Only His

In this tedious historical romance, Lowell ( Tell Me No Lies ) gives barely enough plot to keep a short story moving. Willow Moran, a West Virginian who lost her parents and most of her possessions during the Civil War, is traveling west with her remaining valuables--five Arabian horses--to find her brother Matt, who is prospecting for gold. Her guide from Denver to the San Juan mountains is former Army scout Caleb Black who, unbeknownst to Willow, also is hunting Matt; on her deathbed, after bearing an illegitimate baby, Caleb's sister named Matt as her seducer. The largely uneventful journey, complicated only by ruffians who are pursuing them (to steal Willow's horses and finish a fight begun in Denver with Caleb), occupies a substantial portion of the book: Willow and Caleb spend much of their time riding, eating and lusting after each other. By the time the hero, ``with a silent curse at his unruly desires,'' indulges in yet another assessment of the heroine, wondering ``how her hair would feel spilling over his naked skin,'' the reader is likely to be silently cursing right along with him--and brother Matt isn't even close to being on the horizon. (July)