Wayward Sun

Wayward Sun opens with a runaway English bride fleeing her new husband on her wedding night. Lady Arianne is heading to America to find her brother William out west, and she needs to enlist the help of his partner Ross Braden to get there. She is a woman alone, forbidden to return to England and ruined in society; she is looking for a new start in Colorado.

Ross hates visiting the polite society of Boston and he hates the pressure his parents place on him; he’s more at home on his Colorado ranch, out riding the range. His elder brother Robert has political aspirations and wants Ross to help him run the Braden empire and wade into the Civil War, but Ross won’t force himself into the mold his family wants for him. When Arianne approaches him with her plan to join him on the trail home, he balks and then relents.

Arianne and Ross immediately and gloriously clash, their opposing views on life and pretty much everything else, shooting sparks along the miles of trail. He thinks she's a spoiled, pampered princess; she thinks he's a cold, unfeeling shell of a man. Through fire and flood, wind and rain, braving the elements, they travel, the attraction between them growing with every mile. Ross’ saucy innuendos and wicked smiles draw the sheltered Arianne out of herself and into his arms. Their happiness is marred, however, when the secret that she’s been keeping comes back to haunt them.

I thoroughly enjoyed Wayward Sun; Katherine Smith pens a sure-fire winner in this one. With dead-on descriptive scenery, well-written imagery, endearing characters and a truly demented bad guy, Wayward Sun is sure to please.

Reviewed by: Michelle