Book excerpt: The year was 1846 – and the great American Southwest was the prize in an epic conflict. The U.S. Army and the army of Mexico met in a battle that would shape the course of history, while the legendary Apache warrior chief Mangas Coloradas looked on, determined to defend his ancestral lands and age-old tribal traditions against either of the invaders or both. On this bloody battlefield young Lieutenant Nathanial Barrington faced his first great test of manhood…as he began a career that would take him to the heart of the conflict sweeping over the West from Texas to New Mexico…and plunge him into passions that would force him to choose between two very different frontier beauties. This enthralling first novel of The Apache Wars Saga captures the drama and real history of a struggle in which no side wanted to surrender…in a series alive with all the excitement and adventures of brave men and women – white and Native American – who decided the future of America.