The bawling of the longhorns, the lonesome night watch beneath a vast, starry sky—they got into a man's blood until he knew there was nothing better than the life of a cowboy... except the love of a good woman.

Bret Nolan had never gotten used to the confines of the city. The sprawling buildings, the rumbling wagons, even the roads: all seemed designed to lock him in. He would always be a cowboy at heart, and his restless blood still longed for the open range. And he was on his way back to the boundless plains of Texas to escort a reluctant heiress to Boston—on his way to pick up a woman destined to be a dutiful wife. But Emily Abercrombie wasn't one to agree to anything easily, and she wasn't about to just up and leave her ranch in Texas to move to an unknown city. And the more time Bret spent with the determined beauty, the more he realized he wanted to be the man—the only man— in Emily's life. Now he just had to show her the true honor found in the heart of a cowboy.