A Texan's Choice

‘A Texan’s Choice’ by Shelley Gray is a Christian historical cowboy romance. It is the third of three books in the Heart of a Hero series. This book is told through the eyes of four people: Rosemarie Cousins, Scout Proffitt, Russell Andrew Champion, and Miles Grant. The story takes place in Texas in 1874, after the Civil War. This book can be read alone but it would best if you read A Texan’s Honor first, as it explains about Scout and Russell and how they know each other and what changed them.

Scout Proffitt grew up in Texas with his older brother Clayton and older sister Corrine. (The first book, A Texan’s Promise, has Clayton’s story and has Corrine and her husband in it.) He had to learn some hard lessons and had to kill to defend himself. Since then, he has become so famous a gunslinger that everyone knows of him and books have even been written about him.

Later he became a member of the Walton Gang. When he was on an assignment to hunt down and kill some people, he picked up a stray girl named Kitty along the way. The death of Kitty shook Scout and made him start thinking differently. And with the capture of Walton, he couldn’t return to the gang and he found that he didn’t want to. So Scout took off and ended up in Oklahoma. While there, Scout wins the deed to a ranch from Ben Cousins in a card game. He finds that he wants to start a new life and being a rancher is as good a job as anything. (All what happened in this paragraph is in the second book, which is why I suggest you read it first!)

Rosemarie ‘Rose’ Cousins and her family are waiting for her father, Ben, to die after a long illness. Shortly after a Scout rides up to the house to say that he now owns the ranch, a loud scream is heard coming from the house. Ben has just died. When her mother, May, finds out that she doesn’t own the ranch, she packs up her belongings and goes to live in town with her older daughter and her family, leaving Rose behind. Her family has never forgiven her when her younger brother died while she was watching him. (Even though she was only a child herself!) So Rose is now at the mercy of Scout, for she knows of no one who would take her in.

Miles Grant is living at the ranch by himself now that his parents are dead and his sister is living with her husband and his sister’s family. His housekeeper is after him to marry. There’s a young woman in town trying to push herself at him to become his wife. There’s another young woman he has his eye on, but she pushes him away. Then he has problems with rustlers in the area.

Russell Andrew Champion has banded together with several other men, trying to find good work instead of being an outlaw. All of them have killed someone at some point (even Russell) and all would like a new start on life. Then they hear how a rancher named Mr. Grant is asking for reformed outlaws who would be willing to stop the rustlers. In exchange, he will pay them, and the local sheriff has agreed to wipe their records clean, if they’re willing to help. The guys convince Russell that they could do the job if he could convince Scout to join them. They had heard rumors of Scout owning a ranch.

This book ended the series well, even though I would have liked a little more on Miles’ and Russell’s stories. Like the other books, there’s action, suspense, and romance.

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