On a below-zero day in Montana, Uncle Silas Bonneville drove the fifty-six miles to town to find a hired man for his ranch and to bring back the schoolma’am boarder.
But on the long, cold drive back, Uncle Si had a shock. Something seemed to be “up” between his hired man and the school teacher. They acted, thought Uncle Si, as if they had had a falling out before being introduced.
Then came an accident – and it was Shawn McKenna, the cowboy, who rode back to the Bonneville ranch with the half-frozen schoolma’am in his arms. This, and the fact that later they both had to take refuge from a blizzard for two nights in the Bonneville barn, made for a series of misunderstandings with Kittie, daughter of the ranch.
Finally, the disappearance of the mysterious hired man, just after the school teacher had been seen practicing with her revolver, brings a drama and a puzzle which Shawn is called upon to solve.
Bower’s latest novel has the ranch setting and the succession of thrills readers have come to expect from this author, but in addition there is a thoroughly delightful romance with its full quota of surprises.
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