Mostly, I liked this book. Mostly. But, it had a few quirks, pushed a few limits, was a bit too icky in places, so that I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I had wanted to.

Duncan Sarratt is lying dead. At his feet, his wife is being raped. Young Jake and Ben are roused from their beds just in time to witness their mother’s brutal assault and murder. Jake, the eldest of the boys, attacks the murderer, Frank McLain, and successfully separates a testicle from the man before Jake, himself, is shot. Jake and Ben flee into the night, both severely wounded, leaving their dead parents and their whole lives in ashes. This opening scenario was short, but icky. It did, however it set the stage for why the adult Jake is so consumed with revenge, and how nothing, absolutely nothing, will keep him from returning to his father’s ranch to kill Frank McLain, and take back what belongs to him and his brother.

Frank McLain’s pretty well satisfied with himself. He’s gotten everything he’s ever wanted, and now, he wants a real lady for a wife. Victoria Waverly, a daughter of the war-ravaged South, is penniless but beautiful. Seeing an opportunity to recover his family’s dignity, Victoria’s father sells her into marriage with Frank McLain. Victoria cannot stand the sight of the man, but does as her father wishes, essentially to keep her noble family from starvation.

Posing as a cowboy who happens to be exceptionally good with a gun, Jake hires on at his own ranch to set the plan in motion that will return his birthright to him. Victoria’s arrival, and immediate marriage to McLain, complicates things a little, for when he kills McLain, the ranch won’t be free and clear, it will belong to the lovely young widow. How tragic for Jake. He’s already consumed with desire for her, so, when the slimy, icky, and totally weird McLain dies, Jake marries Victoria the next day, and ownership of the rich Western dynasty returns to him and Ben.

But wait – life’s just not that simple! It seems, shortly after their steamy wedding night, Victoria discovers she’s pregnant. “What? It’s not mine!” thunders Jake, who then acts like a real jerk toward the totally-in-love-with-her-hunky-new-husband Victoria. Victoria tries to tell him that Frank had been a little “lame” (pardon the pun) in the arousal department, and had taken her virginity in a brief and painful (and icky) episode, but then was unable to consummate the marriage. After that night, McLain had left her completely alone, choosing instead to ease himself on the local whore. We know the baby is Jake’s, but it was a Big Misunderstanding caused by the fact he refused to really listen to what Victoria had to say. Very frustrating, and so, so very alpha.

There’s a very nice secondary romance between Ben and Victoria’s shy-but-feisty cousin, Emma. And a star-crossed affair between Victoria’s naïve sister, Celia, and Luis Fonteras, a hunky cowboy who’s story is completed in Linda Howard’s Angel Creek.

If you can overlook the icky parts, and the hard-headedness of our handsome hero, and don’t mind creepy villains, you’ll enjoy A Lady of the West. I liked it, but not nearly as much as I wanted to.