Even tight-lipped loner Hugh Slater couldn't let a good woman marry a ranch-hungry stranger she'd met through an ad in the local paper! So he'd come back to Granite Ridge, Texas, the town he swore he'd never step foot in again. He'd talk some sense into Kasey Donovan, then be gone by morning.

But shooing away would-be husbands—and himself—was harder than Hugh thought. Kasey had grown into one beautiful, lush woman….

The only man Kasey wanted was handsome, sexy Hugh Slater—whom she'd secretly, passionately loved since she was fourteen years old. Yes, his heart was heavy with the past, but maybe, just maybe, the desire she saw burning in his eyes would prove stronger….