Headstrong and spoiled Liberty Mayfield flees her home with a stranger for protection, running from an abusive fiancé. Overcoming her almost paralyzing fear of horses, Liberty rides into a world alien to her. There are no society lunches with important Washington women or balls with fancy gowns, which she attended with her father the senator. Instead, she rides, painfully injured from the beating she took from her fiancé, into the rough Texas hillside. Along the way and with the help of a shy cowboy, Liberty discovers hidden strengths and depths within herself.

Tobin McMurray cheated death when he was six years old and a bullet almost ended his life. Believing fate will intervene and that he will die young, Tobin rejects having a family. He chooses to dedicate himself to breeding and raising horses with which he has a special bond. When Tobin delivers a horse to a powerful senator, he promises the man he will kidnap his daughter and take her to safety. Preferring horses to people, Tobin reluctantly adheres to his pledge. He expects to help a spoiled princess but instead discovers a badly beaten young woman who captures his heart with her quiet courage.

Liberty falls in love with the gentle, self-reliant cowboy, but she knows their worlds are too different. His spirit would die in the city and she does not know any other life. Growth in character and spirit must occur before they can realize happiness.

TEXAS PRINCESS, the second book in the Whispering Mountain trilogy, is a fun read with a fabulous, romantic scene in a ballroom that will melt readers' hearts. Ms. Thomas leaves a perfect opening for the last book with the interesting character she introduces in the outlaw Roak and his relationship with Tobin's sister, Sage.