Almost killed by her vicious brother, Maggie escapes into the mountains with a trapper who buys her for six beaver pelts. She and Ira Danvers survive off the land allowing tales of Mad Maggie to proliferate and protect her. When she finds a cowboy who's been left for dead in a blizzard, nursing him back to health opens her up to a broken heart. She can't have her cowboy and her privacy too. Garret Daines is a hard man to forget. Even his dog Boots tries to put the two together while cattle rustlers and her brother try to insure she isn't around to spoil their plans. Stacey Kayne gives us one of those tales of the best and worst of the old west. Honorable men like Garret and the Morgans are the kind of people who helped a young nation survive while despicable men like Gideon and Nathan only worked for their own power. This is a well-constructed tale filled with the flavor of the wildness of Wyoming. We get to see the beauty of being a cowboy and rancher in an untamed land through Garret's eyes as Ms. Kayne builds this man into a rarity in any time period.
The relationship between him and the complex woman sometimes called Maggie, sometimes Grace, sometimes the endearment Magpie and sometimes Mad Maggie is powerful. Ms. Kayne presents well the fact that not everyone bases their relationships on what they see on the outside or what they can get out of them. The growth of Maggie's personality is a well done thing. Many readers may envy her the seclusion of the mountains!
I hated to put this book down. There's suspense throughout with the hardships and villains who'll stop at nothing to get what they want. The romance of Garret and Maggie is always fragile as the solitude of the mountains constantly calls to her. This is a great read, easy to get lost in as Ms. Kayne weaves this tale into one that won't let us go.
Overall rating: 
Sensuality rating: Very sensual
The Romance Studio
