Lauran Paine

"When two strangers come to the aid of a teen hustler known as Gitalong because of his crippled leg who is being harassed by three Texas drovers, it seems like a normal day in Deadwood, Dakota Territory. When the Texans return with reinforcements, another confrontation ends with one of the Texans being killed. Gitalong is encouraged to leave town until the Texans have moved on, only to be seriously injured in a stage accident. When it appears the...

"Ben Albright has successfully made five cattle drives from Texas to Kansas, but this spring will be his most difficult. With the death of Ewell Lansing, Northerners have taken over his trading post and ferry and refused provisions or passage to Texas cattle drives, but Albright will not turn back or change his traditional course."--

The crescent scar: The Gila River Kid has gone straight under the name of Sadler Carrel, but he still hates the railroads. The man without a gun: Ex-convict turned respectable businessman Jack Swift tries to protect a young nephew from a cruel uncle, even though he cannot legally own a firearm.

"U.S. Marshal John Galloway has been tracking the four members of the Streeter gang for some time from Texas to the Pacific Northwest to Montana and into northern Wyoming heading towards a showdown in the town of Brigham"--

The open range men are free-grazing cattlemen, those who don't own land but drive their stock through the country to graze. Boss Spearman knows that times are changing. Local ranchers are staking claims to grazing areas and building up extensive cattle empires. Boss has no quarrel with that, but he won't be intimidated or scared off. So when Denton Baxter makes it clear, by killing one man and seriously wounding another, that he intends to drive Boss...

In Lost Valley, Douglas Hyland, the third-generation owner of a family ranching empire, is faced with the possible destruction of the empire by settlers who arrive on the land, claiming they have legal titles to it. Iron Marshall tells the story of Jim Collins, a marshal who should, according to some, move on and let someone else take over. But when a stranger comes to town, Collins enemies look to him to take action.

Ryan Shanley, who prefers to be called Shan, is an ex-soldier who served in the Union army during the Civil War and has a land grant for two square miles of land in Wyoming Territory. On a stage to Tico, the town nearest his ranch, he meets Sarahlee Gordon, who is on her way to sell the cabin that belonged to her deceased uncle, with whom she spent her summers for many years. The attraction between the two becomes obvious on the stage and grows after...

Troy Warfield entered the New Mexico Territory on the run. Accused of killing a deputy U.S. Marshal, he had been running for six hundred miles while being pursued relentlessly by U.S. Marshal John Trent. Fulton, New Mexico, is unique in that it's the only source of water at the end of a desert, so anyone wanting to reach Mexico would need to ride through Fulton - and Lem Bricker and his gang run the town and charge mightily for its water. Troy Warfield...

"Walt Hodge had delivered eighty horses to Whipple Barracks for the Army and he wasn't in a big hurry to get home. He traveled down the Saginaw Mountains and into the upland cow country of Sunflower, Arizona, seeking only a cold glass of beer, food, and a bed for himself, along with feed for his horse. He should have listened and turned around when he asked the hostler what was going on and was told: "Trouble, mister. Bad trouble." After Walt had...