I think...if I'd read these in order, I would have really been irritated with book #3. The two overlap quite a bit. time-wise.
So our H - scary gunslinger who thinks of himself as a peacemaker - has a favor called in, and finds himself acting as a US Marshall. And... he'd just spotted someone who fit the description of one of the wanted posters. ( I must interject that shortly before he came to be in this town, he was challenged by a kid in a yellow slicker. Hmmm... Did we get a glimpse of a v. young Angel?). So with a bit of deductive reasoning and a question or two, he heads off and finds himself with... well... And now he has a dilemma - does he turn her in or...?
Our h, accused of killing someone, and robbing a bank, did neither - she was making a withdrawal and the banker gave her someone else's money too by accident - we assume anyway. Is possible he did it deliberately. She's been on the run and hiding for 2 years. And now she's caught. He doesn't turn her in, for personal reasons, not that he admits that even to himself. Just says it's because she's a girl. Much adventure...ok, hunting down of criminals...later, a kidnapping by the sheriff in her home town, and his running them to ground, a hasty marriage (because otherwise the supposedly dead person has sued for guardianship of her and her brother until she's 21 or married), a bit of intimid-ahh-conversation with said not-dead-yet mayer later, and he gives in and goes to his home...to figure out what's going on. Because...our gunslinging H is the oldest son of a *banker* in Chicago, and he apparently bravely ran away away after shooting his brother for screwing his fiance' and being ordered by dear old dad to marry her anyway.
Thoughts about it. The h talks...a lot... For someone on the run, she doesn't hide her tracks very well. Then again, he would never have seen her in the first place if her friend hadn't let her sleep late. The H...is maybe a little too good at hiding his emotions, which leads to a lot of uncertainty on the h's part. The story, in and of itself, is good. It could almost be seen as entertaining, though I think her constant chatter grated a bit too much on me for much amusement, and the behavior of the sheriff and his deputy bothered me a lot - they treated her like a criminal and it wasn't until the H caught up to them that they came clean about the charges being dismissed and them collecting her for her guardian.