News of an inheritance in far-off South Africa is a dream come true for a governess who spends her few idle hours imagining exotic locales and exciting people. While a boardinghouse in a mining town won't necessarily bring riches, it most certainly will provide those things Olivia craves-new places, new faces, and adventure. Provided she can actually get there, that is. Fortunately, the executor of her uncle's will has provided an escort to guide her across the unforgiving terrain. Rough-and-tumble Matthew Quinlan-diamond hunter and bushman extraordinaire-is nothing like the polished gentlemen of Olivia's acquaintance, but everything, it seems, she finds dangerously appealing. Before their journey is over, Olivia vows to prove to the maddening Quinn that she is no wilting English flower, but a woman with newly awakened desires-and a heart she longs for him to claim.