January 1, 2007
The second installment of Miller's 19th-century Orphan Train trilogy (begun with Lily and the Major ) is standard fare, but historical romance fans should find it entertaining.used above Although Emma Chalmers, the very proper librarian of Whitneyville, Idaho, was raised by Chloe Reese, the town's considerably less proper madam, this hasn't hurt Emma's matrimonial prospects. Emma's all but engaged to Fulton Whitney, a gentleman who can guarantee her comfort and respectability. After an explosion in the local saloon, the doctor gives a stranger named Steven Fairfax into Chloe and Emma's care. Steven enjoys teasing the delectably prim Emma, who begins to suspect there's more to life than being a Whitneyville Whitney. She is curious about Steven's past and his insistence on always having a gun close at hand, but he remains adamantly secretive. When Steven heads out on a cattle drive, the man who has been hunting him appears: his half-brother Macon, who intends to take Steven back to Louisiana to face a murder rap.pk Terrified by Macon, Emma puts her courage and loyalty to the test as she fights to save the man she loves.