The Brigands (The Texicans Volume One)

Before there was New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, or Utah, there was Texas. Molded by Old Mexico and a new rough and ready breed of hearty settlers from around the world, The Lone Star Republic was the thing of dreams-land, riches, liberty, home. For the Paladín family, it is all of those things and so much more. English-born Lord Paladín and Irish traveler Niall Gorman are both deeply involved in the Texican campaign for independence, although neither out of purely patriotic fervor. Niall, a master horseman and crack sharpshooter from Kentucky, sees the Mexican province of Tejas merely as a means to an end-revenge. Alex Paladín, on the other hand, is a shrewd second son, despite his proclivity for extravagance. He sees an independent Texas as the salvation of his family estates-to say nothing of himself. Seeking funds, Alex barters his baron's title for the dowry of young Rafaela Carrera, beautiful daughter of a wealthy Spanish rum trader. Rafaela wants no part of the marriage, but finds herself shipped to the New World anyway, a prisoner of the roguish Paladín. On her journey she meets Fiona Flanigan, an Irish immigrant late of New York City's crime-infested slums. Lured by the prospects of independence and prosperity, the fiery young lass is dead set to carve out her stake-or die trying.