She came to Sawyerville as a bride?but marriage was the last thing she wanted.
Murielle Scallan escaped the deafening textile mills of New Hampshire with one dream burning brighter than all the rest: she wants to become a schoolteacher.
Joining a group of prospective brides bound for the wild Oregon logging town of Sawyerville gives her the chance to begin again. But while the other women dream of husbands and homes, independent Murielle dreams of a little schoolhouse standing among the flowers of Wildflower Meadow.
Then a quiet morning swim turns deadly.
When runaway logs come crashing down the Umpqua River, rugged river rat Charlie Chase risks his life to pull Murielle from the freezing water. He's strong, stubborn, protective?and far too interested in the spirited woman who insists she has no intention of becoming anyone's wife.
Charlie soon discovers that winning Murielle's heart will take more than handsome smiles and promises. When Sawyerville postpones construction of its school and Murielle receives an opportunity to teach far away in Portland, she finally has the future she always wanted within her grasp.
But Charlie has spent the long Oregon winter quietly building something of his own?and if he can show Murielle that love doesn't have to cost her dreams, perhaps Wildflower Meadow can become the beginning of both their futures.
A warm, humorous and tender frontier romance about an independent woman, the logger who refuses to let her dreams disappear, and discovering that sometimes the right man doesn't ask you to choose between love and the life you were meant to live.
