Leaping Hearts

Front Cover
Ballantine Books, 2002 - Fiction - 370 pages
Her dreams are within reach--
All she has to do is learn to hold on . . .
A beautiful young woman with a defiant spirit, A. J. Sutherland spends a small fortune on a horse with a wild reputation, and is forced to sacrifice her position at her family's stables to keep him. She plans to ride the magnificent stallion in the biggest event of the show jumping season--and she knows she can win. But without the backing of Sutherland Stables, A. J. must rely on a stranger to help her: a man who makes her heart pound, her head spin . . . and who just happens to be a legend in equestrian circles.
When Devlin McCloud's career was cut short by a tragic accident, he never expected to get back in the ring. But when A. J. asks him to be her trainer, he finds he cannot resist the chance--or his stunning new employer. And what begins as a business arrangement soon becomes something deeper, as Devlin and A. J. learn that even in a sport full of hazards, sometimes the most dangerous thing to risk is one's heart. . . .

About the author (2002)

Jessica Bird was born in 1969 in Massachusetts. She attended Smith College where she double majored in history and art history, concentrating on medieval period. She then received a law degree from Albany Law School. Her first book, Leaping Hearts, was published in 2002. She writes contemporary romance novels under her given name. The Romance Writers of America awarded her the RITA Award for Best Short Contemporary Romance in 2007 for her novel From the First. She also writes erotic paranormal romance under the pseudonym of J. R. Ward. Under this name, she has written the Black Dagger Brotherhood series.

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