Ruth McKenzie stormed into James South's life: fire in her eyes, pain in her heart, gun in her hand. Four hours later they were business partners in a deal that could last twenty-five years.

The killers after her soon came after him. A deadly game ensued.

South was willing to play, though. Long ago he'd been good at games like that. Very, very good.

Ruth McKenzie is within hours of losing everything, except for two good horses she won't be able to feed much longer. However, for a very little while, she still owns her West Texas ranch.

She first sees James South after he's intentionally driven his big pickup truck right over two sections of her ranch's fence. She's furious with him, and says so with a .38 caliber revolver in hand.

South mistakenly thinks his attorney bought South the ranch that morning. Once he learns Ruth will lose title to the ranch before day's end, he does all he can to acquire the ranch before then.

Money's not a problem. South's rich. His longtime attorney, Judson Clark, is nearby, too. So is Clark's new assistant. She's a pretty woman lawyer named Anne, who's Clark's age. Although they haven't worked together long, she'd dearly love to ram a cell phone down his throat.

Anne quits Clark's firm to represent Ruth. Negotiations take place in James' big pick-up, as the four adults hurtle along West Texas highway toward a bank well over an hour away. Nothing about their situation starts out easily. It gets much harder once the attorneys go to war with each other.

Meanwhile, South's son and the son's wife are relocating to West Texas for the son's career. It comes at the expense of the wife's career, so they've agreed the move will only be for five years. Even so, she'll arrive at the ranch mourning the job she left behind.

Also, a small-town banker wants to undermine anything Ruth McKenzie does. He unwittingly allies himself with a sophisticated terrorist determined to kill Ruth McKenzie and everyone dear to her. The terrorist also wants the ranch.

More than once, you might find yourself wondering if Ruth will last even fifty more pages.

Randall Jarmon's wife likes all his books, but this is her favorite so far. It's mostly set in the vast, majestic, and empty prairie of West Texas. Both she and he fondly remember their years living there.

Besides that, the two horses are very cool.

Mikvelk Publishing, LLC