Edwina Parkhurst, Spinster

Rating:
Summary: Dog-eared and well-loved
Review: Edwina Parkhurst has a guilty secret, one that she has lied, contrived, and connived to keep hidden. Knowing full well that what she does is denounced as a terrible sin, preached against in pulpits, seen as Satan's handiwork by the God-fearing people in her world, and especially by the family she loves and has supported for years, Edwina continues her sinful ways. She has no choice if she is to keep a roof over her family's heads, food on the table, and garments suitable to their station.

Everything changes when she agrees to accompany her married sister to Oregon to rejoin her abusive husband, a trip that takes them through the wilds of Nevada's High Desert. A trip that has the sister and her daughters stolen by outlaws and strands Edwina in the desert winter. Dressed as a boy, driving a buggy destined for a 'calico queen,' and taking care of a man she thinks is an outlaw, she is hard put to keep on lying to Tal Jones, her captive, a blind gunfighter.

Wanting nothing more than to make enough money to go south where it's warm, Tal agreed to protect the freight wagons of whiskey, but he didn't expect to get shot in the head, lose his eye-sight, and wind up with a boy who was becoming more and more attractive every minute. And, of course, that isn't right.

And, of course, Edwina isn't a boy.