Travis Clayborne was perfect to look at and answered to no one except his Mama Rose. Travis was only interested in finding the lowdown scum who took advantage of his mother and retrieve the gifts that had been stolen while Mama Rose was bringing them to her sons. When he found Daniel Ryan, he'd kill him. That was the plan until Mama Rose gave him another occupation-Emily Finnegan. Travis thought nothing of the fact that Miss Finnegan had lost three sets of escorts so far in her travels from Boston to Golden Crest, Montana. His thoughts changed in the first five minutes of meeting her. He was kicked in the knee, hit with an umbrella and shot at, all by Emily. She was pretty to look at, but dangerous to be around.

Emily Finnegan had been far too sensible all her life until she was jilted at the altar. To make matters worse, she had helped Randolf through his studies at the university to become a banker. Enticed by his high paying position, Emily's sister played the helpless female, and stole him away. Emily decided to take control of her destiny. She would become, first of all, Southern. Southern belles attract gentlemen. Secondly, she would become the helpless damsel so some gentleman would take care of everything for her. If it worked for Barbara, it would work for her. To complete her transformation, she promised herself to Mr. O'Toole as a mail order bride. She tried the damsel in distress act on Travis, but he wasn't buying it, telling her that she was as frail as a grizzly bear. His plan to be an attorney and her definite opinions on everything made every conversation a challenge for them both.

Travis wanted to get her delivered and get on with tracking Ryan. Emily wanted to get to Mr. O'Toole and his fine home with a curving staircase and get on with her destiny. That was fine until their hearts got involved somewhere along the journey. It didn't take long for Emily to decide her destiny wasn't where she thought it was and for Travis to figure out that it would be harder to turn Emily over to O'Toole than he thought it would be.

This story of conflict turned camaraderie is an entertaining if short read. It has many laugh-out-loud moments between the two as they butt heads while they are being drawn closer together. Both main characters are so realistic that any reader can relate to one or the other at any given time. I feel I was beside them all the way. Ms. Garwood has spun a tale that is sure to have the reader smiling long after the reading is finished. Although I felt it was too short, I truly enjoyed this book.

By Marge Anna
© 2004