Open Country — Kaki Warner

Love, lies, and the perils of passion unfold in the second book of the Blood Rose Trilogy, an exciting new historical novel set in the wildfrontier of the American West...

Molly McFarlane is as desperate as a woman can get -- even one alone on the frontier. Forced to flee with her late sister's children, she must provide for her wards while outrunning the relentless trackers their vicious stepfather has set on her trail. To secure their future, she marries a badly injured man, assuming that when he dies his insurance settlement will provide all they need. But there is one small problem.

The man doesn't die.

Hank Wilkins doesn't remember the train wreck that he barely survived -- and he certainly doesn't remember marrying Molly. But he takes her home to his ranch, where Molly is quickly caught up in the boisterous Wilkins family. Molly knows little about caring for children, and even less about caring for a man -- especially silent, brooding types like Hank. But even as Molly and Hank discover each other, the specter of the truth of Molly's past threatens to tear them apart -- and doom both her and the children she must protect...