Maverick Heart

Prolific romance author Lough (Beautiful Bandit) continues the Lone Star Legends series set in late–19th-century Texas. Nurse Levee O'Reilly's physician husband, Liam, is killed by bandits robbing the stagecoach the couple is riding to Mexico to open a medical clinic. Levee, who has also suffered two miscarriages, begins life again in the small border town of Eagle Pass, teaching school and catching the eye of rancher Dan Neville, one of the large Neville clan. Dan's limp is only the tip of a backstory that makes the rancher feel unworthy of Levee, one of the first women in the country to obtain a nursing degree. Romantic tension is sustained through a long series of complications, including a killer tornado and a long cattle drive. Lough's fans will likely not mind that this is a predictable tale. (Jan.)