HE BOUGHT MY SAFETY WITH A RING AND A VOW. I arrived in Crippler Creek with a shadow at my heels and a debt I could never pay. Ryder Haggard is coming for me. He is a ghost from my past who wants to drag me back into the dark. Then I met Beau Bryan. He is a mountain of a man with eyes like flint and a heart forged in the rugged soil of the Double B Ranch. He needs a wife to save his legacy. I need a fortress to stay alive. Our marriage is a cold contract signed in desperation. He calls it a business arrangement. His touch tells a different story. Beau does not just want my name on a deed. He wants to mark every inch of my skin. He is possessive and primal. He treats me like a prize he won and a treasure he must guard with brutal efficiency. The ranch is a war zone. Duke Cash wants the water rights. Ryder wants my soul. We are trapped together while the world burns outside the gates. A storm is coming to the high canyons. It will either wash away my past or bury us both in the red dirt. I came here to hide from one man only to be claimed by another. I am no longer a fugitive running from my ghosts because I belong to the monster who keeps them at bay.