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Mary Ann Cates owns a successful farm with her husband. While not wealthy by any means, life has been good, even with Charlie away most of the time buying and selling cattle. That all changes, though, when he ends up dead in a shootout with the law. Everything he'd ever told her had been a lie. "Cattle buyer" really meant "bank robber" and member of the notorious James Gang. Shattered and alone, the lovely widow is shunned by the citizens of her Kansas hometown and branded the "Outlaw Queen."
Rath Macon is a rancher working the Chisholm Trail. In six short years, he has transformed himself from a penniless ex-rebel into a respected cattleman. It's a good life... just not good enough for his wife. After returning from the drive, he finds she's spent all their money and run away with another man. As the bank auctions off everything he's worked so hard for, Rath saddles up and rides out of Texas to look for a fresh start with nothing but three horses and the clothes on his back.
That's how fate steps in and lassos Rath and Mary Ann. When their eyes lock, embers ignite. But they've both danced to life's fickle fiddle before. Can they rebuild trust on life's treacherous trail? Time holds the reins to their destiny. In a landscape where pasts are as rugged as the frontier, their story is one of redemption, resilience, and love as vast as the prairie sky.
About the author
Dusty Richards grew up riding horses and watching his western heroes on the big screen. He even wrote book reports for his classmates, making up westerns since English teachers didn't read that kind of book. His mother, though, didn't want him to be a cowboy, so he went to college, then worked for Tyson Foods and auctioned cattle when he wasn't an anchor on television.His lifelong dream, though, was to write the novels he loved. He sat on the stoop of Zane Grey's cabin and promised he'd one day get published, as well. In 1992, that promise became a reality when his first book, Noble's Way, hit the shelves. In the years since, he's published over 160 more, winning nearly every major award for western literature along the way. His 150th novel, The Mustanger and the Lady, was adapted for the silver screen and released as the motion picture Painted Woman in 2017. In a review for the movie, True West magazine proclaimed Dusty "the greatest living western fiction writer alive." Sadly, Dusty passed away in early 2018, leaving behind a legion of fans and a legacy of western writing that will live on for generations.
