In this compassionately written tale of romance and renewal, 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' family 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 unpredictable world of the frontier--both breathtakingly beautiful and shockingly cruel--Kelly is unable to control her uncertain future. William keeps his intense attraction to Kelly hidden, to give her time to heal and become the strong woman he knows she can be. At the same time, William takes on the challenges of his new role as sheriff of Boonesborough, on the very edge of the wilderness. When Kelly's heart-rending problems mount with frightening speed as harrowing forces confront her, William seeks to protect Kelly from further trauma, while he guides her to find strength from within. To do that, she must confront the hardest person to be honest with--herself. Can Kelly untie her tangled emotions and let her heart smile for the first time? Will William's tender love, and belief in Kelly, heal her soul? Can they come together in time to battle the most disturbing and shocking event of all?