Thena Sainte-Colbet is the orphaned daughter of biologists living on Sancia Island off the coast of Georgia. When Wyoming cowboy Jed Powers comes to claim Sancia Island as his inheritance, he is totally unprepared for what he finds there. Published in 1988, this was the first under Deborah Smith's own name in the Loveswept series by Bantam (See Jacquelyn Lennox and Jackie Leigh for her earlier novels). Smith does a wonderful job describing the constraints of Jed's and Thena's upbringings and the strength and freedom the lead characters have because of their unique pasts. The island itself forms an important third character with its winsome ways, wildlife, and hauntings from the past. Unlike many series romances, this novel is not cookie cutter in its plot, setting, or characters; it is a preview of Smith's later work that absorbes the character of the land into the people and the people into the story.