But is he prepared to step into the boots of Tremain? Things become complicated when the girlfriend of an outlaw raider lands in the Wardtown jail. Jericho has to handle the threat of the outlaw and his gang, and his own growing feelings for the girl.

    

    Justice is back. Seeking a greater adventure than bringing law and order to the untamed Texas frontier, Texas Ranger Jesse "Heck" Carson, along with his friend, Tommy Jergsen, enlist in the Confederate Cavalry. They are placed in a special unit tasked with stopping the murderous Jayhawkers who have been carrying on a guerilla war against civilians in Missouri. Heck and his men face the expected horrors of war, but what they didn't expect was to find themselves in the middle of a private war where they don't know who to trust and where the lines between friend and enemy mean nothing. In order to do what is right, they must make decisions that will forever change the course of their lives and which thrusts them into a battle far more violent than anything they ever expected.

    With decades of research and insight, Jensen lifts the veil of public relations half-truths and exposes the reality of the man who is still, 30 years after his death, the iconic Western movie hero and hero of red state America. Jensen proves that the public John Wayne was very different from the private man, who struggled with severe alcoholism, chronic infidelity, self-esteem and personal demons that often made life hell for his wives and children. The book painstakingly recounts the triumphs and tragedies of the life of John Wayne – who rose from abject poverty to become the world’s most famous movie star – and creates a portrait of a man haunted by a childhood of abuse; a man conflicted by his own definition of masculinity; a man fighting to control his own rage and his propensity for violence; a man who committed domestic violence against all three of his wives and his children; and a man haunted by and driven to overcome his fear of failure, poverty and ridicule.

    His son and daughters were quick-witted and handsome like their mother but had gained an instinctual cunning from him. Deep inside him was the knowledge that his family was the best thing he had ever done.The guns hung dusty and quiet in a cabinet in the barn behind a padlock. The younger times of chasing payroll lock boxes and gold carrying stagecoaches seemed a secret lifetime ago. Until one day, a dark shadow from his past rode into the yard firing up the lure of one last easy job.Quiet common sense wrestled with flashy, loud desire. The buckskin roan saddled, twin Colts cleaned and holstered, and Nick took one long look at home, then turned and headed north. Liquid courage from a bottle fueled his emerging streak of recklessness.What would he sacrifice to bring money back to the family? Could he pull of the job, and make it back home in one piece or would a bullet stop him?

     Christy McKinley, successful attorney in Boston, has her routine life interrupted when unexpected events force her to take a leave of absence from work and fly to Colorado to find her two years old stepbrother, Matthew. Jared Reed, a rugged rancher finds himself in charge of a failing ranch and a two years old nephew when his brother and sister-in-law die in a car accident. Two more different people as Christy and Jared could not be and they seem to disagree in everything except their love for little Mathew and the determination to save the ranch as his inheritance. As weeks go by and the two get to know each other better, the attraction grows and the old saying that opposites attract comes true.

    Will he survive the harsh trail life, Mexican bandits, and a kidnapping? Rescue comes from the most unlikely place--but will it come in time?

    An escape after seeing so much death working in field hospitals during the Civil War. She wasn't expecting a stubborn man. A man who lost his leg during the war. Along with a town in need of a doctor and children a mother. Can she fight her way through Doug's hard heart and earn her place in both?Doug Baker doesn't need the complication of a woman in his life. His children feel different. No one wants half of a man. Except Elizabeth won't take no for an answer, and neither will his children. Can he thaw his heart to fall in love and help her to win over the town?

    Until Hayden Tilden caught up with him.Smilin’ Jack Paine is one face from the past that Hayden would rather forget, but the man’s sinister grin is permanently etched in his memory, along with the chilling thoughts of Paine’s unspeakable crimes. There seems to be no other way to put that demon to rest than to tell the whole story—from the day Hayden first heard the man’s name to the day he finally wiped the grin off Paine’s face for good.Praise for Lawdog: The Life and Times of Haydon Tilden“Lawdog should assume its rightful place beside other Western classics.” —Peter Brandvold, author of Once Hell Freezes Over“Lawdog has it all. I couldn’t put it down.” —Jack Ballas, author of West of the RiverAbout the Author:J. Lee Butts is the author of 22 published books and numerous magazine articles and short works. His book Brotherhood of Blood was runner-up for the Western Writers of America Spur Award in 2005. He’s worn many hats over the years (teacher, administrator, pool manager, IBM supervisor, and western author), and he and his late wife lived everywhere from Los Angeles to Dallas. Currently he’s hanging those hats back in White Hall, Arkansas.

    Excerpt and one of them, Gavin, was reputed to be the strongest man in the neighborhood. The daughter, a long-limbed slip of a girl who rode like a cow-puncher, was about the boy's age. Though Godfrey French had a ranch it was worked scarcely at all. The boys did not like work, and apparently did not have to. Godfrey French was reputed to have money. His ranch was a hang-out for what were known as "remittance men," young Englishmen who received more or less regular allowances from home--or perhaps to keep away from home. There were rumors of gambling and hard drinking at French's ranch. "Well, I'll take you home," the boy said. "You can ride my pony. He's on a rope a mile from here. But I'll have to hang up this buck, or the coyotes will chew him." He found two small saplings close together, bent them down, trimmed them and lashed their tops. Over these he placed the tied legs of the buck. With a little search he found a long dry pole. With this he had a tripod. As he hoisted with the pole the spring