Set in 1875 in West Texas, this is the story of Charlotte (“Lottie”) Weyland, who has been on her own since she was fourteen, and Tyree Benton who joined the Texas Rangers seeking revenge.
The story begins with a scene where Lottie sets fire to her home with her grandfather in the shed. In Greenbroke, the small Texas town where now Lottie lives, Ty and some rangers come to town with a prisoner. Ty gets wounded in a shootout and Lottie rushes to help him.
So the romance begins.
As always, Warner writes well with clever dialog, vividly creating life in a small town in 19th century Texas. She obviously knows her subject well, perhaps because she is a Texan. We feel the heat of the hot summers and learn what it means to take any small job just to survive.
This story is a bit different from Warner’s other books. The first half of the book is in Lottie’s point of view and we don’t see much of Ty, who is in and out of her life. Only in the second half do we get some of Ty’s inner thinking.
Lottie has used her talent for “figuring” to grow a bookkeeping business, serving the town’s businesses and building a nest egg to buy a ranch. She also learns to invest in land and mineral rights from the town’s banker. Clever girl. To have a ranch is Ty’s dream, but, proud man that he is, when Lottie offers to help, Ty refuses. They are in love, but they can’t seem to make their dreams come together. Then, into the mix comes her past.
The end of the book has some exciting moments and a great courtroom scene with a funny judge. Happiness arrives for some endearing characters. Another great story from Kaki Warner.
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