Silver Queen — Shirl Henke

A CUSSING, CRUDE, BULLWHIP WIELDING FEMALE WHO RUNS A SILVER EMPIREHellion Laura Davies is known in Colorado as the silver queen. She has devoted her life to overseeing the family's silver mining empire. Since girlhood, she has preferred the company of rough miners and teamsters to that of polite society, only dressing and acting like a lady when forced to do so. A university degree in mining and metallurgy makes most men intimidated by her. Only the heir of a Wyoming cattle ranch wants to wed her. AN ELEGANT, CHARMING ENGLISHMAN WHO TRIES TO ESCAPE A DARK PAST Michael Jamison is the youngest son of an earl who has resigned from the British Foreign Office because of his work in southern Africa. In an attempt to escape his demons, he comes to America. In the grandeur of southwestern Colorado, he sees a rag-tag boy lose control of a silver ore wagon. He scoops the youth from the lead mule, only to find the filthy urchin is really a woman. She expresses fury with her would-be Lancelot using a series of remarkable oaths after her wagon overturns.THE MOST SCANDELOUS MARRIAGE IN A GENERATIONThat night when he arrives at her family's mansion to put forth a business proposition for her father, he is astonished to see the termagant transformed into a breathtaking silver-blonde beauty. During dinner the two engage in a battle of wits. Although Laura curbs her vocabulary, her clever insults and insinuations leave him oddly attracted to her. Likewise, Laura enjoys the sun-bronzed dude's skill at verbal dueling. Shrewdly, her mother senses the sizzling sexual tension between them.After her father finds them in a compromising situation, they are forced to marry. But Michael's recurring nightmares stand between them. Laura insists he trust her with the truth about his haunted past. He refuses, but after she nearly dies during a mining cave-in, he realizes that he must do whatever it takes to win the love of his...SILVER QUEEN