This high mark is partly for all the incredible entertainment Linda Howard has given me.

Sure the heroine, Cathryn, was annoying! There's a certain genre of romance novel where the hero or heroine has no idea when they are loved, because the other person hasn't SAID it. What about those people whose love language is acts of service, ACTS of anything! Rule is so obviously madly in love with Cathryn ... though it has a touch of Heathcliff and that other Cathryn. ( )

Rule Jackson may be as politically incorrect as they come, but he is a powerful and fascinating hero for this charming romance. Rule is the foreman of the ranch inherited by Cathryn Ashe when she was a teenager. Cathryn fled the ranch years earlier after she and Rule had a passionate encounter. Rule has been obsessed by the memory of their brief romance, and when Cathryn finally returns to the ranch as a young widow, he is determined to have her and won't take no for an answer.

This book grows on you. Although Rule is very Alpha he does actually want to change for Cathryn. They affect each other in many positive ways. This book is more complex than you first may think. ( )

DNF for me at this time - just doesn't seem to interest me - maybe one day I'll come back to it

One of Howard's weakest books. The story is outdated and a little cheesy, and the characters are occasionally annoying. ( )

Really immature heroine, standard strong silent type hero. I read this as a palate cleanser after the awfulness that was ICE. As flawed as it is, it was far more engaging than Ice. I like Howard's westerns. This is a reprint of a much earlier book, and it reads like that. It's dated, there's no questions about it. But it still fills the 2 hours very nicely. Rule ostensibly works for Catherine, after she inherits the ranch from her dad. She worried about his intentions - does he want her or does he want the ranch that he has managed so well in her absence that people refer to it as Rule's spread. Cat needs to grow up, Rule needs to let go and they both need each other. ( )