The Loneliest Man in the Mountains by Nancy Radke

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Western historical romance/coming of age, 1869 novella

Matthew Trahern (The Smartest Horse in Texas) hires his young nephew Philip to take two stallions from Texas to Washington Territory. Philip is a man who needs a friend, and his trusted hound dog, Dixie, fills that spot while he is a youth. He makes a new friend on the trail, Erastus Courtney, but later loses both his dog and his friend. Now lonely again, he discovers girls, and finds that “he who finds a wife, finds a good thing.”