Veiled Joy Series Series by Colleen L. Reece

For Joyous, her childhood is shattered when she is kidnapped and then abandoned. Never knowing her true identity, she grows up amid the California Gold Rush as the adopted daughter of Agnus McFarlane, a lovable prospector. Brit O'Donnell escapes the potato famine in Ireland to find a better life in Monterey, California. The Silver Rush will test the mettle of this determined young man... moreFor Joyous, her childhood is shattered when she is kidnapped and then abandoned. Never knowing her true identity, she grows up amid the California Gold Rush as the adopted daughter of Agnus McFarlane, a lovable prospector. Brit O'Donnell escapes the potato famine in Ireland to find a better life in Monterey, California. The Silver Rush will test the mettle of this determined young man. The son of a Castilian patrician whose fortune was absconded, fifteen-year-old Carlos Montoya also ventures to California with dreams of silver. Three seemingly separate lives, three undetermined destines... to be brought together by the hand of God in the unforgiving California desert. less

The world is a frightening place for Tamor O'Donnell. She escapes a loveless marriage of convenience, only to find that again and again she must flee new dangers. Living under a false name, she would like to accept the love and security offered by the young lawyer Gordon Rhys, but she is afraid to trust him with the secret of her identity. This time when she runs away she finds herself caught in a danger she cannot escape: the San Francisco earthquake of 1906.