Where Heaven Begins — Rosanne Bittner

With rough miners stampeding to the Klondike's golden hills as her shipmates, Elizabeth Breckenridge sets sail for Alaska to find her brother in Dawson. But when Elizabeth falls overboard midjourney, she is rescued by a man very unlike her minister brother -- Clint Brady, a cynical bounty hunter who notoriously shoots to kill.

Together, this unlikely couple struggle for survival in the wilderness as they make their way north amid the awesome beauty of the Alaskan frontier. Dawson, peopled by "heathens," holds further surprises for Elizabeth. Perhaps most astonishing. Clint proposes marriage. Elizabeth returns his love but fears that his inability to let go of the past could cost them their future. Unless she can make Clint see that heaven is no abstraction in the sky, but something they can experience together...