Rowdy Rhodes meeting up with Sam O'Ballivan in Haven Arizona is destined to change his life. Sam makes him a marshal to help him ferret out the evil there in Haven. Next time Rowdy hears from Sam he is asked to head to Stone Creek and become the marshal there and help solve the problem of a rash of violent train robberies. Well that was like asking a kid to watch the cookie jar. It seems Rowdy Rhodes is just an alias for a train robber whose photos adorn wanted posters along with those of his brothers and his father. But he isn't that man any longer. He is trying to start a new life -- a new beginning and perhaps the place to get that new beginning is in Stone Creek. But it's hard to look ahead while constantly looking over your shoulder for fear of being discovered and Rowdy is just waiting for Sam to realize who he really is. In Stone Creek he meets the lovely Lark Morgan who has settled there to become the school teacher. But the more he gets to know Lark the more certain he is that she too is running for her life. Her fear is almost palpable. The development of a relationship is beyond their control such is the connection and passion. They each fear having their past catch up with them. Both know they are living on borrowed time. Theirs is surely a doomed love but even so, how can they deny themselves what ever time they have together. Whereas the advent of train travel has opened up new roads of opportunity for so many, for Lark and Rowdy it brings their pasts ever more close to their present. The world is getting smaller and danger is fast approaching. Everyday they spend in Stone Creek brings peril closer to them and to the people they have grown to love. Time is running out.

Linda Lael Miller has once again brought her readers to a place so real that it has you anxiously waiting for the next shoe to drop. The pace of this story is incredible. So many characters play a major role in the story of Lark and Rowdy you can only hope this isn't the last we hear of them. Surely Miller is setting us up for a tale involving Lydia and Gideon. Train travel brought great prosperity and opened trade routes making the unimaginable possible. It made running away easier but hiding more difficult. Many people in A WANTED MAN were looking for peace and solace in a new place. Miller has us wishing for a happy ending even though the outcome is destined to be bleak.