A TEXAS SOLDIER'S FAMILY – Cathy Gillen Thacker
Texas Legacies: The Lockharts - Book 1 of 5
Harlequin Western Romance #1601
ISBN: 978-0-373-75625-4
July 2016
Series Contemporary Romance

Present Day Laramie, Texas

Captain Garett Lockhart, a physician in the U.S. Army, has only twenty-nine days to decide what he wants to do for the rest of his life. He can re-enlist and take a promotion and position in the military hospital in the D.C. area, take a job as a civilian, or return to Laramie and the inheritance left him by his father. Meanwhile, a family crisis calls him home. When his father made a fortune, he and Garrett's mother formed The Lockhart Foundation dedicated to good works. It seems to be in trouble.

Flying first class to accommodate his six-foot, five-inch height, he's barely settled in his seat when the gorgeous blond who was ogling him before boarding attempts to take the seat next to him, she lands her lovely body in his lap! This is not the way she wanted to meet the eldest Lockhart, so she doesn't immediately introduce herself.

Hope Winslow bills herself as a crisis manager, and she has been hired by Garrett's mother, Lucille Lockhart, to help avoid the scandal brewing with the foundation. Several beneficiaries of its largess have complained they never received the funds they were promised.

Once in Texas, it's painfully obvious that Garrett and Hope have opposing views on how to handle the growing crisis. Though their minds are in conflict, their bodies have their own feelings. Both have been burned by love in the past. This left Garrett wary of relationships, and left Hope a disillusioned but doting single mother of a sweet little boy.

I was highly impressed with the writing of this new-to-me author. She brought Garrett and Hope to life immediately and had them verbally wrangling and bantering, and gave them undercurrents of mutual attraction.

On top of that, Garret's mother and four of his five siblings are introduced, all with personalities of their own. (One is away in the Special Forces.) Add in the battle against the coming ruin of the Lockhart name and the mystery of what happened to the money, and you have a most captivating tale. The best part? There are four more episodes to come!

Jane Bowers