Katelyn, a young woman without a future, was forced to return to her unloving parents after losing her baby and being forsaken by her husband. It was not her fault, really--the baby should have been suckling at her breast by now, but her husband had been angry with her and slapped her just to teach her a lesson and the baby had come early--too early. The baby did not survive, and now the doctor had declared that she could have no more children and her husband, the lawyer, had divorced her and sent her home in shame.

No decent man would want her now. And her parents did not want her either. Her stepfather and her mother were looking for a "situation" into which to send her away and get rid of her. And she was too sick to leave on her own. Her only escape from all this turmoil was watching the wildlife as the animals came closer to the farm. It was the farm her real father had started, but she had no right to the land or to the house. Her stepfather owned it all.

Dillon Hennessey, The Horseman with uncanny abilities, caught Katelyn's attention. While she was ready to measure all men with the same yardstick, this one was different. Shy with her, he had a language he used with horses that could make even the wildest stallion stay and listen to his voice.

Dillon had seen Katelyn only a few times on the ranch, but her beauty caught his imagination and his heart. He thought that she was way beyond his reach, when to his horror, her stepfather offered her to him in lieu of payment, saying he had seen him looking at her and he knew Dillon wanted her.

A cruel way of parting from one's daughter. Especially when said daughter was not far from them when the discussion took place and, evidently, had heard it all. It was no surprise to him the next day to find that the young woman had left all alone, in the gathering blizzard, trying to escape her fate. Dillon knew she had no chance against the coming weather, after being bedridden the past weeks. He followed Katelyn and decided to not only save her, but keep her for his own. Without previous experience in courtship and faced with a woman carrying a huge chip on her shoulder, Dillon had his task cut out for him.

In a world in which the woman's role was of home and baby maker, Katelyn could not allow a man to come close to her without first telling him about her shortcomings. And who would still be there when all be told?

Ms. Jillian Hart uses her talent to weave her story in a heart-capturing way, and one cannot stop reading till the very end.

Reviewed By: Raluca Popov
© Aug. 2004