Maggie Osborne - Free Library Land Online

Living on a rundown farm at the edge of a small Texas town, Della Ward is haunted by the bittersweet life she once lived with an adoring husband who died too soon. Once a laughing, carefree soul, Della is now a widow with only guilty memories for company. Until the day she sees a rugged stranger riding across the prairie toward her house. His presence awakens Della’s heart, but she can never imagine the ways this man will forever change her life.
Lawman James Cameron believes in settling debts and living by honor. It may have taken him ten years to arrive at Della’s door, but he’s finally here and is determined to tell her the truth about the day her husband died. But one look at the woman whose picture he has carried with him for years and he knows that the truth may destroy them both. For Cameron will have to face the past and force Della to do the same before either of them can have a future . . . or each other.

From Library Journal

For ten years, Della Ward has struggled with guilt over the tone of the last letter she sent to her husband, Clarence, before he was killed during the Civil War. Now she is forced to resolve her feelings when gun-slinging lawman James Cameron, who was with her husband when he died, brings her Clarence's last letter and with it an account of his final minutes. But Cameron's calm, cool exterior is deceptive, hiding a guilty secret that he knows he must eventually share, even though it could destroy them both. Set against the stark background of post-Civil War Texas, this well-developed, character-driven Western romance clearly depicts the realities of the times and beautifully describes the developing relationship between Della and James and their reluctance to embrace it. With her classic flair and with great sensitivity, Osborne has penned an intense story of two emotionally fragile people who find healing and hope in their love for each other. Readers will be waiting. Winner of both a RITA Award and the Romance Writers of America's Lifetime Achievement Award, Osborne (The Bride of Willow Creek) lives in Colorado.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

“One of the best writers in the business.”
–SUSAN ELIZABETH PHILLIPS
New York Times bestselling author
“Wit, style, and class. Maggie Osborne is a storyteller who consistently delivers all three.”
–NORA ROBERTS