Draw or Die by Alan David

Dane dropped into town on his way to visit Frank McSween.  He visits the bar and asks for directions.  Instead of directions, six cowboys face him and tell him to draw or die.  They are from the other ranch, Reed's, and they are feuding with the McSweens.  They think he's a hired gunman.  The only thing that keeps him alive is the fact that the hired gunman is in the saloon, too.  Between them, they down the cowboys.  And now Dane is involved in a range war...

Pioneering Press sent me a copy of this book to read and review (thank you).  It has been published so you can grab a copy now.

Dane's best bet would be to ride on and leave town but when he learns that they ambushed his friend, Frank, and he's dead, Dane wants to visit the ranch and give them his condolences.  He meets his little brother, his father and his two sisters.  He also decides to stay a while because he killed a Reed and inadvertently has brought trouble upon Frank's family.

This book is all guns and no sympathy.  The old west was a mean country that guns ruled and the feuds between landowners became legends.

The oldest daughter is sweet on a Reed and she tells them things she shouldn't.  It's a fight to the death and most of them die.  At the end, Dane is pretty shot up and the last surviving daughter takes him home with her to care for.  She doesn't have much left, but Dane is still alive and the ranch is hers.  Maybe that will be enough...