"A great new voice in Western Romance"

Hungry for a super Western? Well saddle up partner, slap iron and wrangle Teresa Bodwell's LOVING MERCY. It's set post Civil War era and gives you all the dust, doggies and a sexy cowboy that any dyed-in-the-wool Western fan can want. Mercy Clark is a widowed rancher. She's driven her herd of cows to Abilene to market them, desperate for the money they will bring. Now she has to make the return trip. Should be easy since she doesn't have the cows? Well, she has to travel five hundred miles through untamed frontier, carrying all that cash. It's important she get back with all the money, because she needs it to save her land from a greedy neighbor who will use anything to get Mercy's ranch.

Enter Thad Buchanan, Civil War veteran, he has been making a living off his poker playing. He needs a guide to get him from Abilene to his sister's home in Fort Victory -- yeppers, five hundred miles away! Mercy needs a bodyguard, but the handsome gambler is not quite what she had in mind. He offers to pay her in gold if she will guide him to Fort Victory, but being an intelligent woman Mercy doesn't entirely trust the too handsome man with the gentle manners and a smooth way about him. After all, she's sworn off men for good...hasn't she? Looking into Thad's sexy eyes has her forgetting that promise. Used to handling women with the same skill he handles the cards, Thad isn't quite prepared for a pistol packing, whip-snapping Mercy.

Bodwell has a strong voice, is rich in her period detail and is able to draw the readers into this vibrant tale. She is another of the fresh new writers coming through the Kensington's Zebra Debut line and one I am sure we will be hearing more from in the near future.

Reviewed by DeborahAnne MacGillivray
Posted December 25, 2004

Summary

Mercy Clarke had no trouble getting a hundred head of cattle to Abilene. Getting back home through five hundred miles of untamed frontier is something else again, especially with a handsome gambler like Thad Buchanan tagging along. He swears to pay her in gold if she guides him to Fort Victory, but she doesn't quite trust his fine manners and gentlemanly ways. And then there's that look in his eyes—he could make her forget that she's sworn off men for good . . .

As Thad sees it, the same rules apply to playing poker and loving women: it's all about knowing when to hold 'em. And come to think of it, a pretty lady like Mercy Clarke would fit very nicely in his arms. Now, if she could be persuaded to put down that rawhide whip and tell him exactly what she has in mind, he has no doubt they could come to an agreement that will satisfy them both. No doubt at all . . .