North Dakota resident Jocelyn Charles has a life mission. Get her degree and help women and children work through violent acts committed against them. Jocelyn believes that there is no reason one person should inflict pain on another person purposely. Young rancher Liam O’Connor has a mission. Leave his sister in California at college and go gain experience on a larger spread than his father’s, so he can one day run his own ranch. From the moment Jocelyn meets Liam, the sparks and libido ignite. Everyone knows long distance relationships never work. Right? And how can Jocelyn reconcile her feelings for Liam and stick to her goals when Liam has openly admitted his commitment to a traditional lifestyle? Jocelyn wants no complications. Liam is a huge complication. He is positive there is a solution, she is not so sure.

Liam O’Connor still loved Jocelyn Charles. They had been engaged almost a decade ago. Tragically, youth, distance, and life goals ended that engagement but not the feelings they shared. Liam, now a successful rancher, and Jocelyn, now a successful social worker, still had their issues. They still lived a distance apart. He was still a man with traditional values, and she still worked towards ending violence in homes. He still expected the rules to be followed, and she still did not believe in his methods of enforcing those rules. He still had the burning need to protect her, and she still routinely put her safety at risk. Jocelyn still had needs that could only be filled by Liam. Will the intensity of their re-ignited emotions still incinerate and combust them, or will they now heat and meld them?

Just when newly married Jocelyn thought life could not get any better, things began to crumble around her. She and Liam live an idyllic life on a prosperous ranch in the corner of the Bitterroot Mountains. Jocelyn knows better, but she has a secret that she’s keeping from Liam that threatens their happy existence, and she knows what her traditional husband thinks about secrets. Is it worth the risk? Jocelyn is the wife that Liam has longed for, right down to allowing him his old-fashioned way of dealing with things when she steps too far out of bounds. But she has trouble trusting him with everything. And now, something is not right and when he discovers how wrong things are, he is not sure how to handle his wife’s betrayal or if he even can. After waiting ten years to finally have the life they have longed for, will Jocelyn choose to throw it all away to keep her secrets safe?