The courts gave Francesca Gordon no choice but to wed her rival rancher if she wanted to keep her nephew and her land. Jack Hamilton accepted the bargain with a possessive edge that promised more than a legal union. He intended to breed her until she carried his child, claiming both her body and the future they would build together.

Her defiance met his quiet command in the hayloft where they could hide from the world. The jagged scar on his chest was a reminder of the battles he had fought to protect what was his, and he counted her among them. Every meeting drew her closer to the surrender she both dreaded and craved, the one that would secure everything or cost her the independence she had fought so hard to keep.