C J Petit

AJ Smith had finally achieved his Big Dream. He had his ranch, a good-sized herd, and a healthy bank account. He thought he had finally added the last, most important part of the dream when Hannah Jacobsen, recent widow and mother of two, moved in with her sister in the neighboring ranch. But the reason she had become a widow would turn into a harrowing race across two counties, sometimes as the pursuer and other times as the pursued.

Jake Fletcher thought he'd been blessed among all men when he stood at the aisle across from his bride. How such an ordinary man like himself had won her heart still astounded him. It wasn't until a month later that he understood what had attracted her attention and that discovery would drive him across the plains of Colorado and Kansas to find her, but not to bring her back to his ranch; he wanted her in the state prison for the rest of her life.

Kyle felt guilty for playing a game as his mother suffered back at their small excuse for a house, but she had insisted and knew that it was important to her that he spend time outside of the mechanized hell where he spent sixty hours a week earning his meager pay that kept food on the table and paid the rent. Doctor Turnbull had estimated that she had six months remaining and that was three months ago. She had lost so much weight and was only able to tolerate a weak broth now, so he didn't believe it would be that long.His mother had been the center of his life for as long as he remembered and when she left him, he'd have no family at all. The bastard that had called himself his father had deserted them ten years ago when he was six, and Kyle blamed him for his mother's illness. He had no one else to accuse.He'd been her nurse and minister over the past week as she was unable to leave her sickbed without assistance, and he knew that caring for her had added discomfort to her pain. Even as he played, he kept thinking of his future after she succumbed to the cancer but saw nothing but years of toil on the oven of the ironworks floor and an empty life with no possibilities.

Sergeant Sam Walker knew that the war was ending, and he didn't want to die in this hole of a prisoner of war camp in Texas. But he knew that he was in much better shape than his best friend who was leaning against his back for support. Joe was a Texan who had been fighting alongside him for all of the seemingly unending war, and now was close to death in his native state.Joe knew he was never going to walk out those gates and taste his mother's pecan pie again and asked his friend from Iowa to go to his home and make sure that his wife and the baby girl he had never seen were all right. Sam told him he'd make it out of the camp and return to his wife and daughter, but they both knew differently, so he promised that he would, and Joe knew that Sam would keep his promise.After Joe slipped away, Sam vowed that no matter how long it took, he'd fulfill the promise he'd made to his best friend and his brother in arms.

Will noticed that the numbers didn't add up when he was eleven but didn't discover the truth of that mathematical problem until he was seventeen. For most of his young life, Will had known Pearl as his older sister, but only after the man who had acted as his father died, did he learn that she was really his mother. Now, despite his youth and lack of experience, he was going to set out on an almost impossible quest to find his mother after more than twelve years. But even as he rode out of San Miguel, he had no idea just how long and dangerous that search would be.

TJ knew the coal was there; a large deposit. But he had seen something else that intrigued him about the area south of Gillette in Wyoming Territory. He would only find it after he had bought the huge tract from the railroad. When he returned to the town to do his exploration and evaluation of the site's potential, he discovered much more than just coal. What had started as a straightforward hunt for the minerals that powered steam engines evolved into a series of life-changing twists that would almost kill him.

Bounty hunters were generally viewed as little better than the men they hunted. Ted Shepard usually didn't pay any mind to what others thought. He was good at what he did. But now, he was trailing a body to his hometown of Wilmore. He might change his mind.

Mack Smith had left his shop in Pueblo and was just an hour or so from reaching his brother's ranch for his annual visit when he felt the bullet slam into his head, and when his eyes finally opened, he found himself flat on his back on the bottom of a ravine. What the hell had happened? He was only a gunsmith, not a gunfighter. Who would want him dead?When he discovered the reason for the mistaken assassination, it led to bigger changes in his life than he could ever have imagined, and the end to lots of other lives.

No one had seen the innocuous rock on the long climb to the pass on the Oregon Trail, and when the last covered wagon in the long line rolled onto the lump of granite, it shouldn't have made much of a difference, but it caused almost instant tragedy. Just seconds later, the wagon plunged over the edge of the narrow trail, then began its deadly, tumbling roll into the abyss, spewing its contents as it fell to its destruction. Her precious children had been trapped inside, and Rebecca could only watch in horror. Her children had been her life and now she had nothing.

