From Booklist
In 1932 Route 66 through Sayre, Oklahoma, saw a steady stream of dust bowl refugees, and many stopped at the garage owned by one-legged Andy Connors for fuel, repairs, a drink of water, or to rest in his campground. Big, brawny, and relatively well-off, H. L. Yates has come to Sayre to pay an old debt to Andy and finds the perfect way to do it when Andy is bitten by a rabid skunk. After taking him to the hospital, Yates takes over running the garage and watching over widowed Andy's young daughters and strong-willed sister-in-law, Leona, who the small-minded people of the small town have branded as a fallen woman. Yates, who wants no attachments, falls hard for Leona, whose sanctimonious holy-roller brother is a real threat to her and Andy's girls. Best-selling Garlock's endearing characters and vividly depicted milieu will enchant her legions of readers. Garlock's claim, "I write to entertain my readers," is fully validated with this suspenseful romance. Diana Tixier Herald
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SYNOPSIS

National bestselling author Dorothy Garlock breaks new ground with this first of a series of novels set on Route 66--the Depression's famed road to the Golden West. On a hot summer day in 1932, Andy Connors, who owns a garage that serves Route 66, finds himself in major trouble: He's been bitten by a rabid skunk. Fortunately, Yates, a man whose life Andy had once saved, is stopping by for gas and immediately takes control of the situation. After driving Andy to Oklahoma City for treatments, he returns to manage the garage while Andy recovers. Yates is also there to help Andy's two daughters and Leona, the woman who tends them--and who is the town scandal because she's not married to Andy. Drawn to this tough and tender woman, Yates is soon defending her against the local residents and her brother, who's intent on punishing Leona for disgracing him. Caught in the turmoil of gossip and threats, Yates and Leona will find their love tested at every turn--especially when her brother is murdered.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

The author of A Place Called Rainwater (and dozens more) is back with another sweetly entertaining historical novel. Widowed Andy Connors, his single sister-in-law Leona and his two young daughters run a gas station alongside the famed Route 66 (the "Mother Road") in Depression-era Sayre, Okla. They cater to families fleeing the dust bowl for the orange groves of California, give a helping hand to the occasional tramp and enjoy a peaceful and happy life-until one sweltering June day, when a rabid skunk bites Andy, leaving him unable to care for the family under his protection. Enter Yates, a mysterious man whose life Andy saved years ago, who passes the garage at just the right moment. He steps in to take over while Andy is recovering in the hospital, and finds that his ramblin' feet are very happy by the fireside with a beautiful woman and two impish children. But all of Sayre doesn't feel as he does. The town's religious busybodies, led by Leona's bullying, fanatically religious brother Virgil, have their own ideas about a woman who lives with a man without benefit of marriage-even if their relationship is entirely innocent-and they are determined to put her back in her place by any means necessary. Leona's prim and proper ways keep romance on the back burner, and Yates, a cowboy Prince Charming, saves the day perhaps one time too many, but this is a gently engaging tale, spiced with Depression-era detail. (June) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

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