LUCKY

Harte Favre is smarting when her parents send her back East to find a respectable husband. If the beaux of Virginia City, Nevada, bored her, she is sure that the gentlemen her strict aunt in Chicago rounds up will be worse. Besides, given that she inherited her father's talent at a card table, Harte longs for the same freedom her cousin Yancy enjoys -- although Yancy has no lucky at any game of chance. The fact that she stole out after him, to guard his back when he was in a reckless mood, is what has landed both of them on the east bound train.

Richard Thorton is also eastward bound, however, he is reluctantly returning to strap on his gun once more. He doesn't have details about the job but knows he's cheated death so many times already that his number is bound to come up and put him six feet under. But danger is something that draws him, which is no doubt why he finds Harte Favre irrestable. A man who grew up on the streets has no call to be fascinated with a woman of means, and this one in particular is determined to court danger. Unfortunately, having her come within a man's sights proves that she is more than merely dangerous to be around -- Harte is a human gut shot, slow, painful, and fatal.