Rone award finalist"a delightfully lovely read sure to steal the reader's heart!" --ind'tale magazine raised by his fur trapper father and uncles, jack briggs has always made do with little more than a knife and flask. alone now, he searches for a place to call home. and refined and beautiful penelope findley may be the person who can help him find it as he guides the findleys' wagon to oregon. a loyal wife, penelope snubs the rugged wagon leader whenever he shows an interest in her. secretly, she is haunted by the choices she made when she was just a desperate orphan instead of oliver findley's prized possession. when penelope is widowed during the journey, jack tempts her with the means to remain independent: protection in a temporary marriage and payment once he receives the free acreage allotted to married settlers in oregon. penelope doesn't realize all jack really wants is her. all she wants is the freedom he promised. after all, could he ever love her if he knew about her past?