From the day she was born, Rita Baxter's mother encouraged her to follow her heart. Filled with innocent dreams and faith that her hard work training to be a Prima Ballerina on New York's bright stage will lead to fortune and fame, Rita is crushed when she loses her mother and must take a job dancing in a burlesque chorus line to keep a roof over her head. Witnessing a brutal murder is the last straw. The police promise to keep her safe, but Rita has learned to be a realist. Determined to escape the Irish gang that wants her dead and start a new life for herself, Rita heads to Colorado Territory as a mail-order bride. Jack Colton struck gold in his Central City mine, but the dark recesses of the mine mirror the lonely, dark places in his heart. He longs for a wife and family, but the only women in town interested in a hard former soldier like him aren't really interested in him at all. Sparks fly when they meet, both hopeful for a bright future. But murder is a poison and it followed Rita all the way from New York. Jack thought his killing days were over, but when an assassin arrives to destroy everything Jack will stop at nothing to protect his new wife...no matter the cost.

Ava Lewis is a jewelry maker, the only women jeweler where she works or that she knows in the business. Ava opens her door to find her brother who immediately falls unconscious to the floor. When she gets him awake and onto the sofa he tells her he’s dying, wounded by a poisoned blade. He demands that she take his pouch full of jewels and run. The only option she sees is to sign up as a mail-order bride under an assumed name, Jane Smith. Seamus ‘Lucky’ Madigan is a saloon owner. He won three different saloons in poker games and now makes a good living from the businesses. He sees how happy his friend and former captain is with his mail-order bride and orders one for himself. He desires a bride who hasn’t known every man in town in an intimate way. Someone he could introduce to his mother, if he had one alive. When the same man who killed her brother comes after Ava it will take all his skill with a knife and as a part of a sniper unit to protect his new bride.