Clara Seavers had always lived her life with an open heart. A firm believer in the truth, having been taught its virtues in a loving home, she never had cause for regret in her young life. But suddenly secrets, other people’s secrets, were punching her in the gut with the force of a prizefighter’s fist. Was no one what they seemed? Not even her mother or her father? And now she’d learned the most terrible of all secrets about the man she loved.  How can she trust him and yet, how can she not?

Jace Denby has resisted getting tangled up with Clara. But circumstances can’t always be controlled—and neither can feelings. Unfortunately, he’s a man with no future, only a past, a past he must keep running from. Too many people would be hurt if he didn’t.

Jace is an honorable man who is accused of a dishonorable act. He doesn’t want to take the heart of an idealistic young woman who has her whole future ahead of her. It doesn’t matter if she’s already taken his.

Will Clara’s love be enough to keep Jace in Dutchman’s Creek? Would his remaining put her in harm’s way? Or would running be the kindest thing he could do for her?

 Elizabeth Lane has written an emotion-packed story about the consequences of lies, the necessity of trust and the strength of love. But the story also explores why secrets are sometimes justified and why family matters.

This story was a special treat. Not only did the reader get to catch up with characters from previous books but it takes place twenty years later in the series when the Wild West was supposedly tamer. Ms. Lane’s story demonstrates that human nature doesn’t vary much, regardless of the century.