River of Fear — Kathleen Mix

After ten years shouldering heavy responsibility as her siblings' guardian, fern farmer Annie Brenton yearns for an exciting and carefree future. Despite the repeated threats of a stalker, she refuses to cower in her house and compromise her long-awaited freedom.

When widower Luke Erickson and his two young children turn to Annie for help and she takes them into her home, she believes her financial worries and stalker problems are solved. Instead, the stalker ratchets up his violence, and her developing feelings for Luke turn her world upside down.

As Luke's past suddenly catches up to them, Annie is forced to make an impossible choice. Is loving a wandering sailor and his children worth the sacrifice of her freedom and the risk of a broken heart?