Val Darrant was just four years old the snowy night his mother abandoned him. But instead of meeting a lonely death, he met Will Reillyâa gentleman, a gambler, and a worldly, self-taught scholar. For ten years they each were all the family the other had, traveling from dusty American boomtowns to the glittering cities of Belle Ãpoque Europeâuntil the day Reillyâs luck ran out in a roar of gunfire.Â
But it wasnât a gambling brawl or a pack of thieves that sealed Willâs fate. It was a far more complex story that Val would soon uncoverâone that would bring him face-to-face with the one person he least wants to see: his mother. With the help of a beautiful, street-smart rancher and the woman who was Will Reillyâs lost love, Val must close this last cruel chapter of his past before he can turn the page on an uncertain future.