Augusta McKendrick’s serene world is shattered in an instant when a shot rings out at the Billingsly School for Young Ladies and an influential United States senator lies dead in the middle of the library floor. Vainly, she strives to hide the evidence of the crime, but within days, Major Jackson St. Charles arrives to accuse her of murder and place her under house arrest. Once inside the school, Jackson St. Charles has his own agenda to follow and a private score to settle with Augusta’s brother, once the man is found. He follows her every move, determined to discover the truth about this feisty beauty. But the more his interrogation intensifies, the more he begins to believe that a much darker secret lurks behind this mystery. And as his resolve weakens, the forbidden desire he feels for her grows even stronger... Augusta will do anything to keep the real murderer safe, to protect her sister and her Rebel brother—even if it seems confessing to a crime she didn’t commit. But what she isn’t prepared to face is the incredible passion awakened in her by the Major, and the overwhelming, persuasive power of his love...