It seemed it only took a couple of days in any direction no matter where they were headed. One objection I had was to the distances these people seemed to travel so easily. And there's still Emmy's father and that waiting fiance back in Fresno to worry about. There are some thorny interludes along the way-a run-in with a wolf, curious Indians, twice Emmy abandons Bodine or vice versa but somehow they keep running into each other and getting together again-before everything is settled and the dust clears. This is a maddening touch for both Emmy, Bodine, and definitely the reader.three big love scenes and two deliberately interrupted by the 'hero' before the big consummation. He and Emmy still manage to get into bed several times before his conscience makes him back off. This may be a reflection of her assessment of Bodine's character or a fear that Emmy may get herself into a dangerous situation, (and one wonders how he can be responsible for preventing something from happening to Emmy before he actually finds her) but whichever, he takes it to mean 'hands off' and does his best to obey. Also, Emmy's grandmother has stressed that she wants her granddaughter back 'untouched'.

Whether this is what the brother intended or the widow wants, that's what he plans to do. Bodine promised his brother he'd take care of his wife and child and to him that means marrying the widow and becoming a father to his nephew.

There are two little flies in this particularly ointment, however. Once there, though the friend's absent, she proceeds to nurse Bodine back to health, falling in love with him in the process and, whenever he's conscious, he reciprocates, with misgivings. She and Bodine happen on each other, he intervenes and gets it's up to Emmy to get them to a friend's cabin which, though completely ignorant of the countryside, she manages. Getting herself hired to sing in Red Hurley's saloon, she immediately gets cheated out of her wages and strikes back by stealing what's owed her and finding herself being chased by Hurley to recover his loot. Since Bodine owes the deceased grandfather a debt, he agrees to find the girl who's just learned the identity of her long-lost father, an outlaw released from prison with no idea he has a daughter, much less that she's looking for him.Įmmy may be determined but she isn't too smart sometimes.

While he recuperates from a wound received in his last run-in with Metcalf, Bodine takes on the job of finding Emma Marie Rourke for her grandmother who wants her runaway granddaughter back in time for her wedding to childhood friend, Grant. Bodine is a bounty hunter after Rusty Metcalf, the man who killed Bodine's twin brother Joshua by mistake.

Bodine's Bounty by Charlene Sands