Wounded and alone, Captain Thane Hamilton came home to Arizona a decorated hero–and a bitter, embattled man.

The doctors claimed he would never truly heal, never return to the Marine recon team he'd led and loved. But they'd never met nurse Paige Black. Somehow her determined spirit filled Thane with the will to live, the courage to hope.

But what was it that drove this quiet Navajo beauty to stand by his side–and ultimately, to share his bed?

Could it be Paige held for him the very feelings he'd long fought against? The kind of powerful love that could destroy his loner vow?