But Angela Sherrington had a dream: to love dashing Bradford Maitland, the handsome heir to magnificent Golden Oaks.In the satin boudoir of a Yankee bordello, Angela's prayers are answered in the loving arms of the man she lived for. But scandal, cruelty and a shocking family secret threaten to tear apart two passionate hearts newly joined, imperilling a bold and forbidden romance too overpowering to deny.

     Victoria Waverly, noble daughter of the war-ruined South, is sold in marriage to a ruthless rancher. Honor and pride help her endure life as a wife in name only but nothing can quench her forbidden desire for hired gunman Jake Roper. His gaze is hard, but tenderness he can't hide promises to unveil to Victoria the mysteries of love. Only true love can destroy.... Jake curses his burning need for Victoria, for he wants nothing to stand in the way of his drive to reclaim Sarratt's Kingdom -- the ranch that is his legacy and obsession. But ancient wrongs and blazing passions will bind together the aristocratic beauty and the powerful cowboy. In a bloody land war, they will fight for Jake's birthright...and seize at all costs the love that is their destiny.

    However, her despise for a husband she never wanted, only grows. During her most vulnerable moment, as she is giving birth to her first child, Chet’s ranch is raided by Comanche Indians, looking for a milk cow. When the leader of the group sees Callie is in labor, he realizes she can help save the life of his infant son, who’s mother was recently killed. Having already killed her husband, the band takes Callie and her sister’s children with them. From that point on, Callie’s world is turned upside down, as she faces challenges she never dreamed she would be facing, when she left her carefree life in Pennsylvania, and was forced to face the wilds of Texas, in the late 1800s.