
Part of Series
After protesting abuses at the Montana Indian Boarding School, Essie is dismissed from her teaching job there. But before she can depart, she's kidnapped by Cade Newcastle—the half-breed uncle of her missing student. Shot during the escape and now dogged by a hanging posse, Cade's desperate search becomes a race against time, and Essie—instead of abandoning him—saves his life. Trading favor for favor, Cade and Essie continue searching for Cade's nephew. The lines between captor and captive blur into mutual respect, then flare into passion. But the hanging posse will never allow the half-breed to be the ruination of Essie Sparks. WILD WESTERN ROGUES, in series order The Lady Takes A Gunslinger The Ruination of Essie Sparks ABOUT BARBARA ANKRUM: Bestselling author Barbara Ankrum was a successful commercial actress until her love of romance novels led to a publishing contract. Many books and two wonderful children later, she still believes in happy endings and feels very lucky to do what she loves, with her husband, two cats and one scruffy, unrepentant dog at her side.
Author

Barbara Ankrum grew up in Upstate New York, training to be a ballerina, but secretly dreaming of being an actress. Her first fangirl crush on Haley Mills led her to practice her British accent on unsuspecting store clerks, and she dreamed of co-starring in the remake of THE MOONSPINNERS. Because she was also a compulsive reader, she discovered that the film was based on a book by the fabulous Mary Stewart, which led to Barbara's lifelong obsession with romantic fiction. Since Haley Mills was, sadly, not in the market for a co-star, Barbara pursued a degree in English Literature from the University of Tennessee. And when that degree, predictably, led to unemployment, she pulled up her socks and moved to Hollywood where she built a career as a successful commercial actress while raising two amazing (now grown) children with her sweet husband. Writing romance came naturally from all that reading and the down time between auditions. Once she sold her first book, she said farewell to Hollywood-Land and never looked back. In between writing novels, she got her MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard and optioned a few screenplays. But her first love is, and always will be, romance. Barbara's emotional, character driven, adventurous historicals (Wild Western Hearts series), her sexy, romantic suspense for Harlequin and her funny, heartwarming contemporaries for Tule Publishing, offer a little something for everyone. (Haley? Are you listening?) Twice nominated for Romance Writers of America's prestigious RITA Award, her books have won numerous other writing awards. Today, she lives in Southern California with her husband, two rescue cats and a scruffy, adorable rescue dog. Please visit her on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Barbara.ankr... Website: www.barbaraankrum.com Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/BarbaraAnkrum