All that classical musician Cora Hartmann wanted, when she was the top bidder on an online auction and bought the decrepit old house and its beautiful acres of hardwood forest, was to be able to turn it into a sanctuary where she could be alone to compose her music. Every morning, she dutifully drove out to the property and made her way through the trees to the house, to continue dragging out ugly carpet, and doing what she could in order to make the place habitable.

Alone in the woods, she was unprepared to be confronted by a scowling, intimidating man who blocked her path and demanded to know where his sister was, who Cora was, and what she was doing at his sister's house.

When Cora claimed no knowledge of his missing sister and informed him that the house belonged to her, he stepped closer and looked down at her, narrowing his dark, unreadable eyes and clenching his jaw in anger. Although he hadn't touched her, she had the sensation that he had just grabbed her and shaken her.

Morgan Roberts was frustrated that he hadn't found a man on his sister's property so that he could beat him to a pulp until he confessed what he knew about Jane. Instead, he had to encounter this beautiful, vexing creature who was either a proficient liar, or really hadn't been given any details about who the house belonged to.

Where was the beautiful Jane Roberts? Was she dead? Her brother, a wealthy timber baron, had arrived in this small town from halfway across the country to find out, and no one was going to stop him. Would Cora be determined to challenge him, or would she become his lifeline?