Liz Adair's new novel, Counting the Cost is billed as a love story, though I'm not certain I would classify it as such. It's part historical and part western with a strong literary element. Though it is a powerful and moving story of the relationship between a New Mexico cowboy and a New York socialite, it is primarily the story of two stubborn individuals who share a powerful attraction, but have little in common. Love? Or something else? I'll let the reader decide.

Adair is well-known for her Spider Latham series and The Mist of Quarry Harbor . This book is nothing like either of them other than an understanding of rural life and people.

Heck Benham, the handsome cowboy, is content with his life as a ranch hand and only aspires to become a ranch foreman and to win a few rodeo purses. His faith in God is strong and he accepts the social strictures of his Western community without question.

Ruth Reynolds married her abusive husband simply because she needed the financial support of a husband after her businessman father and multi-times-married mother died, leaving her with no means of support. When her husband takes her to New Mexico where he is to be employed on a relative's ranch as an accountant, she attempts to run away and gets her car stuck in an arroyo. Heck comes to her rescue and soon realizes he's never been so tempted by a married woman or any woman before. Over the ensuing months he tries to avoid her, but when her husband beats and rapes her, Heck runs away with her.

Over the next couple of years they live in run down shanties with no amenities. Heck's way of life is hard for a woman accustomed to luxuries such as running water and electricity. She is socially ostracized as well because of their adulterous relationship. He has no understanding of her need for nice clothes and the comforts of modern 1930s living. She is insensitive to his values and oblivious to matters that concern him. Her secrecy and manipulation tactics push him to accept work building a dam and living in town, and though he hates doing so, he does it for her sake. The move is the beginning of her rise as a fashion designer and the destruction of his dreams.

Heck's cowboy philosophy never penetrates very deeply into Ruth's mind or conscience. In one passage he tries to explain how torn he is by the conflicts in their lives by telling her about an unpleasant childhood experience.

“ Seymour 's mama had told him to get rid of some kittens. I think she thought he would drown them in the trough, but he had other ideas. He was gonna shoot them with the shotgun. Only thing was, he only had one shell. So, he turned a bucket upside down and told me my job was to keep all those kittens up on the bucket while he stood ten feet away with the shotgun. He was gonna blast them as soon as I had ‘em ready.” Heck shook his head at the memory picture of himself at six, trying to keep five playful kittens up on the bucket long enough for Seymour Cooper to get a good shot. . . ‘I often think---that that's like life. You're just trying to keep the cats up on the bucket and get out of the way before the shotgun goes off . . .” His voice trailed away and he was silent again.

He's equally unable to understand why things like telephones and electricity are so important to her. She doesn't understand his search for spiritual meaning in his life and he's at a loss to understand her indifference to God or to moral values.

 I particularly liked the interaction between Heck and his horses. I liked too, the sensitivity shown to the major characters' growing, changing views of life. Some readers may be offended by some scenes, such as the castration of cattle or the intense physical relationship of the two major characters. I found these scenes leave no doubt concerning what is happening, but are not explicit enough to be objectionable.

This is another book I can recommend to all readers.

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