ONE TEXAS NIGHT is four outstanding stand-alone novelettes by Ms. Thomas that Zebra publishing has chosen from several Texas anthologies in which the author has contributed her awesome tales. If just doesn't get much better than this!

AMARILLO BY MORNING (2008) Hank Harris is in Fort Worth on business and has been invited, along with two other gentlemen, to dinner at the home of Charlie Tucker, a cattle buyer. Hank is aware that Charlie is trying to find a husband for his sister-in- law who is living with the Tuckers. Hank is six-feet four inches tall, a loner and his only possessions is a small herd of cattle and a home he built himself. The other two men present are a banker and a railroad executive, and both are wealthy and obnoxious. Hank meets Aggie when he steps outside; it is dark, so he can't see her face, but the conversation they have is interesting and informative. Aggie doesn't want to get married, but as the youngest of four sisters her father wants her out of his house so he can pursue the widow he wants to marry. When the dinner is over, Hank gives Aggie his gun and tells her he is leaving on the midnight train and should be home in Amarillo by early morning. Wow! What a great story.

SILENT PARTNER (2009) Rowdy Darnell was the son of the town drunk and an outcast. When he was fifteen a man is killed and Rowdy was "railroaded" to prison for five years. Upon his release he returned to Kasota Springs with fifteen dollars to his name to sell off the run down ranch that is now his. Laurel Hayes is the eldest of three daughters of the richest man in the county. She is plain, quiet, and no match for her two beautiful stepsisters; she also is the bookkeeper for her father's businesses. The rodeo is in town and there is a fifty-dollar prize in each of four categories for the first place cowboy. There is also the grand prize of two-hundred head of cattle for the winner of Best All Around, but Rowdy only has enough money for one ride. Laurel, who remembers Rowdy from grammar school, gives him the money to enter all categories and becomes his silent partner. When he wins Best All Around she wants half the proceeds from the cattle so she can escape her father and the man he is forcing her to marry. Two lonely, unloved individuals make for one superior tale. Will their partnership work out like they plan? Or does it get more complex and wonderful. Ride 'em Cowboy!!

THE OUTLAW (2011) Michael Hughes is caught in the act of robbing Cozette Camanez's home, but rather than turn him and his three inept uncles over to the authorities, she makes a bargain with him Cozette is in a wedding dress waiting for a groom of her imagination and must be married by midnight, or she will forfeit her dying father's estate. She convinces Michael to be her groom in exchange for his freedom -- at a later date. This outlaw seems too good to be true, is he planning to betray her like all others in her life? Super story!

THE RANGER'S ANGEL (2010) Annalane Barkley is one of three passengers on a stagecoach bound for Camp Supply outside the Texas border; Texas Ranger Wynn McCord is one of the three, and is on board safeguarding a missile from the Texas Governor to the Indian Agency. A ruthless band of outlaws does not want that letter sent, and attempt to hijack the stage coach just before the skies open up with a blinding rain. Anna and Wynn are able to escape through the downpour and are rescued by the Calvary on the fourth day, and just in the nick of time. These protagonists have been alone and unloved for most of their life, and they are both bossy and insist on control. He is too bold for her, but she is just right for him. The answer to the relationship is obvious, since they are the original McCord couple and their progeny still operate the large and successful cattle ranch in West Texas.