Gil Slatter is quick on the draw and has a head for running a ranch-but he's also a lonely man with nothing more than a cot in the bunkhouse at the TXY Ranch to call home. When the ranch's foreman drops dead of a heart attack and the owner picks Gil to take his place, his entire world turns upside down. One day life is simple. The next, he's running the entire outfit, buying new horses to replace the rundown remuda, finding new markets for the beef, tackling the problems of water shortages and homesteaders and learning how to deal with the tough and proud old man who owns the place.
The old foreman's passing means more than just a new job and new challenges on the ranch, though. He also leaves behind a daughter, a willful young woman named Kate. When Gil drops by to pay his respects, she shocks him with a somewhat outrageous proposal... and ends up stealing his heart.
So starts the Western adventure of a lifetime. Between wild horses, outlaws, rustlers, homesteaders, an ambitious young landowner with a mean streak, and the flirtatious, scheming wife of the ranch's owner, it's no easy task for any man to handle. But with his new bride beside him, Gil is determined to take the TXY to new heights of success… or die trying!

Dusty Richards grew up riding horses and watching his western heroes on the big screen. He even wrote book reports for his classmates, making up westerns since English teachers didn't read that kind of book. His mother, though, didn't want him to be a cowboy, so he went to college, then worked for Tyson Foods and auctioned cattle when he wasn't an anchor on television.His lifelong dream, though, was to write the novels he loved. He sat on the stoop of Zane Grey's cabin and promised he'd one day get published, as well. In 1992, that promise became a reality when his first book, Noble's Way, hit the shelves. In the years since, he's published over 160 more, winning nearly every major award for western literature along the way. His 150th novel, The Mustanger and the Lady, was adapted for the silver screen and released as the motion picture Painted Woman in 2017. In a review for the movie, True West magazine proclaimed Dusty "the greatest living western fiction writer alive." Sadly, Dusty passed away in early 2018, leaving behind a legion of fans and a legacy of western writing that will live on for generations.