Ursula steps onto the frontier platform, her full hips and rounded belly filling the calico that clings in the midday heat. Vaughn meets her with a preacher's stern gaze and rancher's strong arms, the mail-order contract in his pocket an answer to his guilt and her orphaned fear. She yields without question, yet the safety she seeks demands more than vows.
Rival claims press against their union as deadlines loom, but the true test arrives when he finds her alone in the supply shed. He turns her to the crate and raises her skirts slowly, his palm hovering with the controlled authority she craves and he cannot refuse.
Can their contract survive the discipline that threatens to expose every buried need?
