Grace Montgomery works as a maid at the Double A Ranch in the far north Texas Panhandle. Her life would be happy if not for Florence Abbot, the daughter of Acton Abbot, the wealthy ranch owner. Does Florence really take a special delight in tormenting Grace, or does it only appear that way? The haughty and spoiled prairie princess drives Grace to distraction with her constant complaints and demands. Grace's only friend is Abigail Doering, who rents a cottage on the ranch and gives piano lessons to the pampered Florence and other students from the nearby town of Borger. 

     Grace's life flies into a whirlwind of chaos, however, when she arranges to marry a mail-order husband. Florence can't stand the idea of Grace getting married when she doesn't even have any prospects. The sons of other wealthy ranchers, whom her father considers worthy matches for her, won't have anything to do with her. They all know her reputation for being demanding and impossible to please. 

     The worst part, though, comes when Florence finds out that Grace's mail-order groom is none other than Bad Bill Bailey, the notorious gunslinger and accused murderer. Did old Mr. Abbot really give him the job of horse breaker on the ranch, to move in and marry Grace? Florence sets her mind to foil their wedding plans, and to see Bill Bailey put away for good. Will Grace find happiness in this tempest of personalities? Is her new husband really a dangerous outlaw, or is Florence mistaken about his past and his future on the ranch? Will Florence destroy Grace's only chance for love, or will Grace prove everyone wrong by claiming her right to happiness?

     Geoff is in the city, living the gay life to the hilt, when his father's death convinces him to return to the family farm. Discovering a young Amish man asleep in his barn, Geoff learns that Eli is spending a year away from the community before accepting baptism into the church. Despite their mutual attraction, Geoff is determined not to become involved with him, but Eli has discovered that Geoff shares his feelings and begins to court him, neatly capturing first Geoff's attention and then his heart.

     Their budding relationship is threatened by closed-minded, gossipy relatives and the society at large, a whole new world to Eli, and he must decide whether to return to the community, his family, and the world and future he knows or to stay with Geoff and have faith in the power of love.

     Shay Morgan has stayed hidden for a long time. Living a reclusive life in Earth’s End, Alaska, she’s as far away as she can get from the trauma of her childhood and the man who hurt her long ago. But terror takes over Shay’s life yet again when an unknown stalker steals away the fragile peace she’s built for herself—targeting not only her but the one man who’s ever managed to get past the walls she’s built around herself.

     Elliot Winter has lived through being falsely accused before—it ruined his military career. Now it’s happening all over again. And this time, his accuser is a twisted impostor who’s targeting his ex-girlfriend, Shay. Despite a fierce mutual attraction, Shay and Elliot broke up because Shay couldn’t let her guard down, couldn’t let Elliot in. But now they both need to trust each other to confront a psycho who seems to know all their secrets.

     Why couldn't Shadow have stayed away? 

     Rancher Grey Wilson has fought hard to rebuild his life in the ten years since that horrible night she left, the night their love, their families, their whole town was torn apart by tragedy. And he's almost succeeded. But now that Shadow Moran is back in Barren, everything seems to be going wrong. The family ranch his father entrusted to him is struggling. Worse, Shadow still blames him for what happened that night, and Grey's starting to have his own doubts about his innocence. Then Shadow reveals a secret that shakes him to his core…