THE IRON LINE
Book Two of The Stone County Drifter
by Mark Collins
This time, the enemy doesn't carry a gun. It carries a lawyer.
A year after breaking a cattle baron's grip on Stone County, Cole Danner has finally built the life he once believed himself unfit for - a home, a partnership with Dellah Voss, and a town learning to trust itself again. Then a railroad company arrives with survey stakes, polished promises, and a two-hundred-year-old land grant that predates every deed in the county.
Emmett Vance is nothing like the enemy Cole faced before - no gun, no temper, just a corporation's bottomless patience and a forged grant that could take Amos Whitfield's ranch and half of Main Street without firing a shot. When Cole's old adversary Tom Reyes rides back into town with a lead on the document's true origin, Cole finds himself fighting a battle that can't be won by standing his ground alone - it has to be won on paper, in a courtroom, against opponents who know the law better than the people it's supposed to protect.
As the noose tightens, a young scout finds his courage, a widow finds her voice, and a whole county has to decide, once again, whether it's willing to stand together against a force that never has to raise its voice to be dangerous. THE IRON LINE is the gripping second novel in The Stone County Drifter series, about the slow, hard work of defending a home once it's finally been won.
Perfect for readers who love:
Frontier communities fighting corporate land grabs
A found family standing together against long odds
Forged documents, courtroom drama, and a race against time
Slow-burn romance woven through high-stakes adventure
Book Two of The Stone County Drifter series. Book One, REDEMPTION FLATS, is available now.