In this, her third novel, the multitalented author of Night in Eden returns to the glorious setting of nineteenth-century Australia,  to the ancient, primal vistas of the outback, to a land as untamed as a man's soul. . . .Patrick O'Reilly loves life in the wilderness. All he needs is his land, his work, and the company of the children he adores. The last thing he wants is the prim and proper Englishwoman who arrives to care for his unruly children. Amanda Davenport seems unprepared for the harshness of the place O'Reilly calls home, and yet he finds himself inexplicably drawn to this proud woman and the fire he knows exists beneath her refined exterior. Accepting a job as governess is the only way Amanda can earn passage back to her beloved England and away from this land that she hates--rugged, uncivilized, intoxicating, like Patrick O'Reilly himself. Despite her fears, Amanda gradually awakens to the shimmering heat of this wild primitive land, to the children she can't help but love, and to this magnificent man whose raw sensuality dares to expose her own undeniable passion. . . .