Fugitive Hearts - Steam! Romance and Rails, #4

In 1873, a depression grips the country. Rail lines across the violent, ungoverned Indian Territory are targeted with shocking accuracy. Despite its early success, the Katy Railroad struggles to pay its workers. But in the midst of all this unhappy news, it is an act of domestic violence that sets a Kansas town ablaze with gossip and challenges its sheriff to uncover the truth.  When he does, it will shatter his notions about duty, justice...and love. Everyone in Parsons considers hotel owner Claire Daines a respectable, decent woman, until she shocks the entire town when she rushes into a saloon in her nightclothes to confess to an inebriated lawman: "Sheriff, I shot my husband." Is it an accident, as she claims? Or is it murder? When Claire flees town, Sheriff Frank Garrity follows, determined to unravel the widow's subterfuge, despite his soft spot for Claire.
But the truth doesn't produce justice. It only puts Frank in a more difficult position. To protect Claire, he must betray her trust. Bestselling author E. E. Burke vividly brings to life the tumultuous era of railroad expansion across the American West in a breathtaking historical romance that will keep you turning the pages to the very end. National Readers' Choice Awards finalist. Read it today! Praise for the Steam! Series "Gripping, realistic western writing at its best! E.
E. Burke is an exceptional story-teller!"--USA TODAY bestselling author Rosanne Bittner "Pure passion and romance that will steal your breath."--Linda Broday, New York Times bestselling author