Rane treated her as a prisoner because she was determined to escape. He tried to make her understand that, since her father was involved in a range war with his neighbor, Horace Lundy, he had put a price on her—he wanted her as a hostage so that he could force Roy Clayton to do what he wanted. After word was spread that Rane had stolen her, Lundy’s men were told to bring her to him unharmed, but kill him if necessary to separate the two.

This is a marvelous book with a full cast of characters who fulfill every possible direction the story could take. The characters who worked for Lundy were filthy men who were such scroungers they would stop at nothing to get hold of Angel. These attributes gave us a good indication of Lundy’s integrity before we even met him in the book. There were various nationalities involved—Rane was a half-breed, seemingly hated by white men; Indians such as Wolf, who was Rane’s blood brother; Mexicans who took care of Rane’s home and were personal friends as well as employees.

The rocky relationship between Angel and her father was strained, to put it mildly. Ms. Matthews’ study of this affiliation was poignant as well as distressing. The author has done an exceptional work of bringing all the conflict into resolution through a myriad of actions without making this story drag. I found it impossible to put down and I highly recommend it. I also expect it to become a best seller!

Overall rating:
Sensuality rating: Mildly sensual

Reviewer: Brenda Talley
April 10, 2007