"She who loves and runs away, lives to love another day" was Jacy Tiernan's credo. Only this fair-haired beauty had never loved again after Ian Yarbro. Ten years ago, she had fled her beloved Australian homestead with a shattered soul. Ian,the rugged sheep rancher who'd awakened her young heart to the most exquisite pleasures, had sired the child of another woman. Unable to forgive him, Jacy ran off to New York to live with her wealthy divorced mother, leaving behind all dreams of happiness.

Now Jacy had returned to Corroboree Springs to care for her ailing father. And Ian was waiting, his heart as hard and defiant as the great Outback. Jacy knew she dared not love this proud and brooding man. Yet she also knew they could not deny the fevered passion that still blazed across them like bushfire. And when her father made a final wish that she and Ian wed, and unite their lands to ensure the future, Jacy realized she could no longer run. This time she would have to stand her ground and find the courage to turn a bitter clash of wills into a true bond...and Ian's burning hunger into the sweet, everlasting ecstasy of love.