He never had a place to call home. While camping out one night, hoping to find the next town, he had a feeling he was being watched. He ignored his instincts and went to sleep to wake up in the morning with a splitting headache from being hit on the head, and his horse, food, and saddlebags stolen. Following the footsteps left behind by the thieves, he found it led to a cabin and to a patchwork family in dire need of help. Sadie Carman lost her pa and took in two boys and a little girl that needed her to care for them. The boys were a trial, but she loved them like her own children. When Stryker Steele showed up at her door and told her that someone stole his horse and belongings, she was worried the boys had something to do with it. She agreed to let him stay until he could figure out what to do, but she never figured that he would give them a Christmas like they never had and forgive the boys for what they did. She worried Stryker would leave and she wished he'd stay forever.

    

    Dan Smithson tracked them til almost dark. He camped and planned to sleep until dawn, but he heard a strange sound. His colt ready in his left hand, he pushed the bushes to one side. A girl and a baby boy huddled there together in the dark, crying for their Pa, who was nowhere to be found.Andre Devereaux paid well for his brother's daughter to be kidnapped and killed so he could inherit the family estate, but she was still alive, caring for the little boy Devereaux had recently made an orphan. It was time to find them and carry out his unfinished business.Dan must recover the Eight's cattle and horses, and protect Anne Marie from her crazed uncle until he can return her safely to her father, a journey that will take him over rough land, with little for protection but his wits and his rifle.

    And neither side takes prisoners!