He strapped on his gun, wanting to be ready to protect his wife and son on their journey back through rugged country. Stuart had worried at first about their traveling alone, but that was what they wanted. Colt smiled with remembered embarrassment when he thought of how Sunny had reminded Stuart it was Colt Travis she would be with. “I’ll have the best scout and guide a person can hire right with me,” she had boasted.
He secured the holster with ties around his thigh. No, there would be no extra guards on this trip. For once they would be totally alone in the land they loved, not as tentative lovers who never knew how long they could be together, but as husband and wife, the way it should have been years ago.
He took the horses from the train and brought them over to where Sunny was still talking to the rest of the family, now hugging Vi. There came a barrage of handshaking and good-byes, and Colt mounted up, reaching down and taking Bo from Sunny’s arms. She mounted the palomino, and amid more cheers and gunfire from the surrounding crowd they rode off together, leaving the continued noisy celebrations behind them. They headed out into beautiful mountainous country.
“Tom Canary told me that Henry Villard is talking about another railroad farther north,” Sunny told him.
“Who’s Henry Villard?”
Sunny smiled. “A very rich business tycoon who doesn’t know what else to do with all his money.”
“Like somebody else I know?”
Sunny laughed. “They’re calling it the Great Northern, and Canary is already thinking of investing.”
“You trying to tell me something?”
“Sounds kind of exciting, don’t you think? This railroad thing can get in a person’s blood. What do you say, Mr. Travis? Should we invest?”
“Depends how involved you want to get. You planning on being out there at the construction sites?”
She shrugged. “You know that country better than I do. Is it really as pretty as they say up in the Dakotas and Montana?”
“Prettier than anything you can imagine.”
They rode quietly for a moment, then looked at each other. “I imagine they could use someone to oversee the surveyors and scouts, someone with a lot of experience in that field,” Sunny hinted. “If we owned enough shares, we would want to be very involved. It would certainly be exciting, wouldn’t it?”
Colt grinned and shook his head. “What will we do with all the babies you’re going to have?”
“Oh, where there’s a will, and enough money, there is a way around any obstacle.”
“You can’t wait to go out and find something else to spend your money on, can you?”
“It’s just a thought. Right now it doesn’t matter. Right now I’m having the most wonderful time of my life.” She left him then, kicking the palomino into a hard run and riding ahead of him, yelling like an Indian.
Colt laughed, wondering how they both could have been such fools to deny themselves all these years. He swore he would by God make up for it. He would learn what he needed to learn, but he would make sure Sunny left that world of wealth and power often for simple pleasures like this. He urged Dancer into a harder run to catch up with her, letting out a war whoop. Little Bo screamed and giggled. His father’s arm was around him, and he was not afraid.
Author’s Note
Just as the great Rocky Mountains are majestic in their reach toward the heavens, so is there a majesty to the Great Plains of the American West. They stretch for hundreds of miles of aloneness, sometimes flat, sometimes rising and falling like frozen ocean waves. There has always been a thunder on the plains…from violent spring storms that hit without warning…or in another time the pounding of buffalo hooves, or the rumbling locomotive that once snaked its way across vast stretches of grassland and wildflowers, its great steam engine dwarfed by the immensity of the land.
This story is about yet another kind of thunder, the kind that comes from two hearts beating, from a love as great and enduring as the land itself. Although the historical background for this novel is the building of the Union Pacific from Omaha, Nebraska, to Promontory Point, Utah, it is more than the story of steel rails and eight-wheeled “iron horses.” It is a love story that begins well before the railroad becomes a reality, a love story that endures through the Civil War and the assassination of a president.
Thunder on the Plains introduces the men who planned and schemed to build a railroad to reap great financial rewards; and the men who did the actual building, risking their lives against Indians, an unforgiving landscape, and the elements. It is equally the story of a woman of unusual courage and determination; a woman of great passion whose devotion to her father and her vow to finish his dream surpassed all other wants and needs; a woman of self-sacrifice whose strength and power was matched only by the great steam locomotives and the railroad empire itself.
The main characters in this novel and their personal stories are fictitious, and any resemblance to people who actually existed is purely coincidental. However, Dr. Thomas Durant and General John Casement are true characters so important to the building of the Union Pacific that I could not leave them out of this story. I like to imagine that all my other characters really lived. Certainly there were many like them during this exciting era.
I hope in reading this book you will share the human triumph as well as human tragedy, that you will feel the excitement and pride that came with the building of a railroad and with the growth of a nation. Most of all, I hope you will remember the love story that follows the rails west.
If you would like more information about me and my books, please visit my web site at www.rosannebittner.com or my blog at www.rosannebittner.blogspot.com. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, and view my author page at www.amazon.com or www.sourcebooks.com. And feel free to email me at [email protected]. Thank you!
Rosanne Bittner
Texas Pride
by Leigh Greenwood
A Prince among Men
Carla Reece had never met anyone more infuriating in her life. The blond giant who swaggered up to her door had no right to take over half her ranch—no matter how stupid her brother had been gambling it away in a high-stakes poker game. Her new foreman claimed to be some foreign royalty who promised to leave in a year. Still, a year was way too long to spend with a man who made her madder than a wet hen and weak in the knees all at the same time.
A Hellion among Women
Ivan may have charmed everyone in town into thinking he was the perfect gentleman, but Carla knew better. There had to be a chink in his armor—a red-hot passion under that calm, cool gaze. But once she finds it, she may be in for more than she ever bargained for…
Praise for Leigh Greenwood:
“For a fast-paced story of the Wild West, Leigh Greenwood is one of the best.”
—RT Book Reviews
For more Leigh Greenwood, visit:
www.sourcebooks.com
Cowboy Crazy
by Joanne Kennedy
Sparks fly when sexy cowboys collide with determined heroines in a West filled with quirky characters and sizzling romance. Acclaimed for delivering “a fresh take on the traditional contemporary Western,” Joanne Kennedy’s books might just be your next great discovery!
From stable to boardroom…
Sarah Landon’s Ivy League scholarship transforms her from a wide-eyed country girl into a poised professional. Until she’s assigned to do damage control with the boss’s rebellious brother Lane, who’s the burr in everybody’s saddle. He’s determined to save his community from oil drilling, and she’s not going back to the ranch she left forever. Spurs will shine in this saucy romp about ranchers and roots, redemption and second chances.
Praise for Tall, Dark and Cowboy:
“Another steamy, suspenseful offering from the popular Kennedy.”
—Bookl
ist
“A sassy and sexy wild ride that is more fun than a wild hootenanny!”
—The Romance Reviews, 5 stars
For more Joanne Kennedy, visit:
www.sourcebooks.com
Jesse
by C.H. Admirand
Loneliness will take a man places...
Jesse Garahan has plenty of Irish charm, but having had his heart demolished twice, he’s sworn off women forever. Until the fateful day he meets Danielle Brockway and her tiny daughter on their way to their new home in Pleasure, Texas.
But there may be places he doesn’t want to go...
Fiercely protective of her little girl, Danielle isn’t about to let Jesse get anywhere close enough to hurt either of them, no matter how much longing she sees in his eyes...
Praise for Dylan:
“Readers will be left panting.”
—RT Book Reviews, 4½ stars
For more C.H. Admirand, visit:
www.sourcebooks.com
About the Author
Award-winning novelist Rosanne Bittner is highly acclaimed for her thrilling love stories and historical authenticity. Her epic romances span the West—from Canada to Mexico, Missouri to California—and are often based on personal visits to each setting. She and her husband live in Coloma, Michigan, and have two grown sons and three grandsons. Visit Rosanne at www.rosannebittner.com.
Thunder on the Plains Page 58
