Cory Beecher didn't mean to shoot handsome Tyler Montgomery and only kisses him so he doesn't find the runaway slave in the barn. Abolitionists never considered marrying slave owners, but her world explodes with new found desire when her lips touch his. Can she go through with her carefully crafted plans to marry math instructor Douglas Raymond when her heart longs for another? Tyler Montgomery needs to find the runaway slaves before his rival Edward Vandal captures them. Although he doesn't want to involve the fiery and beautiful Miss Beecher, once she kisses him, all his plans unravel. As his rival closes in on the quarry, he hesitates to leave, knowing she's marrying the wrong man. But what does an unemployed lawyer with questionable parentage have to offer the woman he loves?