Though his mother named him after a priest, there's nothing saintly about McGauran O'Dowd. He needs to escape the slums before he's forced into marrying his friend's sister and revealing the sin he's managed to hide so far.   When McGauran gets hired as a logger by ruthless business man Gédéon Latendresse, people warn him -- the Latendresse family is cursed. Twenty years ago, Gédéon rode the witchin' canoe from the camps to the city to stop his brother's wedding. But that night, Gédéon broke one of the Chasse Galerie rules, and now the Devil's come for his due.   And that due, McGauran soon finds out, is Gédéon's sheltered young nephew Honoré, the most enchanting man McGauran's ever met. The lover he's been praying for.   Cursed, Honoré is slipping into madness and threatened to be interned. When the winter comes, McGauran is stuck at the shanties, helpless to save Honoré from his tragic fate. He'll do anything to save the man he loves, even bargain with the Devil himself.