Aaron Bryant inherited all the worst from his father: his temper, his name, and his gambling habit. Thrown out of the family home by his brother Jonathan, he survives one wager at a time, never finding the hope and security that Sweet Grove gave him in his youth, in the 1820s. But when he accidentally loses even the clothes on his back to a saloon owner with better looks than morals, Phoebe Vazquez has a chance through blackmailing him of gaining a life that she wanted.

But Aaron has his own agenda. He wants to return to Sweet Grove, his childhood farm, and buy it back from whoever bought it after his father lost it – and kick his own dependency on the thrill he receives from the dice. When the opportunity to return there arrives, and with a wife in tow, he can’t help but grasp at it. Yet Phoebe has secrets of her own, and she’s not willing to bet that anyone would accept her past. Will either of them learn that there’s something – or someone – out there that they do not need to gamble on, but depend on?