AI-FREE! 100% certified organic author-created content. No artificial intelligence was used in the writing of this book. A unique love letter from the author to her Gold Rush home town of Paradise, California Mathilda Hardwicke, a rebellious artist rejected by her family and New York society, heads west to Gold Rush California to make a new life for herself as a mail-order bride. When fate leaves her at the altar in Paradise Bar-a ramshackle gold camp full of ragtag miners-she's sure she's leaped out of the frying pan and into the fire. But unbeknownst to Mattie, she has a protector. Sakote, a fierce Konkow warrior, is bound by honor to watch over the white woman. And though his tribe is threatened by the encroaching miners, he's strangely drawn to Mattie, who delights in making pictures of him and whose destiny seems entwined with his. When a tragedy at the camp forces Sakote to steal Mattie away, she finds herself in an unfamiliar Paradise of savage wonder, and she soon discovers a forbidden love more precious than gold. NATIVE GOLD Book 1 of California Legends These are chronicles of the Old West-of the native people who lived on the land for generations and the pioneers who came from all over the world in search of riches...the struggle to survive in a land without laws...the strange bedfellows that resulted from the clash of cultures...and the common language of the heart that spoke of a love more precious than gold. In This Series California Legends 1850 - NATIVE GOLD 1875 - NATIVE WOLF 1875 - NATIVE HAWK Key Themes: Native American historical romance, adventure stories, strong women, multicultural romance, Westerns, female artist, California Gold Rush, 1800s, mail order bride, shotgun wedding, the Old West, Konkow tribe, stories with humor