"Briana is a suspenseful adventure of unexpected love, deceit, and treachery that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Blue Ribbon Rating--5!"--Briana Burress, Romance Junkies
"Briana is packed with action, enjoyable characters and a good dose of romance. With so few historical westerns being released, fans of that genre will want to check Briana out."--Tracy Farnsworth, Round Table Reviews
Briana is a western romance set in 1880 Red Junction, Texas. Ms. Boulds creates tension for the reader with deception, betrayal, and tumultuous love.It is hard to find good western romances that will keep the reader engrossed in the story, so readers will be delighted when they read Briana."--Cassandra Buckles, Coffee Time Romance
"Briana is a lively western historical romance that fans of the genre should find well worth the read. The characters are larger than life in keeping with their Texas locations, and the romance deliciously spicy."--Laurel Johnson, Midwest Book Review
"Tammy Boulds does a wonderful job of blending a historical setting with romantic suspense elements. In Briana, Ms. Boulds continues to write vivid characters with human flaws. I always find new and refreshing reads from this talented author."--Tami Sutton, The Best Reviews
Chapter 1
Red Junction, Texas, 1880
This was never going to work. There was a new man coming to run the family ranch, and Briana McBride wasn't the least bit happy. Her father, Raymond McBride, owned one of the largest ranches in West Texas. She always enjoyed living on the ranch with her father, until he married Victoria Jackson.
After her father married, things went down hill, Victoria had a daughter two years younger than Briana, and things were never the same between her and her father. Her father took to Victoria's daughter instantly, leaving his own daughter out in the cold. If it hadn't been for their housekeeper, Abigail Reed, she would have been alone after her mother died ten years ago when she was twelve.
Victoria and her daughter, Tiffany, had been in the family for eight years now, and they were the most miserable years in Briana's life. Things were about to get worse.
The ranch foreman, Joe Wagner of her father's Silver Lining Ranch, was killed a few weeks ago. He worked for her father for several years, and in that time she became friends with him. Although to her father it was just a business deal, and now her father had hired a new man from Wyoming. He was supposed to arrive any day. To make matters worse, her presence had been requested up at the main house tonight for supper. She usually tried to grab a bite to eat in the kitchen at night because she didn't like being in the same room with her stepmother and stepsister, or her father. Nevertheless, she would have to be there tonight; something must be up or they wouldn't have cared if she were there or not.
Briana tilted her head back, looking at the sun and trying to judge the time. She needed to get back to the house; if she were late for supper, or the evening meal as Victoria called it, she would be in big trouble.
Raymond and Victoria McBride were two of a kind. The only thing they cared about was maintaining their way of life, and Tiffany was growing up to fill their shoes.
Her father was sitting behind his massive desk; his feet propped up, an expensive cigar in his hand and thinking about Nicholas McMurtry, the new foreman he hired; it wouldn't be long until he arrived. According to his sources, he would be easy to manipulate. Raymond twisted in his chair, looking through the double windows behind his desk. All the eye could see and beyond belonged to him, and Victoria of course.
Thinking about Victoria, Raymond's eyes took on a glow. Whenever he thought about his second wife, his blood pounded in his veins. She could turn any man into mush and his daughter Tiffany, whom he adopted after he married Victoria, was a sight to behold as well; not like his real daughter from his first marriage. Briana looked like an orphan most of the time; she always wore men's trousers and a work shirt, two sizes too big. She was disgraceful, but they needed her now. He had made a trip into town to talk to his attorney yesterday and found out some very disturbing news. Moreover, after a long talk with Victoria last night, they had come up with a plan, and the new foreman was going to play right into their hands.
He looked at the clock on the mantel in his office, and decided it was time to get ready for dinner. His whole family would be joining him tonight. He took one more draw from the expensive cigar before extinguishing it, then drained the glass of whiskey on his desk. He was ready for anything.
Briana rode slowly into the ranch yard. She looked up in the direction of the main house, searching for any sign of her family. When she didn't see them, she relaxed a little. She entered the barn, and stepped down from the saddle with practiced ease. If there was one thing she was good at, it was riding a horse--after all; she'd been riding most of her life.
A smile crossed her face, as she thought about the times she and her mother had gone riding. I really miss her. My life hasn't been the same since she died, and I don't think it is going to change for the better any time soon.
After finishing her chores and taking care of her horse, she brushed the dust off her clothes and headed to the house. No sense in putting if off any longer.
Abigail Reed, the housekeeper for the Silver Lining Ranch, was busy in the kitchen, making supper for the McBrides. She had been working at the ranch for eighteen years. She loved working here, because she had been taking care of Briana almost since she was born; she was like a daughter to Abigail. The last few years had been hard on Briana, ever since her father married Victoria. Abigail didn't like Victoria, or that conniving daughter of hers. In her opinion, they had been up to no good from the day they arrived at the ranch. They have ignored her for the past eight years, and it just broke her heart to see Raymond treat his own daughter that way. Abigail knew Briana's mother would have had a conniption if she knew how he was treating their daughter.
Miss Abby looked out the kitchen window and grinned when she saw Briana walking across the back yard with very determined strides. Abby knew she was trying to work up the courage for the evening meal. It would be miserable for the girl. Victoria and Tiffany always made her feel like a worn out old shoe at these little get-togethers.
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Red Junction, Texas: Briana McBride is unhappy after learning her father hired a new man to run the family ranch--a job she wanted. And to make matters worse, her father sends her to the train station to meet him. But after meeting him, she discovers he is nothing more than a drunk. Nicholas McMurtry is a man with a tortured past and a young son to care for. So he accepts a job on the Silver LIning Ranch, but when he meets his new boss' daughter he starts having second thoughts. Soon after their return to the ranch, a string of suspicious accidents bring the couple closer together. And Briana learns miracles come in many forms, even the form of a drunken foreman.
