Spinster schoolteacher Ruth Blackburn has accepted her fate. She's not meant for love, especially not with ill-mannered-though excruciatingly handsome-Garth Mackenzie, the widowed father of one of her students. She'll just have to ignore the fact that he makes her skin heat. Garth Mackenzie is used to loss. The Civil War cost him his best friend and his ability to sleep through the night, and illness stole his wife and son. To avoid the pain of losing his daughter, he keeps her at arm's length, much to her teacher's dismay. Ruth Blackburn is independent and opinionated-just what Garth doesn't need. But her vibrant beauty and energy awaken feelings in him he thought long dead.