Trace Riley continues to be self-appointed guardian of the path ever since his own wagon was attacked. When he finds the ruins of a wagon train, he gives shelter to survivor Deborah Harkness and the children she saved. Track and Deborah develop close working to provide justice to the trail, but exactly what will happen when the attackers return to silence the only witness? When Track Riley discovers the smoldering ruins of a small wagon train, he identifies the hand behind the assault as the same group who still left him about The Accidental Guardian as only survivor years ago. Living from the wilderness since that time, he’d finally carved out a house and started a herd–while providing like a self-appointed guardian of the trail, driving off dangerous guys. He’d hoped days past were over, but the latest attack shows he was wrong. Deborah Harkness kept her youthful sister and two toddlers during the strike, and now discovers herself susceptible to her rescuer. Track offers the just shelter for kilometers around, and agrees to take them in until she can safely continue. His simple bachelor existence hardly ever anticipated children and ladies in the picture and their arrival is unsettling–yet appealing. Working to survive the winter and finally bring justice to the trail, Trace and Deborah end up drawn together–yet every day approaches the moment she’ll leave permanently.