Character Spotlight: Shannon McKenzie

Five years ago, Shannon McKenzie disappeared from Federal in the middle of the night, leaving behind the only man she'd ever loved and a secret that would change both their lives.

She had every reason to believe she wasn't worthy of Joshua Taylor. Her past at the Golden Eagle had taught her what men could take from a woman, and the shame of what she'd endured followed her long after she escaped Dan Sanders. When she left Federal, she was determined to build a different life—and to make certain her past could never touch the child she carried with her.

She went to Denver, where she found work in a dress shop and slowly taught herself the skills of a seamstress and dressmaker. When the shop's owner died, she inherited the business. Through determination, talent, and an instinct for design, Shannon transformed it into a successful dressmaking establishment whose wealthy clientele bought her original designs. She even became a partner in a promising silver mine.

But success couldn't erase the past.

Now Shannon is running again, this time with her five-year-old daughter, Rachel Anne, and men determined to find them. With nowhere else to turn, she sends three words to the one man she knows will come if she asks:

I need help.

She knows Joshua will protect her daughter.

What she doesn't know is whether she can survive being near the man she never stopped loving—or believe him when he tells her that her past does not determine her worth.

Because Shannon has spent five years learning how to survive.

Now she has to learn how to live.