When six horses go missing, headstrong horse rescue owner Bren Ryan becomes her neighbor's prime suspect-she's in the business of saving them, and he's a kill buyer who slaughters them for profit. Unable to prove guilt, threats become personal, and he pays her back with traceless, diabolical precision-he kills her husband instead. Guilt-ridden, alone to raise their two sons and struggling with a farm slipping into foreclosure, Bren is focused on one thing-cornering a killer the only way she knows how. Tempt him into doing it again, and she's the bait.

Texas rancher Rafe Langston is bent on revenge, and it starts with the widow of a man in Maryland he shares a past with. Keeping her within striking distance, he buys half her land, moves next door into her childhood home, and asks her to trust him. Except he's the last man Bren Ryan will ever confide in-until he pretends to believe her theory of murder and agrees to help her catch a killer. But while Rafe and Bren are playing private eye, their cozy stakeouts sizzle with unexpected desire neither one can ignore, threatening his plans for vengeance and her promise to never love again-especially to a handsome stranger who seems to know more than he's telling.