Each Time We Love

When Blas Davalos dies in Spanish Texas in 1804, his last words concern the fortune of Aztec gold he wanted to leave to his young illegitimate daughter, Savanna O'Rourke. But the fortune is in the hands of Blas's archenemy, Jason Savage. Ten years later, Savanna is eking out an existence running a backwoods tavern near New Orleans. Faced with the continual threat of ambush by ``Murdering'' Micajah Yates, Savanna agrees to return to the family plantation to a safe (and to Savanna, stifling) life with her mother. Her quiet sojourn there ends, however, when Micajah--who has learned of Blas's supposed fortune--kidnaps her in the hope that she will provide clues to finding it. He also abducts Jason's half-brother, Adam St. Clair, and the two captives warily join forces against Micajah, securing their freedom but finding it difficult to reconcile their families' longstanding feud with their desire for each other. As the novel plods relentlessly toward its unsurprising conclusion, it does provide some distraction with well-sketched scenes of plantation life in a lush, only partially settled Louisiana, but in the end Busbee's ( Whisper to Me of Love ) romance is burdened with an implausible and at times unwieldy plot. (May)