There was a heatwave when Adam Steele reached New Orleans. And the poker hands he was dealt were hot enough to win him a big bankroll. But when he tried his luck with a warm-blooded and willing woman, his good fortune ran out... First he was wrongly accused of rape...and then murder. But the Virginian was determined to beat the charges, and although he tried to stay within the law, others did not. In the delta duel that followed, the Louisiana soil became as soaked with blood as with the rain that broke the heatwave...and Steele was caught in the down¬pour.