Emerald Heart — Leigh Stephens

After the death of her husband, 23-year-old Elizabeth Rogers trades in the family farm in Missouri for a new life as a Nevada rancher. Her adventures begin when she meets fellow traveler, Jack Devlin, an attractive, southern gambler on a mission to buy a horse and continue when she steps off the stage in Nevada, colliding with Matt Kelly, a handsome cowboy from the Emerald ranch. When Devlin loses his prize thoroughbred to Kelly in a card game, he's forced to stay in town and the men lock horns to capture the attentions of the pretty, blue-eyed Elizabeth as she struggles to prove she's tough enough to survive in the west. As Devlin makes plans to get his horse back, the relationship between Matt and Elizabeth blossoms, setting all three on a dangerous path to love, jealousy and intrigue that ends in a fatal shoot-out and a life saving bargain. Emerald Heart is a sweet western romance and the first novel in the Emerald Series, introducing the stories of the Kelly family and their Emerald ranch in 1870's Nevada.