Independence, Missouri1850Gambler Chase Summers has always counted on luck, and when he wins a map to a secret gold mine from a man named Roscoe in a card game, he thinks he's finally struck it rich. But he needs help to get to California.Ms. Trixie survives by running a profitable brothel. She takes care of her ladies, they take care of lonely travelers, and Trixie never gets involved with any man-until the day he shows up. Chase Summers is trouble with a capital T, but there's just something about this charming, sharp-dressed man that gets under her skin.Chase thinks he's found the perfect woman to share his future with, but when he stumbles across another map in Ms. Trixie's possession, he realizes he's been swindled. Roscoe is Trixie's uncle, and the map he gave Chase was a fake. Determined to outsmart Roscoe and take what should belong to him, he steals Trixie's map and hitches a ride on a wagon train heading west.Jade Whitman also needs passage to California. Betrayed and abandoned by her fiancé, she'll do whatever it takes to head west and try her luck in the gold mines. But wagon trains won't accept unmarried women, so when smooth-talking stranger Chase Summers offers her a marriage of convenience, she's desperate enough to agree. Though this soon proves to be a mistake as she finds herself falling in love with the handsome, widowed wagon master.Heartbroken and mad as hell, Ms. Trixie is not about to let Chase Summers waltz into the sunset with her map. She sets out after him, and when she finally catches him and his new "wife," secrets are revealed, bargains are struck, and a plan is formed.But the road to California is fraught with dangers. And when Chase's past catches up with him, he'll have to make one last gamble, and the stakes are as high as they can get. Can he save his fortune and the woman he loves-or has his luck finally run out?
