Lavinia Wheeler had watched as her world had been torn apart over the past three years When the Civil War comes to her doorstep, her generosity in opening her house as a hospital brings a change in her life far beyond anything she could have dreamed. Between dealing with the Yankee-hating townsfolk, her former slaves, a passel of wounded Yankees, a government that takes a dim view of people who aid the enemy, and a group of raiders that is ravaging the countryside, Lavinia isn't sure that she has time to care for herself, much less fall in love. Cavalry sergeant Asa Sheppard was given the assignment to guard Miss Wheeler's treasures as a way to let him rest from the wound and exhaustion that had sapped his will to live Dealing with the peppery little woman and facing the dangers beside her does more than cure his wounds.