Settling her late father's affairs only to discover evidence that contradicts understandings about her sister's suicide twenty years earlier, Riley MacPherson learns that her sister is still alive and has been on the run from dangerous family secrets.

Interweaves the adventures of two brothers traveling on Georgia's Altamaha River to scatter their enigmatic father's ashes with the story of Jacques Le Moyne, an artist who participated in a 1564 expedition to found a French settlement at the mouth of the river.

"Marybeth and Edward are compelled by their circumstances to marry as they trek west to the newly formed railroad town of Cheyenne. But life in Cheyenne is fraught with danger, and they find that they need each other more than ever. Despite the trials they face, will happiness await them in this arrangement of convenience?"--

Handsome, widowed, sophisticated, utterly charming, Paul Parker won the heart of a wealthy young Frenchwoman--the daughter of an American financier, the granddaughter of a major French art dealer--as his second wife. In two marriages, he fathered a challenging son and three very different daughters. But as irresponsible as he was irresistible, he ultimately shrugged off the demands of marriage and parenting to pursue life as an international bon vivant....