<P>Orphaned at thirteen, a mail-order bride at fourteen, widowed at sixteen, Sarah Kennedy has learned to depend upon no one but herself--reserving all her love for her younger brother Conner, and for the wounded hawks she heals and returns to the air.</P><P>A hardened Civil War veteran, personal tragedy has taught Case Maxwell three things: to be a patient, deadly fighter, to love nothing that can die; and that justice is blind. But when a confrontation with his sworn enemies, the Culpepper clan, leaves him near death, Case finds himself, like many another damaged wild creature, under the tender, unwanted care of Sarah Kennedy.</P><P>Destiny has brought the healer and the warrior together to brave chilling risks and dangerous truths in a hard, magnificent land--two souls haunted by a perilous present and the bitter ghosts of the past. But the intense emotion both Case and Sarah fear--the passion that burns like fire in the very heart of winter--is the only thing that can truly save them, as together they seek the courage to face the greatest risk of all: love.</P>Orphaned at thirteen, a mail-order bride at fourteen, widowed at sixteen, Sarah Kennedy has learned to depend upon no one but herself--reserving all her love for her younger brother Conner, and for the wounded hawks she heals and returns to the air.<p>A hardened Civil War veteran, personal tragedy has taught Case Maxwell three things: to be a patient, deadly fighter, to love nothing that can die; and that justice is blind. But when a confrontation with his sworn enemies, the Culpepper clan, leaves him near death, Case finds himself, like many another damaged wild creature, under the tender, unwanted care of Sarah Kennedy.<p>Destiny has brought the healer and the warrior together to brave chilling risks and dangerous truths in a hard, magnificent land--two souls haunted by a perilous present and the bitter ghosts of the past. But the intense emotion both Case and Sarah fear--the passion that burns like fire in the very heart of winter--is the only thing that can truly save them, as together they seek the courage to face the greatest risk of all: love.