Tucker McCade has known violence his whole life: orphaned in a massacre, abused as a "half–breed" child, trained as a ruthless Texas Ranger, he's learned the hard way that might makes right.
So even he is shocked when he falls for Sallie Mae Reynolds, a Quaker nurse. Unable to resist Tucker's charm, character and chiselled body, she throws herself into their torrid affair, indulging every one of her wildest sexual fantasies. Tucker's occupation, however, is the one thing about him she can't embrace. A staunch pacifist, Sallie Mae can't understand how his strong, caressing hand can clench in fury or pull a trigger to take a life. In this lawless land, Tucker knows you have to fight to survive. But when Sallie Mae becomes pregnant, he's willing to do whatever it takes to have his family; including hanging up his guns. Every night they spend together binds them ever closer; until the day his past comes callin.