Texas Hill Country - 1855

Tobin McMurray plans on never leaving his family's Whispering Mountain Ranch if he can help it. He certainly has no intention of marrying and having children. The dream he had about dying, and the fact that his own father died young leaving Tobin and his two older brothers to defend the ranch, proves his point. When he is asked to deliver one of the horses he bred and trained to a senator's daughter, he plans on getting there, turning right around, and heading for home. Those plans come to a screeching halt when he meets Liberty Mayfield.

As the daughter of a powerful man, Liberty has pretty much had her way most of her life. She's used to getting what she wants and, until very recently, she wanted Army Captain Samuel Buchanan. That is, until she saw the real Buchanan -- a cold, calculating man who intends to use his upwardly mobile marriage to make a name for himself in politics. As she hides from her fiancé in the barn, she stumbles across Tobin, who is trying to get a good night's sleep before he returns home. Tobin witnesses the verbal exchange between Liberty and Buchanan, and steps in at the end just so the Army officer knows there are witnesses. Later, the senator, whose life Tobin's brother saved, finds Tobin and asks him for help. Someone is trying to kill Mayfield and the man wants to be sure his daughter will be safe if he's attacked. He convinces Tobin to "kidnap" her and take her to Whispering Mountain if anything occurs. When it does, Tobin has a life-changing experience as he and Liberty are forced to travel together.

Two such independent people as Tobin and Liberty find that, at first, it's difficult to compromise on anything. Spoiled but intelligent, Liberty learns to trust the enigmatic cowboy more each day, but can he keep her from harm if Samuel Buchanan catches them? And what has happened to the senator? Tobin's quiet, confident manner is both endearing and maddening to Liberty, not that he doesn't have a few things to say about the independent, albeit vulnerable, beauty he's been saddled with!

The second book in the Whispering Mountain trilogy, TEXAS PRINCESS reintroduces us to the McMurray siblings -- Teagen, the eldest brother; Travis, the Texas Ranger whom we met in TEXAS RAIN; Tobin, and kid sister, Sage. It's a tight-knit family that has been through a lot in their lives, and Liberty's arrival is met with concern as they vow to protect her. Ms. Thomas has a wonderful ability to create the most realistic, honest characters, and this book is no exception. Very much character-driven, TEXAS PRINCESS has some heart-stopping action, poignant moments, and a healthy dose of just good old romance.

Take it from me, TEXAS PRINCESS is yet another of Jodi Thomas's terrific Texas tales.

Jani Brooks