The Texan's Reward

October 15, 2005
Texas Ranger Jacob Dalton has always kept a protective eye on Nell, the rebellious orphan raised by Fat Alice, the town's madam. But after being crippled in a shooting, Nell advertises for a husband to run her ranches, and Jacob is determined to marry her himself. He drops everything to race home only to find her entertaining candidate number 12, an innocuous bookkeeper. But before he can convince her to choose him, the ranger finds himself dealing first with an oily lawyer intent on swindling Nell out of her property, then with a cutthroat gang of train robbers. Complicating the situation, Nell has filled her house with social outcasts, and the resultant chaos means that Jacob's courtship must proceed under public scrutiny. Thomas' western historical romance moves along swiftly, using the demands of a ranger's lifestyle as well as the isolation forced on Nell and her household by the town, and her physical limitations, to create interestingly complex tensions. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)