Books in the Keeper series

Leaving the death and bloodshed of the War Between the States behind him, Martin searches for his lost family. When an old ranchero, Luis Alvarado, claims him as his grandson, Martin finds himself hated by the ranch hands and faced with an aloof, but highly critical grandfather.When he saves Filipe Terraza, the son of a rival family, Martin is beaten by Alvarado's roundup crew and left for dead on the border between the two ranches where riders for the Terraza family find him. Out of gratitude for saving Filipe, the Terraza family nurses Martin back to health. As he grows to trust them, Martin chooses to turn his back on his grandfather in favor of those who have shown him kindness.As Martin finds peace working for the Terraza ranch, he learns of a secret buried in the family past that binds his loyalty to them, but when Alvarado's men rekindle the feud and draw Martin back into the blood, violence, and fear he wanted to leave behind in the war, he is left with crushing thought of dying without ever knowing his true family.