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Linda Lael Miller can add
A Wanted Man to her impressive list of stellar novels.
When newly deputized
Marshall Rowdy Rhodes meets schoolmarm Lark Morgan, he knows by her
fancy clothes she’s not quite what she says she is, just as Lark
suspects Rowdy isn’t using his rightful name. Both have secrets they
are running from, secrets too dangerous to share, secrets that
create the action and adventure in this fast-paced book.
Their attraction sparks
from those first tentative glances and deepens as they find in each
other a kindred spirit—someone who is trying to do the right thing
but circumstances just aren’t cooperating. They both need to stop
running and face the consequences if they are going to have a chance
together, but the price they will pay could be their lives.
Linda Lael Miller has given
us wonderfully complex characters, each struggling to find their
footing in a challenging world. This is particularly true of Rowdy
and his father, Payton Yarbro. Their relationship is strained to say
the least, since Rowdy is a lawman now and his father is a former
train robber. Rowdy doesn’t see it, but Payton is trying to do the
best he can as a father, given the situation, and he’s been making
up for his shortcomings with Rowdy’s younger brother Gideon. Their
difficult relationship tugged at my heart and is one of the many
gems in this book.
But the romance is still
front and center and, as in all Ms. Miller’s books, she gives the
reader plenty of it. Lark is worldly in some ways, but an innocent
when it comes to the mysteries of loving, and Rowdy has set himself
the task of teaching the reluctant schoolmarm some of the pleasures
of being a woman.
This book is a keeper, a
favorite I will read again and again for the fully realized
characters, scintillating romance, rip-roaring adventure and
heart-stirring relationships. If you’ve never read a western
romance, this book will surely make you a fan.
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