Brighter Than Gold — Cynthia Wright

UNCONTROLLABLE PASSION AND DARK VENGEANCE
EXPLODE IN A CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH TOWN.

Feisty, independent Katie MacKenzie spends her days working at her father's saloon in the mining town of Columbia, writing for the local paper and dreaming of the Sierra's own heroic Robin Hood, known only as the Griffin. Though newcomer Jack Adams arouses her ire with his mocking words -- and her interest with his knowing eyes -- her heart belongs to the masked highwayman.

But her fantasy romance is shattered when her father is shot down by the Griffin. Disillusioned and enraged, she vows to bring her father's killer to justice -- even as she finds herself falling in love with Jack.

There is much that Katie doesn't know -- about her father's death, about the Griffin, and about Jack, who takes her to the limits of ecstasy, yet hides a secret that, once revealed, may destroy the fragile trust that Katie has so innocently placed in him....