On the strength of three letters she has traveled by railroad, riverboat and stagecoach to meet her new life out west. Grady McGuire, her intended and the author of those letters, though formally dressed and still holding a bouquet of wilted prairie flowers, is unfortunately passed out drunk in a buckboard behind the saloon.That new life isn’t beginning quite as she envisioned it. As she attempts to salvage the promises they made to each other, she finds herself involved with others in town with their own stories to tell:Addison Pruitt, Sarah’s saving grace, owns the very fine Russell Hotel and keeps the irritating John Russell close as she spends his money.Diego, the Mexican hotel cook possessed of an exquisite repertoire of French dishes, has a secret that he hopes he never has to tell.Jim, Booker and the boy Abraham, Grady’s long-suffering hands, are her new family. They run the ranch Grady didn’t intend to inherit and love him even though they can’t keep him out of trouble.Ellen, Grady’s strong-willed mother, lies under a headstone out by the river, but won’t quite stay dead.Last but not least, there is Elijah Blue, a member of the tribes, shotgun rider and horse trainer, who drove cattle with Grady from the time they were barely out of childhood, and is now waiting to see if his friend can make amends with the woman from the East, the one in the black traveling dress covered with dust, the one that he noticed the minute she stepped down off the stage.

    But even more frightening was Jess Wilder, the dangerous bounty hunter who pulled her from the wreckage and took her prisoner. She didn't understand why he called her by another woman's name, but when she met his fiery gaze, she vowed she'd do anything to escape her arrogant captor.

    She takes her horse and rides to Independence Missouri to join a wagon train and start a new life. Mike Todd, the Wagon Master doesn’t allow single women to have their own wagons. It causes fights and distractions. Susan solves her problem by marrying Clancy Willis in name only. Unfortunately Clancy’s true nature doesn’t take long to show and Susan finds herself married to a drunkard. Along the trail, once again, Susan is forced to marry another man in name only and this time it is Mike Todd. As soon as they make it to Oregon they plan to have the marriage annulled but their hearts become hopelessly entangled. Mike Todd has two brothers to raise. They are guides on the wagon train and he decided long ago he’d raise them and forget about having a wife and child of his own. Both vow to sacrifice their hearts’ desire to give the other happiness. Will they come to realize their lives and love have only just begun? A Lifetime to Share Eli Todd is a tall, handsome captain of a wagon train bound for Oregon. Life has taught him if he allows people into his heart, he ends up losing them. Amelia Cruthers is a pretty, young woman with a limp. She's a hard worker who starts out the trip to Oregon with her parents, until they try to leave her behind. In shock, she watches them cross a river by ferry without her. Thankfully, the kind, strong Eli Todd takes her with him. Admiring her spunk and work ethic, he gives her a job cooking for the crew. After a fall from his horse, Amelia tends him and he realizes she is sweetness on earth. Her parents demand he marry Amelia, since she spent time alone with him, nursing him. Eli figures why not? He won't be home most of the year anyway, and Amelia could have a safe place to live on his ranch. What could possibly go wrong? Amelia never thought to be married. She'd been told her hip was too hideous for a man to look upon and that she couldn't have children. The distance they try to place between them doesn't work, leaving them both hurt with longings that could never be fulfilled. But there are secrets, and when they realize they'd been lied to, do they take the leap at a lifetime to share? A Love Worth Searching For Jed Todd has been looking for Lily since the day she was abducted along the Oregon Trail. This time he is the wagon master. Word comes that his trapper friends have found and bought Lily for him. He rides fast and fierce to get to her and is relieved to find her in one piece. The way he felt about her before she'd been stolen wasn't a figment of his imagination. From the moment he saw her again, he knew his love was real. Lily isn't well received by the others on the wagon train and realizes that having a relationship with Jed would only hinder him in life. He'd never be accepted in polite society. Once in Oregon, she plans to leave for Washington territory to live alone. Attempts on her life and the life of a young girl make Lily realize that she and Jed share a love worth searching for. So Many Roads to Choose It’s finally time for Smitty to settle down after all of his trips on the Oregon Trail. He has Lynn and a houseful of orphans but he also had a wife, he’s always been faithful to. Brenda lied and said she was with child, Smitty’s child over ten years ago. It’s time to dissolve their marriage.

