Nancy Warren The Cowboy’s Return

The Cowboy's Return

Nancy Warren

Harlequin American, Feb 2006, $4.99

ISBN: 0373751060

Near Bramble, Texas, Camila Walker raises her eleven year old daughter Jilly by herself. Jilly's father Patrick died before he could marry Camila; his parents rejected Camila, insisting she was a tramp and Jilly was not of their blood. The unwelcome child visits her grandparents' spread after reading in the Temple newspaper that her Uncle Tripp, national bareback riding champion and calf roper, had finally come home. Tripp left home after a family fight following his brother's tragic death, but finally has returned to the ranch because his aging parents need him. Jilly tells him he and his parents missed plenty not being there to watch her grow and he not knowing her mama.

Tripp needs to know whether he is the preadolescents uncle. He challenges Camila, who wants nothing to do with him or his family, as they rejected her as an unwed twenty-year old pregnant woman whose only lover, her son had just died. However, she also knows that when she first met her boyfriend's brother she was attracted to him; she did not know Tripp felt the same way, but family comes first and he never acted on his feelings. Now he plans to act on that attraction that has seemed to grow stronger with their absence, but first he must deal with his bigoted dad.

THE COWBOY'S RETURN is a strong family drama started by an error in judgment by Patrick that still haunts the adults years after his death. Readers will feel for each member of the extended cast, even those bogged down by bigotry, as no one has obtained closure. Though the romance between Tripp and Camila is secondary to the deep character study, contemporary readers will enjoy this strong Texas tale.