"Refreshing romance about facing up to past mistakes."

With the deed to a gold mine in her hand, an excited Mary Costner travels to Gregory Gulch. At the deed office, she learns she has a partner, Big Jim McCoy, who soon becomes the father figure she never had. After two years of working the mine, the two hit it big and become very wealthy. Mary then decides to leave, so she can finally have the life she's always wanted. Waking one morning to the horror of finding Big Jim dead and herself covered in blood, Mary panics and flees.

U.S. Marshal Carter Monroe is heading home to his mother and to help the local sheriff when he and his partner come across someone head first in a snow bank. Discovering it's a woman who's still alive, they take her with them. Once Mary comes to and realizes the circumstances, she knows she has to pretend she has no memory.

After spending time with Carter, Mary develops feelings for him. After a night of bliss together, they are both a bit confused. Carter doesn't realize how strongly he feels until the wanted poster he's been waiting for arrives and he sees Mary's face on it. Taking Mary in is what he has to do, even if it kills him. Proving her innocence is going to be hard, but something Carter will do it to keep Mary with him.

This is a refreshing romance about dealing with right and wrong and justice. The characters interacted well together making it fun to read. I think readers will enjoy it immensely - I did.

Reviewed by Tammie Ard
Posted April 28, 2004

Summary

BLOOD ON HER HANDS - No one really understands Mary Costner, except her beloved gold-mining partner, one of the only men in Colorado's Gregory Gulch who know she is a woman--and who treats her like his daughter. But when Mary wakes up one night covered in blood--with no memory of why her partner is dead--she know she looks guilty as sin. So she does the only thing she can. She runs..... DESIRE IN HER HEART - Fleeing in a raging blizzard, Mary is thrown from her horse and knocked unconscious. She is found by tough-as-nails U.S. Marshal Carter Monroe, whose gut tells him that his bedraggled blonde must be trying to escape from something or someone. When Mary wakes up in the home of a marshal, she can't believe her bad luck. She'll have to keep a tight rein on her secrets to keep Carter off guard--even as her body's hunger for the lawman's touch threatens to betray her . . . .