When her parents died, lovely Annie Lash was left alone in old St. Louis--a prize catch for the elderly suitors lined up at her door. But, yearning for a man who could love her completely--and whom she could love in return, Annie refused them all. Then a young frontiersman named Jefferson Merrick offered her the chance to love in a distant settlement. Dreaming of a future by the wide Missouri, she accepted--never realizing that she would have to face hostile Indians, river bandits, and Jefferson's political enemies. Even more dangerous were the storms of her own heart. For the rugged man who dared to tame the wild country around them was now starting to tame the wild Annie Lash.