Rose Burke bites her lower lip when temptation draws too close, and Felix MacLeod has learned exactly what puts it there. In the dusty tack room the ranch hand gives quiet orders and she follows them. She owns the place. He does not. Her fear of abandonment collides with the safety only his possession can provide. The October deadline leaves her nowhere to put either.
He will take her virginity and mark her as his through encounters both rough and tender, the hired hand claiming the owner's body while sabotage and foreclosure threaten to destroy the ranch they both need. Yet the buried family betrayal that fuels his quiet command could shatter the fragile alliance before either admits what they truly crave.
