Ida East is a young widow with a young daughter, running the boarding house her late husband had started--and then advertised for a mail-order bride to help him run it. Their business was a success, and their marriage was becoming a success, and then he died. It was one more loss for Ida, who has lived through too many, and now she wants no more risks and no more losses. She only wants to run her business, and keep her daughter, Adaline, safe.
Jake Cranston, until now a US Marshal in Dry Gulch, Texas, has just been transferred from Dry Gulch to Cypress Springs. He gets recommendations to go to the East Boarding House for lodging, and then nearly talks himself out of getting a room in the town's only decent boarding house, with his teasing and pushback against a woman who has learned to be strong-willed and firm.
In this story, unlike others in the series, there's no major crime gang creating the tension. It's nature in the form of a major storm, and the human tensions growing out of Ida and Jake's mutual attraction their past experiences making them cautious.
I really liked both Ida and Jake, as well as Ida's brother-in-law Calvin, who has been helping her out but isn't really cut out for a career as an innkeeper. I suspect we might be seeing him again in a future installment.
This is an enjoyable addition to the series. Recommended.
I received a free electronic galley from the publisher, and am reviewing it voluntarily.
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