Proudly wearing her nurse's uniform and feisty as could be, Jesse Forbes delivered babies and tended the sick in the rural hills of Harpersville, Tennessee. But her gentle courage was about to spell life or death for a strong, stubborn rebel named Wade Simmer. The powerful Harper family called him a troublemaker, people whispered about the hanging of his Pa, yet Jesse saw him as a symbol of the untamed land-fiercely independent, unshakably honest, and dangerous only to the varmints who messed with what was his. From the first afternoon when he waited for her on a country road, he was the one she cherished. Now an entire town shadowed by fear blamed Wade for a crime of perversion and cruelty, forcing Jesse to prove that her love was stronger than lies-and as lasting as the rugged mountains they called home.