Candace Gates Murdock was caught between a rock and a hard place. Garth Murdock, two decades her senior, could have been Candace's father and not her husband..yet she was married to him. When Candace's father died, Garth had sworn to care for her and the ranch, Gates End, until her brother was old enough to run it. She was safe..but was safety enough when every fiber of her body yearned for a handsome young gunslinger--a man sure to steal her heart then ride off, shattering all her hopes and dreams..A hired gun, Range Connor had supposedly signed on with the Murdocks to ward off a water dispute, but it was a mystery from the past that had brought him back to the place where his mother had died a violent death. Now, he was hungry for revenge, but he never dreamed of the shocking answers he would find--or the sapphire-eyed woman who would make his wild, wandering heart ache with a love that would bring him home to stay.