Jesse James Harte isn't ready to settle down. If he were, he could have his pick of the women in Star Valley. Not only is he the very eligible police chief of Salt Creek, but he also has the irresistible allure of being the town bad boy in his not-so-distant youth. If he were looking for a wife, he would pick somebody who knew how to have a good time, certainly not a quiet, shy mouse of a schoolteacher like Sarah McKenzie. So why can't he stop thinking about her soft beauty and the shadows in her luminous green eyes? He knows she has secrets and his lawman's curiosity won't let him rest until he finds out what they are.
Sarah has come to Star Valley hoping the peace of rural Wyoming will help her escape the nightmares that haunt her after she was beaten severely and raped by a student at her previous job teaching at an inner-city school in Chicago. Jesse Harte, the uncle of one of her favorite students at her new school, terrifies her. He's so big, so completely male, but she swallows her fear when she begins to suspect one of her students is being abused. She turns to Jesse to investigate and in the process discovers a kind, caring man inside all those rough edges.
He begins to help her heal, but can he protect her when a new nightmare looms? [from author's web site]