When Abbey Sutton left her home in the wild Wyoming frontier, she expected to find a civilized, subdued life as a governess back East. But a storm was brewing over the quaint clapboard houses and cobblestone streets of Nantucket Island. And the darkest cloud of suspicion hung over Jake Ross, the rugged lighthouse keeper with sun-bleached hair and a notorious past.

The locals called him a criminal—a thieving smuggler—but Abbey scorned their accusations. Could a criminal’s embrace melt away a woman’s doubts? Would a thief make and impassioned plea for justice in the young American colonies?

As the tempest began to roar, its blustery squall threatened the lives of every man, woman, and child on the island. Abbey found herself face to face with an unscrupulous murderer…and the chilling blade of a slave trader’s knife.

If the rumors were true, Jake was tied to these nefarious cutthroats. Even Abbey could see he was no stranger to death, violence and the scent of danger. But hero or hellion, he was her soul-mate, the man she would follow to the ends of the earth, and smack into the eye of this sudden storm.