AustLit

'In the unusually wet summer of 1816, Emma Braithwaite struggles to keep her family's traditional wool cloth manufacturing company afloat. Her father has died, her brother is missing, and the new cotton factories are spreading, rendering the fine worsted fabrics the Braithwaites have made for generations, expensive and unfashionable. Being a woman in a man's world of trade is challenging enough, but when her warehouse catches fire it brings her only a step away from financial ruin and debtor's prison.

'After eight years of war, Major Adam Caldwell is returning for the first time to his family home, Rengarth Castle, when he stops to assist at a warehouse fire ... and comes face-to-face with the woman he once loved and lost. Despite all his efforts to forget her, in truth she's never been far from his thoughts. He was unworthy of her then, and even more so now.

'But as the threats against Emma escalate, they discover that someone wants control of Emma's family company and is prepared to murder anyone in the way of getting it - including Emma.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

''Dammit, Tess, he doesn't seem worth protecting.'

''I'm not protecting him, sarge,' she said. She dropped her gaze, biting her lip, and for the first time in his experience she spoke in a small voice. 'I'm protecting me.'

For police officers Steve Fraser and Tess Ballard, a split-second decision saves the lives of fifty members of a cult ­- but also puts their careers on the line. Tess's work is everything to her; she's forged a new life through sheer determination, so when her past returns to haunt her, Steve must race through wild country if he is to save the people he most cares about.' (Publication summary)