Keighly Barrow was seven-years-old when she first discovered the secret of her grandmother's ballroom mirror. The first time Keighly saw him, the boy was in a saloon, surrounded by cowboys and women in low-cut dresses. She saw him several more times as the years went by. Now Keighly was all grown up. Her grandmother had died, leaving Keighly her mansion-with the memorable ballroom. Struggling to decide if she should marry her fiancŽ-a man she knew she didn't love-Keighly headed back to Redemption. Maybe, if she was lucky, she'd see her friend in the mirror again. He'd always been her greatest comfort, and she really needed him now.

The illegitimate son of a prostitute and the largest land baron in Redemption, Darby Elder thought he was going crazy the first time he saw Keighly. Who was she? But though he hadn't seen her since they were teenagers, he knew that Keighly had grown into a beautiful woman. He had fallen in love with her at some point. Somehow, no other woman could quite erase Keighly from his mind. But what difference did it make? He knew he would never get to meet her. To hold her the way his heart longed to do. But oh, how he wanted to.

After catching a glimpse of a grown-up Darby when she got to her grandmother's house, Keighly determined she would simply camp out right in front of the mirror, and wait for him to come back. She knew Darby wouldn't disappoint her. After researching Redemption, and Darby, at the library, she found out that something terrible was going to happen to him, and that somehow, she had gone back in time to Darby. The hardest thing she had to do now was wait for that moment. When it finally came, both Keighly and Darby were deliriously overjoyed. But then the unthinkable happened, and Darby got shot in a bar fight. Again, at just the perfect moment, the mirror-portal opened again, and Darby fell through to Keighly's time, landing right at the feet of her fiancŽ, Dr. Julian Drury. Julian's heart broke watching Keighly's anguish. But he was adamant-he would heal Darby, and get him back to Keighly. Because it was plain to see-Darby was her outlaw, and she needed him.

Once again, Linda Lael Miller shows with MY OUTLAW why she tops the best-sellers lists time after time. She manages to create an unbelievably believable Time Travel tale. I could feel Keighly's disillusionment in her life without Darby. And it was clear to the most jaded of readers that Darby needed Keighly to keep from losing himself. That he admitted to himself how much he needed her was a refreshing change in a hero. The enchantment of the "magic" mirror in the ballroom delighted me, and almost made me want to stare into my own mirror for hours!

MY OUTLAW touches a part of the soul that most people don't realize they keep hidden-the part that lives to dream of a happily-ever-after, no matter the obstacles that might get in the way. After all, if two people who are destined to be together can go through the looking glass, isn't there hope for someone who only has to cross a crowded room?

Reviewed by Tracy Atencio
(c) August 2004