Austin and San Saba, Texas - Present Day

Billionaire Garrett Miller is the total opposite of Ali Moran: she's warm, he's reserved; she likes to have fun, he likes to make money; her humor is good natured, his is sarcastic. Complete opposites, but when Garrett Miller talks Ali into renting him all of her rooms in her bed and breakfast for a month, the old adage opposites attract turns out to be true.

Ali is a struggling photographer who rents out rooms to support herself. Why did she give up her vacation to play babysitter to Garrett Miller? She has no idea; okay, maybe she does; the money he was offering is much needed and more than what she usually charges. He was willing to pay four times the going room rate and, handsome though Garrett may be, he is a nuisance.

Garrett Miller is in Austin for business but also for personal reasons that have to do with Ali Moran. He wants to hurt her the way she hurt his stepmother, but the more Garrett gets to know Ali, the more he realizes that she is as much of a victim as his stepmother. How can he tell her the truth about her relationship with his stepmother without hurting Ali or revealing that he deceived her?

THE TEXAN'S CONTESTED CLAIM is the final book in Peggy Moreland's A Piece of Texas series. Six men in an airport waiting to be deployed to Vietnam get an unexpected offer from a complete stranger -- a deed to the stranger's ranch, torn up, and divided among the men upon their return from the war. The series deals with the offspring of these men. Although the complete opposites motif is a familiar one in romance novels, presented in THE TEXAN'S CONTESTED CLAIM, it becomes fresh again. Charming, with sharp, oftentimes funny dialogue, Garrett's yin to Ali's yang makes this story a very fun, sensual read. In addition, the story comes full circle; of all the men who were deployed to Vietnam at the beginning of the series, only one makes it back alive.

Readers should seek out and make time to read THE TEXAN'S CONTESTED CLAIM, a satisfying and emotional conclusion to the series.

Nickole Yarbrough