This was my first by O’Connell and from
then on, she was one of my “favorite authors.”
Set in Colorado in 1885, this is the
story of Anne Wells, who at 28 may be a spinster but she’s not about to accept
a man her father would force her to marry. In her escape from her home, she
inadvertently runs to Cord Bennett’s small ranch. Cord is the half-Cheyenne son
of a wealthy rancher and considered by many to be the very devil. He lives
alone raising horses and when Anne shows up, he’s delighted, until her father
and some hired guns come looking for her. Her father's fury leads to violence
against both Cord and Anne and everyone, save Anne, believes the worst of Cord.
Cord is one of those heroes who no
matter what life throws at him, and the horrible way people talk about him, he
still manages to keep his honor and defend the weakest, even at great cost to
himself.
O’Connell has a clever way of drawing
us into Cord’s mind, seeing the world as he does—as his enemy. At one point in
the story I thought to myself, if one more bad thing happens to him, I’m gonna
scream. But I digress. Suffice it to say, he’s the kind of hero any “real”
woman would love. Anne is feisty and courageous, a heroine worth cheering.
Together they are a remarkable couple, but it takes them a long time to realize
they are perfect for each other. O’Connell portrays them so well, it’s
addictive. Oh yes, there are the “good citizens” of Mason, Colorado who do
nothing and the really bad villains who do only evil.
Many of the action scenes in this story
deal with raising and training horses and, in one case, an amazing race through
difficult terrain. O’Connell describes it so well you feel like you’re riding
the horse, following Cord’s brilliant strategy and urging him on. Obviously
O’Connell knows horses and knows how a good man trains one. It was a delight to
read this. Though instructive, it never took away from the romance developing
between Cord and Anne.
One of my favorite passages in the
story was a thought the heroine has: “…Anne believed she would in the
end hear the words she, like all women, longed to hear, but if he never spoke
of it, she would be content with this. He loved her, and she knew it, and he
was capable of such tenderness it left her trembling, overwhelmed by her own love
for him.” Ah…now that was well done!
It’s a great story, well told. You will
love it, I promise.
On Amazon
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