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Sloan Harper has not had a good
decade. Five years ago, he watched his family all perish in
a horrific fire that was set by another. Then he was sent
to a federal penitentiary for a crime he didn’t commit.
Both the fire and the trumped-up charge for his imprisonment
were done by the same man, and Sloan vows that someday he
will get revenge. When the opportunity arises, he escapes
and heals from his ordeal. Then he sets his plans in
motion. He is going to steal his enemy’s only heir and
beloved daughter (who are one in the same). He figures that
is the only thing he can take from Dalton that might hurt as
much as Sloan has hurt. He plans to get Peyton pregnant,
thereby setting her ruination in motion and damaging the
Dalton name. What he didn’t count on were the feelings he
might develop for her, or how her father will react to the
capture.
Payton Dalton has long wished for a
life different than the one she has. She wants a family to
call her own with a husband and maybe even children. But
her controlling father will never let that happen. He has
groomed her to take over the ranch and all that entails,
though it will deny her what she really wants. Then
suddenly she is kidnapped and her world is turned upside
down.
The Wayward Wind was a good, solid story, but
it is not one of my favorite stories by Ms. Boyett-Compo. I
felt that the story was set up nicely, but then it seemed to
skip a number of steps in relationship building in the
middle. I felt that the way Peyton accepts things and how
Harper seems to change his mind happened a little out of the
blue. I did like the different characters, especially
Snake, and the descriptions of the times and border areas.
So while The Wayward Wind is an interesting
look at the ruthless land barons in early Texas, it just
didn’t click with me. That being said, Ms. Boyett-Compo has
written a number of books I have thoroughly enjoyed, so I
will keep seeking her out as an author. |
