Acclaim for author Joni Keever and Scars of the Heart

KADE ROBERTS must return to Texas to reclaim the home of this birthright, the ranch his parents and grandparents fought long and hard to build.  But the road also leads him back to face the jaws of justice, a white man's version of equity that could see him swing at the end of a rope for the death of his stepfather.  During his journey home, emotional claws from Kade's childhood pull him off his path when he witnesses the whipping of a young boy in an alley.  Before rational thought regains control, Kade sets into motion a scheme to win the lad in a poker game and finds himself promising to help get the boy home.

CARLY DAWSON  was plucked from her genteel life in Virginia to trudge across dry, desolate country in search of "The Promised Land".  Shortly after arriving in Kansas, both of Carly's parents are dead leaving her alone and vulnerable.  She's kidnapped by a renegade Indian and traded as a mere possession.  When anted up in a poker game, Carly decides that luck may finally be on her side.  The dark, brooding stranger who won her thinks she's a boy!  If she can maintain this guise, perhaps she can finally escape this savage, loathsome land and return to her beloved Shenandoah Valley.