Outrider Noah Ericson isn't Mercy Atkins' idea of a hotel guest, but the bank pays cash—a week in advance—for their stagecoach shotgun. She worries about how long she can get away with not replacing the hotel's battered roof and she never turns away a paying guest—even if he holsters a loaded weapon.



Mercy's husband Haman disappeared, and she hides a shameful secret, running a decent boarding house while caring for her young son and elderly father. Haman's vicious brother Jehu circles like a vulture, determined to lay claim to Haman's stake and take the hotel away from her. Mercy finds everything about Noah a welcome comfort at her supper table.



But war cost Noah dearly. When he came back, he found the graves of his wife and young daughter who had been viciously violated and murdered. He walks with guilt and grief as his constant companions. I should have been there to protect them. With his troubling past, Noah at first resists his deepening attraction to Mercy.



But when bank stagecoaches are ambushed more than once, Noah grows suspicious. When he discovers Mercy's shameful secret, which could ruin their life together, he makes up his mind.



A man knows what needs protecting.