After five years of wandering, Tanner McBride has been called home to his dying father's side. Tanner doesn't want to go, but his father's will stipulates he must, or forfeit his inheritance. Years before, his young stepmother accused him of improper advances and Thomas McBride disinherited his younger son. Tanner returns, to keep his stepmother from claiming part of the McBride Ranch.

Callie Winslow arrives in Sidewinder, looking for the men who robbed a bank and killed her brother. Tanner McBride was arrested and eventually released. Callie is ready to kill the man if she finds out he's the one responsible for her brother's death, but she doesn't count on her attraction to him getting in the way.

The Wild One is the perfect title to describe the hero of Elaine Barbieri's latest western. Throughout this story readers learn how much, if any, of the stories about the hero are true. Tanner's reputation forms the basis for this romance and creates the uphill battle he's forced to fight. Callie has to figure what is true and what's based on pure accusation.

While some secondary characters have their own problems to deal with, they don't make life easy for either Tanner or Callie. Clare Brown McBride is the proverbial wicked stepmother, with no limits to what she'll do. The dialogue is snappy and there's no end to the devious subplots which abound throughout the story.

The Wild One is the first in Leisure's new Secret Fires series, and promises to burn with adventure and romance.