A Western Beauty Colorado - 1879

East Meets West

A scar? She felt a slight tremor in her chest. From the temple it curved to his upper jaw...it gave him a tough, rakish appearance, hardly a look associated with a minister.

Carefree socialite Sarah Whittington travels west to collect Western art before finalizing her engagement to Philadelphia attorney, Prescott Bellamy. While attending a wedding in Colorado Springs, she particularly notices the preacher, John Harding, a rugged Civil War veteran who recently lost his wife. John is attracted to Sarah's sunny personality, but thinks the social butterfly is interested only in skimming life's surface. Serious about life, Harding not only shepherds his congregation, but also aids the restless, sometimes dangerous Ute Indians. Confronted with the faith and mission of this arresting western man, Sarah is confused. Family and society sweep her back East to the life she's always envisioned. However, after experiencing both beauty and death in the West, she now wonders if her life is meant to be more than that of a highbrow, wealthy Philadelphian.

RUTH TRIPPY was raised in western Michigan, taught music and language arts in Florida and worked as a Public Service Director in radio. Her first two novels are set in the East but her interest in the West was born in camping trips as a teenager. Her fascination grew when, after marriage, she learned her father-in-law had worked as a cowboy on the famous King Ranch,
and in the 1800's, his grandfather had scouted for General Crook. She is an avid reader of Western non-fiction as well as fiction by Zane Grey, Matt Braun and Louis L'Amour. Ruth makes her home with her husband near Atlanta, Georgia.