Forbidden

Forbidden is a historical romance by Beverly Jenkins, published in 2016. It is set in a frontier town in Nevada, and its central subject is a man who has built his life on passing for white, with all the daily care that requires.

Rhine Fontaine's success depends on the facade he maintains, and it has held for years. It begins to give him trouble when he comes across Eddy Carmichael in the desert and brings her to safety: she is outspoken, defiant and unwilling to be managed, and he finds that he wants to be known by her as himself.

Eddy owes Rhine her life, but she has no intention of owing him her heart. Her plan is to cook in the town until she has saved enough money to leave for California, and she means to go regardless of what she feels for the man who rescued her. Rhine's own account of himself and his town is another obstacle: he is, in the eyes of his neighbours, a white man.