THE DOCTOR'S HOMECOMING

Dual romances, disarming characters and a lush landscape make first-time author Bridges's late 19th-century romance a delightful read. When Dr. Emma Sinclair returns home to Pine Creek, Mont., after years of medical study in Philadelphia, her first patient is 16-year-old Melissa Barlow, the daughter of Emma's first love, Wyatt. Despite Melissa's premature labor, Emma successfully delivers her healthy baby boy. The joyful event isn't enough to overcome the enmity between the Sinclairs and the Barlows, however. The two families have been feuding like the Montagues and the Capulets ever since Emma's father accidentally killed a Barlow, and the fact that Emma's 17-year-old brother, hot-headed Cole, is the father of Melissa's child, has only worsened the gap between them. Believing that Cole will be an unfit husband, Wyatt refuses to let him marry Melissa, an act that propels the young couple to run away. While Emma and Wyatt pursue Melissa and Cole, they come to realize that they still care for each other, but they must first contend with a Barlow cousin who is hunting Cole to exact his own diabolic form of justice. Inevitably, old misconceptions are cleared and both couples acknowledge their love for each other and their new extended families in a saccharine denouement that is likely to satisfy most fans of western romances. (Feb.)