For years Maggie’s life at the Pyanga general store had slipped along serenely. Perhaps because she wasn't ready for men, she had admitted no man even to the outer reaches of her heart. Even now, when she was twenty-one, she would have said she was not ready for romantic adventures. But such excitements have a way of catching up with one, and the only way to deal with them is to accept them or throw up a few defences. When Maggie’s parents visited England and left Maggie alone to run the store, a tall, arrogant stranger walked into it - and into Maggie's life. She determined to throw up defences. But could a girl like Maggie withstand a man so experienced and so attractive as Nicholas Heward?