When Kelly McBride inherits the family ranch in Montana, her decision not to sell disappoints more people than she could have imagined. Bitter ex-con Lee Roan Horse feels he has an inherent right to both the land and the gold hidden in a cave on the property. The spirit of Blue Crow, a Lakota warrior dead over 100 years, considers the gold his to safeguard. Neither one of them expect to end up protecting Kelly from men who want to take both the land and the gold from Kelly and don't care if she gets killed in the process.

Kelly finds herself equally attracted to Lee and Blue Crow, two men who are almost mirror images of one another. Despite persuading Kelly to let him work for her, Lee sometimes looks at her as if he hates her. At other times, his looks are filled with desire. She cares for him, her heart aching for all his past hurts, but she fears he has a secret agenda...her gold. Blue Crow, a corporeal spirit with the soul of a poet and the heart of a warrior, once saw Kelly as his in a vision. His love for her surmounts even his resolve to protect the gold until the unscrupulous men who want both her gold and her land show they're willing to go after both at the cost of her life. When both Lee and Blue Crow come to her rescue, one will have to die so she can live. But which one?

As with all Madeline Baker books, the plot and pace of Heart of the Hunter flowed almost effortlessly, drawing me in and leaving me so emotionally engaged with the characters I had to stop quite a few times to wipe away tears. How Kelly dealt with her love for both men showed how strong her character was. I definitely had mixed feelings about Lee. His love for Kelly was obvious even though cloaked in myriad emotional wounds that were still in the process of scaring over, but I loved how tender and understanding Blue Crow was with Kelly. He was always there for her - and for Lee - when they needed him.

I began reading this ebook late in the afternoon and read late into the night, unable to put it down until I'd finished it. The ending is expected, but it's one I had mixed feelings of happiness and sadness about. It also had holes in it, leaving me with too many unanswered questions. Still, this book is rich in emotions and characters with self-doubts and very real problems that combine to make this a ghost story you don't want to miss. Personally, I'd loved to see a sequel for the man who lost everything at the end.

This book was previously released under the same title as part of the 1994 anthology Enchanted Crossings. Unfortunately, it wasn't updated for this re-release.

Reviewed by: Merrylee