A lonely widow . . . a hopeless drifter . . . and happily ever after?

Now that Marie has become used to her lonely life of helping transients through their worst times, she can forget about the intense sadness that plagues every waking moment—until she meets a drifter who changes everything. A man with nothing to offer, a horrible injury, and a nearly unquenchable thirst . . . and nothing to lose.

Jake Collins once had everything a man could ever want, a nice home, clothes, and a wife who loved him, until he threw it all away like a bad poker hand. In fact, the cards and drink are what he blames most for his downfall in life, though he knows deep down that it is his own inability to control either that cost him his happiness.

When she comes across a weary, beaten and battered drifter right in front of a church, Marie knows that another chance for grace and mercy has come her way. She has a chance to help yet another stranger, though there's just something different about the handsome Jake that she can't explain . . . even when his constant lies and truth-hiding threaten to ruin the reputation she's achieved in the small yet bustling town of Wickenburg.

Once the rakish ruffian has been nursed back to health, it is time for him to start paying his dues or move on, but can Marie handle the idea of being alone again?

Or will the self-depreciating gambler with the insatiable thirst for alcohol finally have met his Queen of Hearts?

Elliee Atkinson