Sunset Embrace by Sandra Brown

Title: Sunset Embrace
Author: Sandra Brown
ISBN: 0446356859
Publisher: Warner Brothers
Genre: Historical Romance
Pages: 360/Paperback

I picked this up from one of my friend’s place. She seldom reads anything other than romances. She insisted I read this one. Sunset Embrace is romance all right with all the usual trials and tribulations the hero and heroine undergo before everlasting love. It is said to be set in 1870s when wagon trains moved from one place to another.

Lydia is a destitute and has been wandering for weeks. She is with child. One day her labour pain starts and she falls down with sheer exhaustion. She prays for death for herself and her yet unborn baby. Her baby is born dead and she is found in the unconscious state by Bubba and his brother Luke Langston, who go out and fetch their mother Ma Langston. One look at her and she is taken away to be looked after by the Langston family. Ma Langston does not ask about her past and accepts her as she is.

Meanwhile, in another Wagon, Ross Coleman’s wife dies in childbirth. Ma Langston laments about it and after a couple of days finds a perfect solution. There is a young woman without a child and a baby without a mother. Lydia is to serve as a wet-nurse for the boy. Ross is not keen. He takes Lydia to be a piece of trash and does not want her anywhere near his child. However, Lydia and the infant bond instantly. Even Ross cannot deny that. Despite his misgivings, he allows her to stay in his wagon for the sake of his son.

She had vowed no man should touch her and he is grief-stricken by his pureblooded wife’s death. He finds himself attracted towards her and because of his conflicted feelings is very nasty towards her. She is too strong-willed to take that from him and gives him back in equal measure. From there in starts, that inevitable spark of attraction. Before anything can be truly resolved, both their past catches up with them. Not only do they have to contend with the hardships and dangers that any wagon train would face, but also they are also being stalked by a murderous mad man who is intent on rape and murder.

There are other interesting characters from the wagon train: Bubba Langston, the boy who found Lydia and idolizes Ross wanting to become like him; Priscilla, who seduces Bubba; Winston Hill, the southern gentleman who is attracted to Lydia; and Ma, the matriarch of the wagon train. Each has a role to play in the book that when woven together make for an excellent read. Maybe I should read romances more often!