No one in Happy Valley ever suspected Walker Simmons' deep, dark secret. Indeed, how could they? Easy going, well liked, and dependable, Walker Simmons is just your average, easy-going cowboy. He works hard, cracks jokes when the going gets tough, and even comes up with pretty fair Sunday sermons in his spare time at church. Not that he's a holier-than-thou kind of guy. No calling down fire and brimstone on cowpokes hung over from Saturday night. None of that. Walker Simmons is a friend to everyone, be they saint or sinner, man, woman or child. Never married, though a few young ladies cast a hopeful eye in his direction . . . But all that changes one bone-chilling day in March of 1889, when tragedy struck at the Gunderson's ranch down the road. Secretly in love with his best friend's wife Mitzi for years, Walker convinces the grieving young widow that with a ranch to run and a ten-year-old son to raise, she needs a man around the place to do the heavy lifting. And, oh, yes, by the way, perhaps they should tie the knot, so as not to shock the neighbors? Deeply moved by such neighborly concern, Mitzi accepts his proposal. And so this happy bachelor moves in to fill her late husband's shoes. It doesn't take long before the sparks begin to fly!
About the Author: First published in her teens, BARBARA DAN has enjoyed a variety of life experiences, including working as a professional actress, model, night club comedienne, singer/dancer, comedy writer, puppeteer, theatrical producer in Hollywood, screen-writer, publicist, fund-raiser, real estate saleswoman, hands-on builder of houses, escrow officer, co-teacher of couples' communications workshops with her family therapist husband, as well as publisher, editor, and adjunct college professor. But by far her greatest joy has been her grand adventure as mother of four now grown children, grandma to five grandchildren, and great-grandmother of three young charmers. A voracious reader of history, Barbara enjoys quilting, gardening, oil painting, tracking genealogies, and prowling around old graveyards and musty museums while doing research for her latest novel. She is currently a member of Women Writing the West and Western Writers of America, Inc. Her novel Silent Angel won Best Historical Novel Award in the Colorado RWA's Heart of the Rockies competition in 1992, and she has been writing Westerns and other historical romances ever since. Besides degrees in Theatre Arts and Advanced Accounting, she earned her M.A. in Humanities (emphasis: history and literature) from California State University in 1988, but feels that life experience is the most valuable tool any writer brings to his or her work. (A good sense of humor helps, too!) Visit http: //barbaradan.com to learn more about this prolific author's books.