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Category: Romance/Historical Fiction
Description: Rory Holloway has waited years for the woman that he loves to grow up. In the year 1876, she has turned eighteen. Though Salina has finally reached an age that Rory feels comfortable with, the couple will still have many problems to face. For not only is Salina the woman whom Rory loves, she is also his stepsister. Salina has been waiting for Rory's return. Her father's illness has made the running of their ranch difficult. But now, with Rory's return, she is faced with the added burden of choosing between the man she has just accepted as a suitor and the man she has always thought of as a brother. Rory and Salina will face many dangers as a madman shoots Salina's beloved father in his successful attempt to kidnap Salina, taking her away from the man that she loves. Following his beloved into the hills, Rory must fight to save Salina before she suffers the same fate as countless other innocent women.
eBook Publisher: DCL Publications LLC, 2008 Australia
eBookwise Release Date: August 2008

5 Reader Ratings:

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Available eBook Formats: OEBFF Format (IMP) [295 KB]
Words: 71636
Reading time: 204-286 min.

"Rory Holloway left home two years before because he could not keep his hands off his step-sister, Salina. Silas Houston, Salinaʼs father and Roryʼs step-father, was ill and word had reached Rory that he needed to come home. This trip was to help with the work but it also was to claim Salina as his wife. She was now 18 and should be ready to allow him to marry her. When he showed up and found Salina in the arms of a neighbor rancher, Josh Randall, he knew he would have to work quickly. Josh was determined to marry Salina for her ranch. He felt that her daddy couldnʼt live much longer and when Salina had his last name, the ranch would belong to him. So far she had not been too receptive to him. He would just have to give her a little more time. To get rid of his aggressions, he went into town and visited his favorite whore, Raven, who had a sorrowful story about why she was there. Her husband, John, had been killed in cold blood by Josh. Now, after he visited her, she was left bleeding and broken. The one man left who cared for her, Michael Little Fox, went upstairs, cleaned her up, and took here out of the saloon for the final time. If you believed I've told the whole story, you would be wrong. This all happened at the very beginning of the book. Ms. Anna Volk has done a great job of creating a unique storyline that was absolutely captivating. Her characters were unbelievably sound and loveable. The two couples were the epitome of the perfect couples even though they both had circumstances which gave room for gossip in their small town. Ms. Volk has taken her supporting cast and built a myriad of exciting people who were perfect in their positions of highlighting the main characters. There were many emotionally sensual segments which illustrated the depth of true love. She has an almost perfect character list. I highly recommend this book to anyone. You will definitely not be disappointed. Overall rating: 5 Hearts!!! Sensuality rating: Explicit."--Brenda Talley, The Romance Studio

"No, no, no," Salina cried as she ran blindly into the barn. "He's dying and there's nothing I can do to stop it." She sobbed, fiercely wiping at the tears rolling down her face as she dropped to her knees and threw her arms around the dog that had been following behind her. "What are we going to do, Queenie?" she asked her old friend. "Daddy's not getting any better. Nothing makes him smile," she said. "He never even knew that I was in his room today." She choked back another sob, remembering how scared she had been, thinking him gone until she had heard his raspy breath. She felt foolish now for running scared from his room. "Today was just another day of days that just seem to be going from bad to worse. "It seems, girl, like I have more bad days than good lately. What do you think?" she asked.

Sitting herself down on a mound of hay, she picked at the stalks and tried to soak up comfort where she had always gotten it. "Why is it that you and Duchess make me feel so much better? Mama has been gone twelve years now but still I come here to do my thinkin'. Daddy said that I started comin' here right after she died." She patted the old dog and smiled. Queenie had always been a good listener even now with her passel of puppies rooting for something to eat.

She had continued to seek her comfort here even after her father remarried and brought a stepmother and stepbrother into the family. The horses still offered Salina the comfort she needed.

Rory. She smiled as she thought about him. Her very best friend was coming home. It seemed he had been gone forever, instead of just the two years he'd been gone, looking for livestock to expand their ranch.

"I wonder when he'll get here, girl. Do you think he's changed? Big brother was always so handsome with all that beautiful brown hair and deep brown eyes to match." She smiled, remembering how she'd teased him about making the girls giggle with his pretty looks. For some reason, he'd never cared what the girls in town thought.

"I wonder if he'll notice how I've grown." Two years had changed her somewhat. She looked down at the soft mounds where her breasts pressed against the fabric of her dress. She'd grown into a woman in the time that he'd been away.

"Not that anyone's noticed." She grumbled. She never saw anyone but Daddy, Agnes and a few of the ranch hands. All of whom had watched her grow.

Two years was a long time. But it was the last six months that had been the worst.