. He wants to marry his high school sweetheart, but his Uncle Jed, who owns the ranch where Ty works, thinks that Ty and Trish are too young to marry. Just that morning they had discussed that Uncle Jed needs a diversion, a woman . . . something to take his mind off Ty and Trish.

          Circumstances work to Ty and Trish’s advantage. Abby needs a job to afford a new car. Jed needs a cook. Thank goodness, this is not a scenario where Abby is a complete dolt in the kitchen. Nobody has to pretend to eat her cooking. She’s a competent woman who’s going to do a good job while she’s the cook/housekeeper.

          Two recurring threads add gentle humor to the story. Jed is bothered by Abby’s nearness and decides that at forty, he’s a confirmed, crusty bachelor. He asks Ty to get the foreman’s house ready for Abby and her family to move into. Ty is aghast; that’s the house that he’s been secretly renovating for Trish when they marry. He invents tales of rat infestations, major leaks and anything else that comes to mind. I was waiting for the haunted house approach, but Ty is off the hook when Jed realizes that he has become deeply attached to Abby and her three kids. Their presence in his house is offering comfort and warmth which have been long missing.