Treasure Trail

Coming Soon

Confessions of a DL Cowboy — Prequel Novella — Book 4

A door left open in the high country.

Scott Danner knows ranch work by now. A summer job at the StarTrail Guest Ranch near Dubois should be easy money.

Then he gets there.

The cabins have curtains. The trail maps are color-coded and laminated. Dinner comes with huckleberry reduction, and the tack room is so clean Scott checks the saddles for price tags. His job is still horses and trails, but now the cattle have been replaced by paying guests who have questions.

Lots of questions.

One of them arrives for a trail ride with unusual gear and very specific questions about things that may or may not be in the Absarokas, but just might be way, way out there. It’s going to be a long summer.

Then Scott meets Wade Shakespeare.

Wade is an outfitter who runs pack trips into the backcountry, and he knows the Absarokas the way Scott knows ranch work. He doesn’t waste words, doesn’t need to prove he belongs out there, and pays attention to the things that matter. Scott likes that about him pretty quickly.

When a four-day pack trip takes them beyond the groomed trails and into country where the signs stop, Scott finally gets the kind of work he came for. Horses, mules, rough ground, cold mornings, and miles of Wyoming backcountry.

The guests are still coming too.

So is Wade.

Treasure Trail is the fourth of six prequel novellas leading to Rodeo Clown, following Scott Danner from eighteen to twenty-five through the ranches, roads, men, and choices that shape the person he will become.

Coming Soon

Releasing after Windmill Whirled — the fourth of six prequels leading up to Rodeo Clown.

From the Novel

“Gary’s letter had been sitting in the inside pocket of my coat for three days. Read it twice at the kitchen table the morning it came, folded it back along the creases, and put it away. Hadn’t taken it out since. Didn’t need to. The words had done their work the first time through. The fence line stretched ahead of us. Another quarter mile of posts, maybe more. The Tetons sat on the horizon, permanent and unconcerned. I’d stopped being intimidated by them sometime around month four. Now they just looked like home, which was part of the problem. “I’m not unhappy here,” I said. Shawn set the next post. Checked it. Moved on. “I know you’re not.””