Deborah Smith - Silk and Stone

In the wealthy resort town of Pandora, North Carolina, old secrets and heartaches are guarded as closely as rubies cut from the mountain bedrock. It is said that a fine ruby is both silk and stone, light and shadow, fortune and tragedy. And the finest ruby of all is the famous Pandora Ruby, a gem that has divided the Vanderveer and the Raincrow families for decades and shattered the lives of all who have possessed it.

Samantha is no stranger to hardship and betrayal. But she has no idea of the lives that have been destroyed by the Pandora Ruby or the dark secrets behind her aunt's Vanderveer heritage. Lives like that of Jake Raincrow, a dangerous loner haunted by tragedy. Only Jake, gifted and cursed with the "sight" of his Cherokee ancestors, sees the vulnerability that shadows Samantha's fierce determination to protect the people she loves; he alone senses the loneliness and sacrifice behind her bravado. But it is the ruby that obsesses him, for it is the key to the mystery of his past, a devastating betrayal that he must right before he can love again...

Comment: Once again, I loved a book by this author. I don't know what else to say about the author's writing or style that I haven't praised before.
This story is very similar to A Place to Call Home, but I preferred this one, I liked the main characters much more, plus there's a sense of hapiness in the air. Although bad things happen during the book, in the end the happy reunion and the other love story made the book quite good.
I liked how the main couple stayed faithful to each other, how they both waited, it is so romantic and sweet to think like that.
The villain is indeed, bad. I think more than the usual cliches used, the authr tried to portray a bad person with some good reasons, so we hate her for what she did but we pity her too.
I can't wait to read more books by this author, and although this one isn't my favourite, I'll cherish it immensely.