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Stuart’s Junction, Colorado. The morning run from the Rocky Mountain Railway shows up very late, and with two injured men to boot – one of them allegedly attempted to rob the train and the other heroically saved the day. Doc needs someone to tend the two men, and since no one wants a dangerous criminal in their home the railroad’s going to have to pay for it, and Miss Abigail definitely could use the money. Miss Abigail lost her one chance at happiness at twenty when she committed to caring for her father and her fiance headed for greener pastures. In the following years Miss Abigail has set the tone for all things prim and proper in Stuart’s Junction.

“The woman had starch in everything to her bloomers to her backbone, and it was amusing trying to make it crackle.”

Mild mannered shoe salesman David Melcher is the man who *saved* the train and takes a bit of a shine to Miss Abigail, while meantime she’s locking horns with the more seriously wounded Jesse who bears all the physical traits of a notorious outlaw – tall, dark and handsome and looks pretty damn good with his shirt off.  David’s wound is less severe and he’s soon packed off to sell more shoes. Miss Abigail is left caring for bed-ridden Jesse until he’s well enough to be turned over to the railroad company for trial and let’s just say that sparks continue to fly,

“They eyed one another like two bighorns deciding whether to butt or back off.”

Will Jessie work his way into Miss Abigail’s heart? Or will the ever-so-dull David Melcher return to win her heart? Is David Melcher really the down home all around good guy he appears to be? Is Jesse really a black-hearted train robbing scoundrel, or is there more under the surface? Will her corset and bloomers stay forever laced?

This was my first Lavyrle Spencer romance and won’t likely be my last. It was a quick and easy read and I had  a lot of fun watching Jesse and Abigail and their fiery mating dance, but I did find Jesse’s methods of courting Abigail a bit too heavy-handed at times. I don’t want to spoil by going into specifics, but it may be a turn off some readers – YMMV. The’s also some sex, and while tamer than what you can find in today’s romances does go into a bit more description and goes on for quite a few pages, so those readers who prefer their sex scenes taking place behind closed doors might want to prepare to skim a bit. 4/5 stars.