Spring Meadow Sanctuary (The Shepherd's Heart #4) - Lynnette Bonner

This is the fourth and final book in The Shepherd's Heart series.  I've read Rocky Mountain Oasis, High Desert Haven and Fair Valley Refuge and enjoyed all three.

We finally get around to the story of Cade and Sharyn.  There are hints of Sharyns's affection for Cade in the other books, but we don't really get to see any significant interaction until book 3, Fair Valley Refuge, where Cade tells Sharyn that he sees her as a sister and can't see anything more for their future.

At the beginning of this book, Cade has come back and finally realized his mistake only to learn that Sharyn has moved away.  She couldn't stand the sympathetic looks of the townspeople any more and just had to move on.  There's a man in town that seems to have his eye on Sharyn and she is determined to forget Cade.  Problem is, her heart doesn't quite agree with that plan.

Cade is in town to check into horse rustling.  He infiltrates the gang and ends up part of a plan to kidnap the schoolteacher.  Unaware that Sharyn's original job had disappeared and she is the local schoolteacher, Cade ends up with quite a shock when he goes to kidnap the woman he loves.  Not only is he going to have to keep her safe from people that would like her dead, he also wants to convince her that he was wrong to have broken her heart.  Both tasks will be hard.

I think that this book was my favorite of the series.  I believe that if you read any of them out of order or alone, you wouldn't be disappointed, but I do recommend that you read Fair Valley Refuge if you want to get a more complete story of Cade and Sharyn.  At the end of the book, the author reveals that this is the end of the story of the Jordan family but that she may have the characters make a cameo appearance in another series.  I recommend this whole series.  They are uplifting, fairly quick reads that I thoroughly enjoyed.  Good Book!  Great Series!