How does Lorraine Heath keep coming up with such marvelous books? She is that rare writer – one who has never disappointed me. A Rogue in Texas just reminds me again why I love her books so much. She gives the reader great characters, an absorbing story and has a beautiful writing style that is heartfelt and full of sentiment without using a syllable of purple prose.

Grayson Rhodes and two of his friends are Englishmen who are out of favor with their fathers. Grayson especially, he’s a rogue and wastrel, and is an unloved illegitimate product of his noble father’s affair with an actress. These young men have been sent to the United States in the hopes that they will straighten themselves out. The three of them find themselves in Texas. Their services are brought by widowed women who need help with the cotton crop. Grayson is to help Abigail Westland who has a large crop and three small children. Abbie wonders at first if Grayson will be any good at all – he is just too well dressed and has no calluses on his hands. For his part, Grayson finds himself yearning to prove to his father and to himself that he can do something useful and that he’s not just a rogue and no-good,

Abbie and Grayson slowly get to know each other. Abbie had been married at seventeen to John Westland. She and her husband had not loved each other, but neither had they hated each other. He lived to work the land and Abbie was his helper and that was that. He was not cruel or mean, but there was no love or even tenderness in his relationship with his wife and children. When he left to go to the war, Abbie did not remember him with any affection. She knew nothing of love and passion between a man and a woman until Grayson came along. Grayson finds himself drawn to Abbie who does nothing but work and asks for nothing for herself. Grayson gradually begins to care for her and her family and his caring turns to love for both of them.

Just as Abbie and Grayson begin to hope that they have a future together, her husband returns. This is where a lesser writer would be tempted to portray John Westland as a deep-dyed villain. Thank goodness Heath does not. No, he is not in the least bit a likable character. He is gruff and uncommunicative, but we know enough about him to know why he is the way he is. John’s reaction to finding his wife in love with another man is understandable, even if it is painful to read. As for Grayson and Abbie – they are caught in a bind between love and honor and I wept for their plight.

A Rogue in Texas shows Lorraine Heath’s ability to tell the story through the characters. She never stops the story dead in its tracks to give us background; instead characters and story are woven together into a seamless whole. I was enthralled throughout the book.

The only thing that marred the book for me, was an ending that was a little too convenient and melodramatic. But the ending was only a very slight flaw in an otherwise wonderful book. In the field of American historical romances, Lorraine Heath has few equals. Once you have read one of her books you will want to get all of them. She is just that good.