Black Hills Native Son

"A month ago I was a respected cop/husband/father/community leader. Now, I'm contemplating robbing the woman who remembers a night I always believed—maybe prayed—was a dream." Eli Reservation deputy Eli Robideaux's vision quest takes him down a road he never wanted to walk—to the past. His mistakes—even the ones made for the right reasons—have come back to haunt him. Stumbling across Char Jones feels like grabbing on to a lifeline to keep him from falling into the bone-deep despair that had been his father's ruin. But her secrets are almost enough to unman him. Since when does the protector need a woman to have his back? "I'd know Eli Robideaux anywhere. Even as a desperate wreck threatening to rob my store—while offering to sign an I.O.U. How could I not? He's the father of the baby boy I was forced to give up for adoption sixteen years ago." Char No one is more surprised than Char when the unrequited love of her life walks into her Black Hills store, looking for the missing pieces of himself. She holds the key to one of those pieces—the son Eli never knew they had, the baby she put up for adoption. But is she brave enough to let go of her guilt and lead them on a journey that could hold love and hope…or almost certain heartbreak? A protector who's lost his Inner Compass reconnects with his past…and the woman destined to be his True North.