TERROR AND FORBIDDEN DESIRE STALK THE AUSTRALIAN OUTBACKA school excursion turns into teacher Kayla Petrovic's worst nightmare. Abducted.

Held for ransom. For years, she's believed she's nothing more than the whore of her alcoholic mother's taunts, trading her body for a roof, food, money, and stealing men's hearts to heal her emptiness.

But when the kidnappers thereaten her students she'll sacrifice everything, inlcuding the last vestige of her self-respect, to save them. Hardened combat veteran Captain Nick West bears his own scars - not all of them visible.

He knows how to handle a world turned to shit. He'll get in, retrieve the hostages, and get out, doing little damage.

Except to the kidnappers. They're fair game.

Yet he isn't prepared for the kick in the chest - worse than the recoil on a sniper's rifle - that comes with recognising there's something special about the woman he rescues. But after years of avoiding emotional intimacy, he's sure as hell not interested in her.

Love is a weakness he will never permit. Determined not to be labelled a victim, but haunted by PTSD-induced nightmares and ashamed of her illicit desire for Nick, Kayla is desperate to find a way free.

She's had enough of men stealing her worth, her confidence, her voice. She refuses to be labelled a victim, nor is she dependent on Nick's protection.

But when a kidnapper trackes her down, hell-bent on revenge, can she discover the strength to save not only herself but the one man she may be able to love?. .