The door opened and candle light spilled from the house onto the porch, bathing Pete’s boots in a glow of yellow. Whomever Pete had expected to answer this door, it wasn’t them. It was a young woman wearing riding trousers, her chestnut hair weaved into a loose braid. From the way she was standing, she didn’t look like the kind of woman to be trifled with.

She took one look at Pete, a good long look from top to bottom, then yelled over her shoulder, “Papa! Someone at the door for ya.”

Then she turned around, without inviting him inside and disappeared into another room.

Battered by his previous life, Pete knows he has no business falling for anyone—especially his employer’s headstrong daughter. After all, the only thing romance has brought him in the past is more pain.

With a past of her own, June’s much too stubborn to let any man into her heart again. Not after the hurt she’s suffered already. But even time can’t treat all wounds. And that’s when love steps in to make things right.

Inspired by a true story of the post–Civil War South, this gentle rustic romance will pull you in from the first page and leave you with a renewed hope in the healing power of real love.