Kelly McGuffin—an innocent victim of violence and neglect—is haunted by shame. At age eighteen, loneliness and danger compel her to leave her remote cabin in the Virginia mountains to travel west with the Wyllie brothers to Boonesborough, Kentucky. Kelly's feelings for her heroic rescuer, Sheriff William Wyllie, remain confused and obscured beneath her worsening veil of fear. Caught in the untamed world of the frontier—both breathtakingly beautiful and shockingly cruel—Kelly is unable to control her uncertain future.



William keeps his attraction to Kelly hidden, to give her time to heal and to become the strong woman he knows she can be. As the brave sheriff of Boonesborough, on the very edge of the wilderness, William knows how to challenge difficulties head-on. But Kelly's heart-rending problems mount with frightening speed as harrowing forces confront her. William seeks to protect Kelly from further trauma, but he also helps her learn to find strength from within. To do that, she must confront the hardest person to be honest with—herself.



Will William's tender love, and belief in Kelly, heal her soul? And can they come together to battle the most disturbing and shocking event of all?



Contains mature themes.