In his case, damage control should be pretty manageable. Anyway, many of L.L.'s characters do indeed start out as loners with a mistrust of settling down and all that implies. Lucky for us, L.L. had a great sense of drama. In the first place, I really don't know why a reviewer would take a dramatic mechanism personally. It's the longing that makes us sympathize with them and care about what happens to them.
Disconnection brings a price, even in westerns.
He headed off to California instead of settling down with the heroine. Lance had Nita, even if they never got married. Characters who aren't heroic don't count, because they don't succeed usually, and no one would take them for a behavioral example. My dos centavos.