    He planned to be gone no longer than a year but two years later, in the company of six men from three different tribes who have all come together to help him, he finds himself in the wilderness of the Pacific northwest, far beyond the borders of the American, French and Spanish settlements. When he is attacked and injured by a wolf, a young white girl with extraordinary instincts saves his life. Named Esa-mogo'ne’ by the local Bannock, she takes Ryder to their village to heal and over a bitter winter Ryder learns of her tragic past and discovers a love that will endure his whole life.

    She begins piecing a sunshine and shadows quilt because it mirrors her life. She has a secret that lurks in the shadows and hopes it doesn’t come out into the light. Dark places in her past are best forgotten, but her new life is full of sunshine. Will her secrets cast shadows on her bright future? Widower Edric Hammond and his father are doing their best to raise his two young daughters. He meets Lily and her son when they arrive in town and helps her find a job and a place to live. Lily resists Edric’s charms at first, but finds herself falling in love with this kind, gentle man and his two darling daughters. Lily has stolen his heart with her first warm smile, but he’s cautious about bringing another woman into his girls’ lives due to the harshness of their own mother. Can Edric forgive Lily her past to take hold of a promising chance at love?

    The Southern frontier is a treacherous wilderness inhabited by the powerful Cherokee people. In Charlestown, 25 year-old Quincy MacFadden receives news from beyond the grave: her cousin, a man she’d believed long dead, is alive—held captive by the Shawnee Indians. Unmarried, bookish, and plagued by visions of the future, Quinn is a woman out of place… and this is the opportunity for which she’s been longing.Determined to save two lives, her cousin’s and her own, Quinn travels the rugged Cherokee Path into the South Carolina Blue Ridge. Defying her furious grandfather and colonial law, she barters for leverage against the Shawnee with a notorious Cherokee chief—and begins building a daring new home in the Keowee River Valley, a fiercely beautiful place. But in order to rescue her cousin, Quinn must trust an enigmatic half-Cherokee tracker whose loyalties may lie elsewhere. As translator to the British army, Jack Wolf walks a perilous line between a King he hates and a homeland he loves. Together they journey across the Appalachian Mountains and into the heart of Cherokee country. They encounter wily trappers, warring Indians, British soldiers, desperate settlers, and a contested backcountry on the brink of changing forever. When Jack is ordered to negotiate for Indian loyalty in the Revolution to come, the pair must decide: obey the Crown, or commit treason….

    Asa dreams of a place of his own, a wife, and the respect that comes with both. Marrying Elizabeth may have started as a means to an end, but nothing in Asa's wildest dreams prepares him for the excitement of unleashing the carnal woman beneath his wife's prim and proper exterior.

    One obstacle stands in his way... the threat of scandal after his wife mysteriously runs off. But Westin has an audacious solution -- find a woman who is the spitting image of his vanished Miriam.They Weren't Supposed to Fall in Love.After 5 years in prison, Lily Dale finally wins her freedom...for a price. Under Westin's smoldering gaze, Lily slowly transforms from a rough frontier woman to the polished beauty fit for the arm -- but never the bed -- of a future governor. Never, that is, until Westin's searing touch overcomes her growing suspicions about her predecessor's true fate... and until hot, whispered words dangerously defy his carefully-written script.Setting: Colorado Territory, late 1800s Sensuality: 7 Lily Dale is no lady. In fact, she's spent the past five years in Yuma Women's Prison for aiding and abetting a holdup. Men have been her downfall her whole life, and when she's unexpectedly paroled from prison her only goal is to return to Missouri and to her 6-year-old daughter. But someone has pulled the strings to get Lily released from jail, and that someone wants a favor in return, namely her cooperation in impersonating another woman for the next seven months. The woman a politician named Kazinsky wants her to impersonate is none other than Marian Westin, the missing wife of Colorado candidate-for-Governor, Quinn Westin. Stunned, Lily refuses but quickly learns that Quinn won't take no for an answer. Compelled to cooperate by both the threat of returning to jail and the promise of a new life for her and her daughter in Europe, Lily reluctantly agrees and begins intensive lessons acting out the role of the mysterious Mrs. Westin. Lily is quickly drawn to Quinn with an overwhelming attraction that is returned by the influential man. Despite the knowledge that Lily must disappear in seven months while Quinn goes on to govern Colorado, the two find themselves giving in to their growing love. Lily Dale is a woman of courage and conviction, an out-of-the-ordinary heroine--a Maggie Osborne trademark. Quinn Westin is a hero powerful enough to balance Lily's strength and clever enough to value her wisdom. Combine Lily and Quinn with an entertaining plot, a dash of mystery, and plenty of steamy romance, and the result is a novel not to be missed.--Lois Faye Dyer

