Rebel in His Arms — Francine Rivers

In The Harsh Land Of The California Sierras, A Wild Love Struggles To Be Born

Kathryn Durham was familiar with hardship -- raising her younger brother, Jeremy, without a mother; keeping house for her father. But Katie loved their homestead, adored her family. Then one day, her father is fatally shot, the only clue to his murderer the initials he drew on the dirt before dying: M D.

Mace Donovan: the man who had offered to buy up the Durham spread. The man with muscles that rippled like a stallion in motion, and eyes as cold and as fierce as a puma's. Mace Donovan: virile, powerful, wealthy -- and a murderer.

Determined to avenge her father's death, Kathryn is thwarted at every turn by this man who makes her churn with rage and tremble with emotions she is helpless to stop. Like two wildcats, they claw at each other, tempers as brutal as the land they live on. She is a shrew and he intends to tame her. He is a killer, and she wants him to hang.

Only when Jeremy becomes a pawn in a deadly game does Kathryn finally admit her deep love for Mace Donovan -- a love that may have come too late to share.