Book excerpt: When a big-hearted debutante collides with a small-town blacksmith set in his ways, it can mean only one thing-a war of hearts has come to Pine Creek. Cameron Wallace thrives as both the blacksmith and the minister in his community of Pine Creek. Out of the fires of a chaotic childhood, he's forged a peaceful life filled with safe relationships and predictable routines. But when the smithy he's been renting is sold out from under him, the impulsive woman who buys it stokes the embers of emotions he'd rather keep unlit-and even has the audacity to lend a helping hand to his smithy work. Samantha Klein has never been afraid to push boundaries when it comes to helping those whom society-and God-have overlooked, be they orphans, immigrants, or injured animals. When her latest attempt to aid a group of Chinese women lands her in a newspaper scandal, her high-society family sends her packing from Seattle. Setting out on her own, she purchases the Pine Creek smithy and hatches another plan for helping her immigrant friends. But only weeks after arriving in Pine Creek, her plan turns to ashes, and she's overwhelmed by needs she can never hope to meet, including her own need to be seen and cared for. And the one who seems to understand her is the man who won't let her anywhere near his heart, no matter the attraction that burns between them. As Cameron struggles to find a new normal, and Samantha yearns for someone to share her burdens, old hurts and dangerous secrets make them both terrified to admit that what they need-and what God has planned for them-just might be each other.