Brooke Baldwin had a secret-the kind of secret that could shatter families. Her daddy was dead, and it was her fault. It was not in a criminal way but in a moral, unforgiveable way. She could not face the guilt and could not tell her family, maybe ever, how she felt about herself. So she ran all the way to Rome to study medicine and surgery secretly to find herself and make her father proud. Then entered Alessandro Romani. He broke the barrier that Brooke had spent years constructing-brick by brick, fear by fear, and goal by goal. And now he had come to Lubbock, Texas, to see her and to meet her family, which could be disastrous. Would Dr. Alessandro Romani turn around and get right back on the airplane to go home and forget they had ever met? Maybe yes, maybe not. Could Brooke trust him with their future, trust him to accept her family, just as they are, and trust him to cherish her? Perhaps. But could she trust him with the deepest secret of her heart?