Hearts of Gold by Phoebe Conn is the 1st in her Hearts of California series of f/m western historical romances set during the 19th century gold rush (
Wikipedia), this installment an action/adventure-y sort as the heroine nurses back to health an hero determined to avenge a friend's murder, free courtesy of publisher ePublishing Works! (exclamation mark theirs), who are e-printing it from its 1988 Popular Library edition.
The blurb for this says that it garnered a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award in the Best Romantic Historical Adventure category.
Currently free @
B&N (might also drop in the
UK at some point),
iTunes &
Google Play (both available to Canadians). Will probably eventually get price-matched at selected regional
Amazon stores (usually just the US, but sometimes also Canada &
UK).
Description
At the edge of her father's property, Lyse Shelby finds Buck Warren, wounded, and agrees to secretly nurse him back to heath, if he takes her with him when he goes.
Buck is chasing the man who killed his best friend. He has no time for a scrawny damsel in distress, or for love.
That's fine with Lyse. All she needs is a little help escaping her abusive father so she can make a life of her own.
But as Buck seeks revenge upon a murderer, Lyse makes an unexpected discovery: her new life isn't as attractive as she'd hoped without the man she loves.