Silk and Stone — Deborah Smith

In the wealthy resort town of Pandora, North Carolina, old secrets and heartaches are guarded as closely as rubies cut from the mountain bedrock. It is said that a fine ruby is both silk and stone, light and shadow, fortune and tragedy. And the finest ruby of all is the famous Pandora Ruby, a gem that has divided the Vanderveer and the Raincrow families for decades and shattered the lives of all who have possessed it.

Samantha is no stranger to hardship and betrayal. But she has no idea of the lives that have been destroyed by the Pandora Ruby or the dark secrets behind her aunt's Vanderveer heritage. Lives like that of Jake Raincrow, a dangerous loner haunted by tragedy. Only Jake, gifted and cursed with the "sight" of his Cherokee ancestors, sees the vulnerability that shadows Samantha's fierce determination to protect the people she loves; he alone senses the loneliness and sacrifice behind her bravado. But it is the ruby that obsesses him, for it is the key to the mystery of his past, a devastating betrayal that he must right before he can love again...