Delightfully heart-warming romance.

Petra Kelly’s whole life revolves around the stables she manages for her uncle Amos. So much so, that she’s spent the last ten years without even a sniff of a date. As far as she’s concerned, she’s got everything she needs in life and is too busy for romance anyway.

That is until Ted, the farrier, retires and she’s forced to use a new blacksmith to shoe her horses.

Harry Milton isn’t looking for love, either. He’s just moved into the area having taken over Ted’s farrier business, and he’s more concerned with settling into a new job and a new community and worrying how his younger brother is coping without Harry to look after him. He’s never had time for a relationship, and to be honest what woman would want to take on a man who had dedicated his life to raising his sibling after their parents died?

When Petra and Harry meet it is far from love at first sight: Harry is convinced Petra doesn’t like him and Petra is convinced he’s fallen under the spell of the local man-eater (Petra’s words, not Harry’s). However, as they are brought together by the needs of the horses in their charge, Petra develops a grudging respect for Harry, and Harry decides that Petra isn’t as grumpy as he originally thought.

Spring in Muddypuddle Lane sees the awakening of more than just the honey bees and new green shoots, as Petra and Harry begin to wonder if they can take a chance on each other. Will their dedication to all things equine be enough to bring them together, or will they have to “rein” in their attraction for each other and lock the stable door on love?

This is the first story in The Stables on Muddypuddle Lane series.

Etti Summers