Nurse Levee O'Reilly and her husband, Dr. Liam O'Reilly, are headed west to the California Territory to practice medicine when their stagecoach is tragically attacked by the infamous Frank Michaels. All alone now and grieving, Levee makes her way to Eagle Pass, Texas. The local doctor can't afford to pay a staff nurse, however, and so she turns to the only other option-teaching. Devoted wholeheartedly to her students, Levee has little time for romance.
Deep down, Daniel Neville wants to be a preacher, but he's battled doubts and distrust for most of his life. Wracked with guilt over his twin sister's death and then "punished" with a limp from an injury sustained during a stampede, Dan dedicates himself instead to serving his family and working with horses on their ranch. Marriage is far from the top of his to-do list, and he aims to keep it that way.
When a coincidental meeting brings together young widow Levee O Reilly and rancher Dan Neville, a confirmed bachelor for reasons of his own, they re awakened to a long-ignored desire for love by the realization that they might have finally found it. Can these two mavericks accept the plans God has for their lives?
Publisher's Weekly
Prolific romance author Lough (Beautiful Bandit) continues the Lone Star Legends series set in lateĀ19th-century Texas. Nurse Levee O'Reilly's physician husband, Liam, is killed by bandits robbing the stagecoach the couple is riding to Mexico to open a medical clinic. Levee, who has also suffered two miscarriages, begins life again in the small border town of Eagle Pass, teaching school and catching the eye of rancher Dan Neville, one of the large Neville clan. Dan's limp is only the tip of a backstory that makes the rancher feel unworthy of Levee, one of the first women in the country to obtain a nursing degree. Romantic tension is sustained through a long series of complications, including a killer tornado and a long cattle drive. Lough's fans will likely not mind that this is a predictable tale. (Jan.) Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.