The Penniless Princess

When ladies from the Old World escape to the Wild West they find refuge in Beaumont Boarding House.

Margaret Stuart's gloved fingers trembled as she descended from the dusty stagecoach onto Texas soil. Just six months ago, those same hands had poured tea from silver pots in Europe's finest drawing rooms. Now, widowed by a husband who'd gambled away their fortune before promptly dying of pneumonia, she arrives in the American frontier with only a single trunk and the pearl-handled derringer hidden in her reticule.

Duncan Fellows wiped sweat from his brow as he surveyed the sagging porch of his family's boarding house. At thirty-two, his shoulders already carried the weight of disappointment-his father's letters from back East never failed to remind him how his younger brother would have managed the property better. The arrival of the afternoon stage brought yet another burden: a pale-faced widow with eyes that could freeze the Rio Grande.

Will Margaret's refined manners survive the harsh realities of frontier life? Can Duncan prove his worth despite the shadow of failure that follows him? And what will happen when these two wounded souls discover that sometimes the path to redemption runs straight through the heart of your greatest adversary?