    Set in Old California, this powerful narrative richly depicts the life of the fading Spanish order, the oppression of tribal American communities and inevitably, the brutal intrusion of white settlers. Ramona, an illegitimate orphan, grows up as the ward of the overbearing Senora Moreno. But her desire for Alessandro, a Native American, makes her an outcast and fugitive...

    Ravaged by the men who killed her family, she was determined to raise her half-breed son alone on the Iowa prairies.Caleb: A handsome stranger who appeared half-dead at her doorstep, his gratitude turned to love as Analisa nursed him back to health. But Caleb had a terrible secret; Caleb himself was a half-breed.SunflowerShe was a strong and independent woman. He was a man whose brutal heritage challenged every feeling in her heart. And yet, their love was as inevitable as the sunrise...and as powerful as the prairie winds.

    They are joined there by slaves fleeing cruel plantation owners. One such slave is Calida, who once saved the life of the war chief Panther, and who witnessed her master murder his wife. Soon, Panther and Calida are deeply in love--with enemies closing in on both sides.

    . . and solemnly vows to raise her innocent orphaned niece. But the little girl's grandfather has declared the unwed doctor to be an unfit guardian -- and refuses to deliver the child to Liz's care until she finds herself a man.DEVIL IN DISGUISE...Dangerous and secretive, hated by the settlers for his Cheyenne blood, rugged Cutter McKenzie volunteers to pose as the husband of the fiery, golden-haired healer. But even a sham marriage to the handsome half-breed promises very real perils. For his raw, seductive magnetism threatens Liz's cherished independence. And she dares not trust her own impassioned heart . . . nor the yearning voice within that begs her to yield to the power of love.

    Now she must spend every waking moment planning an escape. She didn’t count on the powerful draw of desire interfering with her scheme in the camp of the brutal Cheyenne dog soldiers.Ethan Gray is a curator at a national museum...most of the time, but when he travels through time to help his beloved People he becomes Meko, leader of the most revered and feared tribe of the plains. Although their worlds are decades apart Meko can’t resist the dark beauty he kidnapped during a raid. He has many battles to fight but none he wants to win more than the one that will capture Cesca’s heart forever.From the windswept plains of Colorado and the harsh life of a Dog Soldier to the placid life of a curator their love was fueled by passion and kindled by destiny.

    Two passionate travelers, united by need, threatened by pasts they could not outrun ...Lydia Bryant --- voluptuous and russet-haired, fleeing from a secret shame, vowing that never again would a man, any man, overpower her ...Ross Coleman --- dark, brooding and iron-willed, with the shadow of a lawless past in his piercing eyes, sworn to resist the temptation of his wanton longings ...Fate threw them together on the same wild road, where they fought the breathtaking desire blazing between them, while the shadows of their enemies grew longer. As the wagon train rolled west, the danger to them drew ever closer, until a showdown with their pursuers was inevitable. Before it was over, Lydia and Ross would face death ... the truth about each other ... and the astonishing strength of their love ...

    It was cold, quiet, and lonely--until a rugged gunslinger blew in from the storm demanding shelter. Just for this night--this wild, stormy night--Maura wanted someone, something. Recklessly, she abandoned herself in his arms, knowing he would be gone by morning. The last thing she ever expected was the need that drove her into the wilderness . . . to find the stranger who haunted her dreams. . . . A hot, dangerous devil...He was the fastest gun in the West, a man who feared nothing until he met the woman who touched his heart. Quinn Lassiter didn't even recognize Maura when she cornered him in a distant saloon months later. Never in his wildest dreams did he see himself married--until he said the words that made her his wife. He was determined to do the right thing by the woman he'd wronged, but he'd never reckoned on falling in love with her. . . .