Only her defiant pride kept her from begging for his love...Behind her proper schoolmarm ways, sunny blond, Mercy, was the same sassy spitfire she had been as a child. An orphan raised by the Quill family with her foster brother Danny, she had always had a quick temper and often needed the loving protection of her big brother. Now she was a woman - and running to Danny again.Two Kentucky bounders had ridden into town with a stunning secret about Mercy's past, one that could separate Mercy and Daniel forever. Surrounded by danger, she would recognize her desperate hunger to have Danny claim her, not as a sister, but as his wife. She knew he would stand by her against a town's cruel whispers and fight against an enemy who wanted her dead. But if she dared to declare her love, would he respond with his dependable brotherly kindness - and break her heart?