I've never been much for westerns. Not since the spaghetti western days of Clint Eastwood and the classic John Wayne films. Of course, "Young Guns" was an unexpected treat. Not my choice but I truly enjoyed that one, largely due to the assortment of actors. Reading a western was pretty much out of my league. You know this is going to be followed by "Until…" Yup. You're right. Until I found Rebecca Goings' In Your Arms.

Melissa Bloom has pretty much give up on every catching a man. Her younger sister, Shirley is far too pretty and "girly" for any man to bother looking at the hardworking Melissa. They both work in their father's general store. Melissa does all the work and Shirley tends to all the young men. So when jaw-dropping Marcus McCaide rides into Gideon's Gulch, all Lissa can do is stare and watch him walk away to speak to her father about a job. Obviously, once Mr. McCaide finds her sister sitting prim and pretty inside, Lissa will be totally forgotten…again. She wonders if her father will be hiring the man to help around the store, seeing as how the man is wearing a gun on each hip. What kind of man wears guns? Lissa isn't sure she wants to find out.

Mr. McCaide rides a fine horse so Lissa gets his permission to take Pete to the livery stable. Lissa loves horses and enjoys feeding Pete and giving him a nice rub down. She'd surprised to turn around to find Pete's owner standing behind her, watching. Out of kindness, Lissa offers to draw some water for the dusty man, and is shocked at his suggestion that she should give him a good rub down as well.

Marcus McCaide came to town looking for work, not a woman that made his blood boil. He didn't deserve love, not with his past. But Lissa was a beauty that he couldn't stop thinking about from moment one that he'd laid eyes on her. Her father hired him to help out in the store, but he would have to be on his guard to keep from falling for this woman. She was far too innocent to become involved with a man like him, a man who was haunted by the ghosts of his past, by the men he had killed. It wouldn't be easy to stay away from Lissa. And that rub down sounded like an awful good idea.

Lissa has a hard time figuring out Marcus. He acts like he's attracted to her but she can't figure out why he'd want her. The only man in town who came to call on her was Dr. Newcomb, and he was older than her father. Marcus can't figure out why he's so attracted to the woman, knowing that he has no right to have her in his life.
The conflict in In Your Arms is constant. Once I thought they would get it together, off they'd go again, trying to keep the barriers up. One would knock them down and the other would hastily rebuild the wall. Ms. Goings is a master at developing characters with the power to captivate the reader. Marcus is a strong man with definite ideas about how he lives his life. Lissa is a strong woman, knowing what she wants and willing to sacrifice propriety for a chance to live and be happy, even if it is for a short time.

In Your Arms is a recommended read in my opinion. The rating of 7 is due to the excessive number of times Lissa blushed. Other than that, I can't think of any reason why In Your Arms would not be enjoyed by any lover of Westerns, Historicals, or Romances.
 
 
Reviewed By MargeAnna Conrad
© August 2008