The last thing Liam Mcyntire expected to find in his barn one cold February morning, was a half-starved , frozen-solid woman. She's covered in bruises and full of mistrust and suspicions. He'd been perfectly content in his bachelor life of trapping critters, selling furs and living in solitude but this mysterious woman might just change all that. Emma Hawke was running. Running from her father, from the damage the man had done. Running from a life she didn't want--a life no different from the one that had killed her mother. She's never been off the mountain. She trusts nothing and no one--not even the man who saved her life by bringing her out of the cold. If Liam's going to win her heart, he's going to have to learn patience and how to truly care for someone more than he does himself. He'll have to love her softly. Can Emma overcome her past? Can she learn to trust--possibly even love--despite the fear that she holds of men and of marriage? Or will her past track her down and destroy any hope she has for a future?

His touch brought me such pleasure, it only made me madder as the burn of his rejection again set me ablaze. Slipping from his hold, I took the silver knife from my pocket and held it to his neck. He trembled as he leaned away from the silver. The burning inside me deepened and I could feel the tears in my eyes but I quickly shoved them back as I let the fire he ignited fuel my anger. "I've had about enough of you," I hissed through clenched teeth. "You're pathetic, get off my land." "Then let me give you something to remember just how pathetic I am." Taking the knife, I carved an X into the spot where I should have been able to mark him, where I wanted to bite him now. "Fuck!" He pulled back and held his bloody neck, it wasn't healing. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- First round of edits are finally complete!