Summer Moon
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
RANCHER SEEKING WIFE
A newspaper ad is the desperately needed answer to Kate Whittington’s prayers. Abandoned by her mother—the town tramp, raised in a bleak Maine orphanage, and a spinster without prospects, Kate dreams of a home and family of her own. Unfortunately, when she arrives to begin her new life, the man she believes she married by proxy denies placing the ad. He denies ever corresponding with or marrying her. Worse, he’s a Texas Ranger who’s recently been wounded while rescuing a boy from the Comanche—a boy he believes may be his long lost son.
Reed Benton doesn’t want a wife, doesn’t believe Kate’s story of an ad and letters, but he does need help taming the wild, resentful young boy under his roof—a boy who is a painful reminder of a past filled with betrayal and lies. There is no place in Reed Benton’s heart for a woman.
Can the faith of one woman with nothing left to lose create a miracle and heal two damaged souls?
“A tender, satisfying historical romance”—Publishers Weekly
“A gifted writer . . . able to enthrall readers and touch their deepest emotions.”—Romantic Times
About the Author Jill Marie Landis is the New York Times bestselling author and seven-time Romance Writers of America Finalist for the RITA Award. Long known for her historical romances, Jill Marie Landis also now writes The Tiki Goddess Mysteries (set on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, where she lives with her husband, actor Steve Landis.)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Following a slew of well-received romance paperbacks (Come Spring; Blue Moon; etc.), Landis serves up a tender, satisfying historical romance as her hardcover debut. Born in 1842, Kate Whittington, abandoned daughter of the Applesby, Maine, town tramp, is raised in a cloistered orphanage. Approaching spinsterhood at the age of 30, Kate answers the newspaper ad of Reed Benton, a widowed Texas rancher seeking a mail-order bride. After months of correspondence, she agrees to a marriage by proxy, packs her bags and heads off to the Texas frontier. When she arrives at Benton's sprawling Lone Star ranch, she is surprised to discover that her new husband is a Texas ranger who defends the frontier against Native Americans, has recently been wounded during a raid on a Comanche village and has captured an eight-year-old Comanche boy he believes may be his long-lost son, Daniel. Even more surprising, Reed Benton denies having ever placed the ad, written the letters or married Kate. Devastated by her crushed dreams yet determined to tame young, wild-haired Daniel, who is fierce in his conviction that he is a true Comanche, Kate agrees to stay on at the ranch to take care of the boy. As Reed convalesces, he finds himself lusting after Kate despite his suspicion that she is a charlatan, responsible for their sham of a marriage. Fully recovered, Reed returns to the frontier as a ranger, only to return to the ranch soon after because Daniel has run away. Kate and Reed team up in their search and not only find the boy but also discover that they have fallen in love. This sweet but not-too-sugary romance is a breezy, beach-blanket read, offering up well-developed characters, a compelling plot line and a pleasing slice of Americana.
