Southern Rapture

How wanton she must be that she can thrill so to the kisses of two different men... Lettie arrives in Reconstruction Louisiana from the northeast to teach plantation children, but also to find the man called the Thorn who murdered her brother. She takes a room at a rundown mansion with Aunt Em and her nephew Ransom who, following a head injury received in the war, has a heartbreaking smile and the mind of a boy. The welcoming friendliness that greets her, the honest care and concern, threaten Lettie's preconceived ideas. Her dormant sensuality comes alive in the sultry Southern heat. She is drawn to Ransom who joins the lessons she teaches but instructs her in ways she'll never forget. And when she clashes with the Thorn in the dark, this magnificent night-rider -- labeled a killer by some but courageous righter-of-wrongs by others -- arouses unimagined passion. Yet Lettie clings to her quest, coming finally to painful, secret knowledge that can become a trap for the Thorn. Using it requires only one thing -- that she abandon love and desire for the cold comfort of duty.