Before there was New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, or Utah, there was Texas.
Molded by Old Mexico and a new rough and ready breed of hearty settlers from around the world, The Lone Star Republic was the thing of dreams—land, riches, liberty, home. For the Paladín family, it is all of those things and so much more.
English-born Lord Paladín and Irish traveler Niall Gorman are both deeply involved in the Texican campaign for independence, although neither out of purely patriotic fervor. Niall, a master horseman and crack sharpshooter from Kentucky, sees the Mexican province of Tejas merely as a means to an end—revenge. Alex Paladín, on the other hand, is a shrewd second son, despite his proclivity for extravagance. He sees an independent Texas as the salvation of his family estates—to say nothing of himself.
Seeking funds, Alex barters his baron’s title for the dowry of young Rafaela Carrera, beautiful daughter of a wealthy Spanish rum trader. Rafaela wants no part of the marriage, but finds herself shipped to the New World anyway, a prisoner of the roguish Paladín. On her journey she meets Fiona Flanigan, an Irish immigrant late of New York City’s crime-infested slums. Lured by the prospects of independence and prosperity, the fiery young lass is dead set to carve out her stake—or die trying.