A HARD MAN

Trace Ord was a renegade rider, a wrangler sent to round up horses that strayed or were rustled from their owners. He was born to the saddle and could shoot the wings off a bee in flight, and he’d seen his share of action. A man like himself couldn’t live past thirty in post–Civil War Arizona and not come up against some bandit or cardsharp itching to throw lead.

A HARDER SITUATION

His current job had Trace working for two ranchers up north who were certain he’d find their stock at the Lazy C. Getting those horses back would be anything but easy. The owner of the Lazy C was as mean as any hombre living, and he and his men were more than willing to trade bullets. His wife was a touch more dangerous. The desperate beauty found Trace on the plains…and she stole both his prize stallion and his heart. 

“NO, MY LADY, I COULDN’T—”
But Alice could—and did. Against her better judgment, she allowed herself one night at a masquerade ball, playing the role of her mistress. When else might she, daughter of an austere Methodist minister and a servant, sample the pleasures of the ton? She had but one obligation: deter the coxcomb and would-be suitor, Nigel Farnham.

“WHEN HAS ‘NO’ EVER STOPPED ME?”
She vanished in a swish of buttery silk and left behind the scent of sweet clover and violets. Mischievous and bold, Lady Clara Langly was a chit who desperately needed to be taken in hand—but she had left Nigel abruptly, fled into the night, and he’d had no chance to see her pretty face unmasked. If he was right, and dancing was nothing but making love to music, their quadrille was just the beginning….