How can such an innocent come to crave the dark bedroom things so intensely? Chance Spencer has returned to Grover Town for one thing; to honor his father’s life. He only sees one way to accomplish that—by buying a ranch, and making it the biggest and most productive one, so he can put his uppity childhood rival in his place. What he doesn’t plan on is stumbling across a poacher on his new land, and a redheaded, beautiful one, to boot. And seeing such an innocent girl out on her own stirs up a protective gene he never knew was lodged in his soul. Gretchen Nelson ran away from her abusive father, only to find herself being dragged to the altar by another. Now she’s saddled with an overbearing rancher with a penchant for putting his hands on her ass, and teaching her about dark things in the bedroom she never could have conceived of—but which she comes to crave. Soon both their pasts catch up with them and threaten to tear down the fabric of the life they’ve built together. The bond between them will be tried and tested, but will it be enough to hold them together?