As a result of mounting numbers of homesteaders abandoning Creede, Colorado, Eliza Turley suspects foul play. She’s worried for her friends and family if the real reason people are missing isn’t solved. She sends a letter requesting a detective come look into the strange disappearances. She hadn’t thought an agent would respond so quickly. The last thing Eliza is looking for is love. That’s when it ambushes her and knocks her from her horse. Because lawlessness is rampant in the newly settled west, KC Murray became an agent of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. He lives a solitary life, but a satisfying one, apprehending criminals in the Rocky Mountain region. In Creede, he disguises his identity, pretending to be a newcomer, looking to settle there. He knows better than to get personally involved with anyone because the results are deadly—they have been before. That vow is hard to keep when he meets Eliza and untangles a plot that threatens her home and her life.