Charlotte Johnson spent most of her adult life working as a bartender and occasional card dealer in the Holy Moses Saloon. And in all those years, she had made it crystal clear to anyone who pushed that she wasn't one of the upstairs girls. But one night, she was forced to defend herself against a persistent customer who refused to take no for an answer. As a last resort, she hit him over the head with a spittoon bucket. It wasn't the first time she'd defended herself this way, but this time something went terribly wrong. Now, the man was dead. She was shocked by his death, but not nearly as shocked when the dead man's brother hired a crooked judge to sentence her to three years in a women's prison. She had no choice but to run. A widower with three angry children hell-bent on punishing him for their mother's death, U.S. Marshal, Jeremy Maxwell, feels like a man twice his age. He's painfully aware he's walking a fine line between a responsible father and a dedicated lawman. So, when a stranger arrives in his town in trouble and needing help, he's convinced she's the answer to his prayers. Her kind heart and beguiling eyes are what he's been searching for. But soon, his lawman's intuition tells him there's something she's not telling, and although the man in him wants to protect this woman no matter what, the lawman in him knows he has a duty to learn her secrets. It's simple. All he has to do is decide what matters most. His sense of duty or the love of this woman who may very well be the ruin of everything he holds dear.