Sage

Sage is a historical romance by Norah Hess, published in 1994. Its leading man, Jim LaTour, has decided that he is not the marrying kind. He has a bar, a routine and a reputation, and he intends to keep all three exactly as they are.

He has a wild past behind him and a plan for the future that involves peace, his bar and the favours of the local fancy ladies. What he does not expect is to have his cherished independence threatened by a singer.

The singer is Sage Larkin, who is being pursued by the man who murdered her husband and who faces an uncertain future on the frontier. When she lands a job singing at a saloon called the Trail's End, her situation becomes slightly more stable and considerably more visible.

The novel is about a man who has arranged his life to avoid exactly this and a woman whose safety depends on the job that brings her into his bar, and it works on the difficulty of two people who both have reasons to keep their distance.