Forever Kind of Love

After some 130 pages of background, Hagan's ( Heaven in a Wildflower ) conventional historical romance finally gets under way. It is 1866 in Tennessee, and though she has lost the evidence, Dancy O'Neal claims her late Uncle Dooley's land has been left to her. Clint McCabe obtained title on the property by paying up its overdue taxes, but he fancies Dancy and tries to win her by promising she can have the land if she can run it--while he serves as her hired hand. Meanwhile Jordan, Clint's sneaky half-brother, also fancies the young woman. He plots to maneuver Dancy into his debt and thence to the altar. Dancy's problems are compounded when the Ku Klux Klan gives her trouble, apparently because she employs ex-slaves. Melodrama abounds, with Dancy ``declaring war on the Ku Klux Klan,'' Clint doing anti-Klan work himself and evildoers curling their mustaches in the background. After the long, slow opening, and despite the fact that Dancy's intellect shifts into reverse the night she disguises herself and rides with the Klan, Hagan keeps the action moving quickly enough for it hardly to matter that none of the events are believable. (Dec.)