Only the fearless face the Rocky Mountain winter alone. When Zeche Reid left his family's stage stop in the Wyoming Territory to explore the mountains around them, an early blizzard sends him scrambling for cover. He stumbles upon a lady and her professor father holed up in a remote cabin, and his protective instincts won't let him desert them to continue his travels. Especially when the father's haunting memories from the War of Secession put his daughter's safety at risk. Fighting her own nightmares after the war, Greta Michelly is trying to settle into this rugged mountain land, but her bad memories are nothing compared to the demons that haunt her father. The haven they've found in these Rocky Mountains seems to calm his spirit-until a mysterious sojourner appears on their cabin doorstep. She can't help but be drawn to the wild aura that surrounds the man, but that strength seems to be that very thing that intensifies her father's struggles. As Zeche is torn between his craving to protect Gretta and the awful realization that he's the one putting her in more danger, he must make a difficult choice. But when a run-in with an elk changes his plans and Gretta is faced with a danger Zeche is powerless to control, he has to find a way to protect her no matter what-even at the cost of his heart. From a USA Today bestselling author comes another thrilling tale of love and courage on the western frontier.