This book started off good but then got bogged down by so much ridiculous stuff and lost its right to more than two stars. The leading characters (you could never call these two a couple) started off likeable but ended up being so irritating you wanted to see him get run over by a train from the railroad he worked for and her to get trapped in a cave in at the silver mine she owned, with neither getting rescued.

While I do NOT approve of stories where the heroine gets raped, in this case it was necessary to explain Erin's antagonistic attitude toward men, as well as set the stage for meeting up with the hero ,Matt, and his father, Lew. (Lew was my favorite character, much more appealing than his son or Erin.)

There were some good developments, like the trio's traveling to settle in Aspen, at the time (1880's) a city in progress, and Erin and Lew opening a store, that expands and does a thriving business, while Matt leaves for several years to work for the railroad as a surveyor (as well as some less savory jobs). When Matt returns to find that Erin's no longer the "kid sister" he remembers, but a young woman, it should have been all uphill from there.

Instead, it slid downhill fast. Erin can't get over her dislike of men, and Matt - despite an active sex life - isn't all that fond of women, stemming from bitterness over his mother leaving him and his father, though Lew let go of his bad feelings. There was a scene where Erin, who normally wears denims and shirts, decides to wear a pretty skirt and blouse, then is disappointed when Matt doesn't seem impressed, while he was pretending not to let on how she affected him. It could have been the start of something good between them, instead it ends up an argument and then one of those forced seductions that leave you feeling BLAH!

Throughout the rest of the book, they keep going their separate ways, getting together again and going to bed, separating again, etc., without enough connecting to give their time together any meaning. This is interspersed with a lot of nonsense, like Erin's supposed second sight, where she keeps visioning a man, whom she assumes is her destiny, and it takes this supposedly astute young woman forever to realize it's Matt. Later, a toss of a coin gets her a deed to a failing silver mine that overnight succeeds and makes her wealthy. Lew dies (that weakened the book for me), Erin and Matt fight some more, have sex some more, and decide quite dispassionately to get married, since it's what Lew wanted. As far as the "happy couple" (talk about a joke), Erin spends half her time yelling like a banshee and declaring how she despises men, especially Matt, while he keeps saying (sounding like a robot whose gears got stuck) that he married her to make his father happy and so he can look after her. No one ever mentions love, they don't even appear to like each other, accept in bed.

Erin's no good brother shows up, but is killed in a fight with Matt, and this reminds her of her rotten uncle back in Ireland, who was responsible for her parents' downfall, since he was in love with Erin's mother, who preferred his younger brother (forgive the rhyme). She determines to go to Ireland to show off her silver mine wealth and stick it to her uncle by buying the family estate, despite Matt's objections. They separate (yet again), she goes to Ireland and acts Lady of the Manor, while Matt moves in with his mistress. Erin gets more selfish and materialistic, going on buying sprees, and keeping her marriage secret, saying she's a widow, so the deed to the estate will be in her name and she can keep it from Matt.

On and on and on...more fighting, more sex, more separations. Erin ends up in San Francisco, doesn't tell Matt's she's pregnant, and has a son. He and his girlfriend take a trip to SF and he crosses paths with Erin (big surprise there), she gets kidnapped by her rapist (talk about stupid melodrama, though by that time I couldn't stand her and was glad when he roughed her up a bit), Matt rescues her, finds out about their son, and.....

No, wrong! They separate yet again (do you see a pattern here?), as Matt wants to return to Aspen and the ranch he's dreamed about owning, while Erin wants to stay in Frisco, and the store she opened. He leaves, says he'll visit his son sometime soon, and that's how I would have ended it, as this couple definitely did not belong together, but this being a romance (HA! That's a laugh!) there has to be a HEA, so at the last minute she changes her mind and heads for Aspen.

Okay, now that I told you all, do yourself a favor and skip this book.....with I had. ( )