Schooling the Cowboy: A Glimpse at the Story

Now that I've introduced you to my second novel, Schooling the Cowboy, a couple weeks ago. I wanted to let you meet the characters.

My hero, Luke Hayes, will be played by the stunningly handsome Paul Walker:

(Did you all just drool when you saw that picture? I sure did!)

Anyway, Luke is a rancher, through and through. He loves spending time on the wide open prairie, with the wind in his face, the sun on his back, and clear mountain air filling his lungs. In short, the Luke Hayes likes living here:

And the last thing he wants to do is travel someplace like here:

But travel to New England, he does, and he's none to happy about it. He wants to get out of the stuffy, citified town of Valley Falls, New York just as quickly as he can. Unfortunately he doesn't understand quite how much responsibility his late grandfather has left him. Not only does Luke inherit a slew of money, a massive estate, and a giant insurance and accounting company with over a dozen branches on the East Coast; he also inherits this:

A girls preparatory school on the brink of closing due to poor enrollment and lack of funds.

As far as Luke is concerned, he may as well just close the school down and be done with it, anything to get him back to his beloved ranch.

And so now we meet the heroine, Miss Elizabeth Wells, who will be played by the adorable Amy Adams:
 

 

Elizabeth Wells is the daughter of an esteemed local politician and the mathematics teacher at Hayes Academy. She's spent six of the past eight years earning a mathematics degree that the rest of society doesn't think a woman should even bother with. Then she's spent the last two years teaching at Hayes Academy.

Elizabeth's family isn't very fond of her teaching dreams. They'd much rather see her married to a rich, public figure who will help advance her own father's political career.

So Elizabeth is used to fighting for women's education. And she's not about to let some backward cowboy like Luke Hayes close down the school where she teaches just because he's anxious to return to back Wyoming.

And boy, oh boy, do sparks fly as Elizabeth and Luke hash out their battles over the school.

Do any of you have thoughts about this story? Does something strike you as interesting? Boring? Different? I'd love to hear your ideas.