Jodie Thomas, Texas Rain

Texas Rain

Jodie Thomas

Berkley, November 2006, $7.99

ISBN: 0425212793

In 1854, needing R&R, Texas Ranger Travis McMurray comes home to the family owned Whispering Mountain Ranch in the Hill Country. At a barn dance, a woman brazenly kisses Travis before stealing his horse.

Rainey Adams feels guilty for taking the hunk's steed, but felt she had no choice. She needed to escape her father's plans to marry her to any rogue with some money, so his horse was her freedom. She writes letters to Travis apologizing for her action. When he is severely hurt in an ambush and suffering from a fever, he turns to her letters for solace as he heals. When he realizes the woman of the letters that he now loves is in danger, he goes to her rescue though he is not fully recuperated as he needs his "angel" as his bride; but it is his past that returns with a vengeance that endangers both of them.

Jodie "Texas" Thomas writes another strong Lone Star western romance due to a wonderful Ranger, and a courageous heroine who risks all for her freedom and then her beloved. The storyline is driven by these two protagonists, though his brothers and sister, the bad guys, and the rugged Hill country ably supplement the daring duo. No one writes nineteenth century Texas tales better than Ms. Thomas does (see the McClain saga).