Linda Lael Miller, A Wanted Man

A Wanted Man

Linda Lael Miller

HQN, Jul 2007

ISBN: 037377236X

In 1905 in Stone Creek, Arizona Territory schoolteacher Lark Morgan and Marshal Rowdy Rhodes hide secrets from everyone including their attraction to one another. Lark and Rowdy firmly believes the other is a phony. He assumes she is a loose woman pretending to be a schoolmarm and she believes he is a gunfighter pretending to be a lawman. However, neither can resist the lure of horse blankets as they try to kiss the truth out of the other.

However, trouble is coming to Stone Creek via train robbers. Ranger Sam O'Ballivan assigns Rowdy to catch the thieves. However Lark's darkest secret surfaces as the outlaws arrive in Stone Creek. Only Rowdy can keep her safe from the abuse of her past, but he may not survive High Noon.

Although the twentieth century seems too late for a tale of the Old West (keep in mind that Wyatt Earp died in 1929), using 1905 as a setting adds freshness to a fine western romance that fans readers will enjoy as two people attracted to one another hide secrets from one another. The lead couple is a fine pairing as each falls in love even as they suspect the other of duplicity. Though revelations and resolution seem too simple, Linda Lael Miller provides an entertaining early twentieth century romantic suspense.

Harriet Klausner