Can a big, tough, tight-lipped sheriff be a beta hero? Witt Gavin in The Lawman Takes A Wife sure is. Witt is all John Wayne rugged on the outside, but inside he is as soft and sweet as the chocolate drops that he loves so much. It doesn’t take him long to find the candy at Molly Calhan’s general store, or for the widowed Molly to notice how good looking the new sheriff is. The upshot is a pursuit of the shy and quiet Witt by the much more self-assured Molly.

Witt is the object of a lot of gossip, and not all of it because he is the new sheriff. He has a reputation. Witt killed a couple of bank robbers when he was an assistant sheriff in Kansas City, and he is, horror of horrors, divorced. Witt is a big man, tall and broad shouldered, whose first wife made him feel oversized and oversexed when he wanted to kiss her. She barely tolerated his lovemaking and eventually found a new man, a dapper, smooth-talking, short fellow, so Witt gave her a divorce. Since then he’s been alone.

Molly Calhan’s husband had been killed in a mining accident. I’ll bet you think he was a bad man, and she is well rid of him? No – Molly loved her husband and he loved her. They had two children and Molly is not a bit shy in admitting that she misses a warm, loving man in her bed. Molly is a good mother who knows that her son Dickie needs a masculine presence in his life, so she doesn’t object when he gets a part-time job helping the sheriff.

There’s a bit of a plot about a forthcoming bank robbery, but it isn’t a very prominent part of the book. Most of it is about Witt and Molly and her pursuit of him. Witt is as scared, bashful, and unsure of himself as a poor country miss faced with a roomful of the ton at Almack’s. Most of his conversation consists of tipping his hat to Molly and mumbling “ma’am.” Self-assured Molly looks on this as a challenge, and pursues him (in a very lady-like way, of course). When she catches him – well, there is a love scene to treasure. For the first time in his life, Witt has a woman who is not afraid to get naked, who enjoys his kisses and loves him back as enthusiastically as he loves her. Naturally, this scares him to death, and his reaction is like that of a skittish virgin.

All goes well, this being a romance, but the journey there is one of the most delightful I have taken in a while. If you are looking for a book with a Big Plot filled with Meaning you might not want to read this, but if you are tired, upset or just want to be happy and feel good, read this. I guarantee you will close it with a smile.