Lee Ryan knew horses. He had his herd and his ranch. He even had his eye on a redheaded lass that would make everything perfect. The only thing that stood in the way of having everything he ever wanted was, of all things, hay. He didn't need it, but someone else did. And it was that need that shook his world.

U.S Deputy Marshal Earl Crawford had just entered the office after returning from a typically Texan assignment where bullets flew like dirt in a twister. He hadn't even hung his hat when the boss approached him about an even more dangerous mission, but only if he chose to accept the job.Normally, he wasn't given the choice, but in this case, even though he could have turned it down, he knew that he had to go. He would have to return to East Texas to track down a killer who had brutally murdered a young woman and her young son. What made it impossible to turn down was that murderer had been the dead woman's husband and father to the boy. He was also Earl's brother.

Susanna stared at her father's body on the floor, his life's blood still pooling near his head. She'd murdered her own father and even as she stepped slowly away from the horror, knew that there was more terror in her future. Soon, a man with a badge would come through that door, arrest her and then they'd slide a black hood over her head, and she'd plunge into cold darkness before her receiving her final, eternal sentence.Susanna could only see one path to avoid that demonic fate - she would have to lie.

Gabe had been assigned to investigate a case of timber poaching near Missoula in Montana Territory that could have been handled by a less experienced agent of the railroad, but the case had changed dramatically after the apparent murder of the station manager. What made it difficult for Gabe was that the station manager may have been shot by his wife, a woman he'd proposed to years earlier.

Sheriff Joe Brooks was talking to a young prisoner who gave him some incredibly bad news. Three notorious gangs of outlaws had merged into one large band big enough to take over entire towns in his sparsely populated county. It was when they began to terrorize his county that he had to act, and he'd have to take them on alone.

Mac Jones had been searching for a refuge for seven years and had finally found it in the mountains of Colorado. Then, as soon as his cabin was built, he was presented with two fellow refugees who would turn his peaceful sanctuary into a killing ground.

Pinkerton Agent Ben Gray was being sent to Denver for another all-to-common request for confirmation of marital infidelity. He didn't mind because he'd be able to go and visit his brother, who unknown to him, had just found a rich deposit of gold in his mine near Leadville. The job turned into anything but routine when assassins were sent to murder his brother and him so someone else could lay claim to the gold mine. In a startling revelation, Ben soon discovered that the man who had sent the killers was his boss, the chief agent.

United States Marshal War Adams stared at the telegram in disbelief. His father had been murdered? As difficult as it was to come to grips with the news, it would become more disturbing when he discovered that the person arrested for the crime was the nurse that his father had hired to ease his suffering from his killing disease. Her position gave her both the means and opportunity to commit the crime and he knew that the nurse was the same woman whose husband he had shot and killed years earlier, giving her the motive.

Will thought the job to Robinson, New Mexico was going to be a simple determination of whether it was worthwhile for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad to build a spur to the town. They claimed to have a huge coal deposit, and Will would just have to do a quick evaluation of the viability to extract the coal. Then the simple trip turned into something totally different when he discovers a murder that had been committed by his brother just days before. The same brother who had tried to murder him when he was thirteen and did murder his fianc e when he was twenty-one. The trip to Robinson would cost him dearly.

Matt finally had what he wanted; a ranch to raise his Morgans. Now he was ready to take the next step; the reason for building the ranch in the first place. He would finally begin his search for the right woman to help him start a family of his own. He thought that the difficult work in achieving that dream was behind him and now the much more pleasant part lay ahead.That belief was shattered when he received a visitor with a letter from an old friend - a friend who had been hanged north of Denton.

Joey couldn't imagine a better thirteenth birthday. He'd been given his first pistol and now was going to join his six older brothers on tomorrow's job. They were going to trust him with covering their escape after robbing the bank and he was determined to do it right. He was immensely proud to be a Hogan, and his tough brothers were his heroes. Joey knew there was nothing he wanted out of life more than to be just like them.It would take him years before he wanted nothing more than to kill each of them.