Venice Leiland, determined to overcome her spoiled, rich girl reputation, has come to the most remote spot in the Rockies to save a small mining town from financial ruin. The last person she expects to find is Noble “Slats” McCaneaghy, who disappeared from her life ten years ago after her father had rescued him from poverty. He had been the hero of her childhood—always there to rescue her from her mischievous adventures. Now he is a devastatingly attractive man with a new mission in life. The arrival of the dark-haired beauty from his past stirs all his painful memories of forbidden desires and thwarted dreams, yet he still yearns to protect her even if he can’t have her. But as Venice struggles with her own feelings of betrayal, she is helpless to resist him . . . or to deny the fiery passion that still smolders in a love that can never die.