She sure didn't like him when he tried to talk Hank Gibson out of letting her and her four newly-found sisters travel to California with the wagon train of mail-order brides.Rafe was totally against the idea of Jake Dulan's daughters going with the train. He would like nothing better than to leave Willow for the rattlesnakes and Indians. The feeling is mutual.They lock horns and refuse to budge. Both have a scarred heart from previous experiences, and a temper, so the fireworks explode every time they're in each other's presence, which is often since Rafe drew the short straw and has to bring up the rear of the train...right where the Dulan girls' wagon is located.Willow and Rafe both realize that out there, beyond the sunsets they both love, lies the Promised Land. It's not a place or destination, but a spirit and a journey which draws them into the peace of its bosom to rock away the cares of life. But will they ever admit they need each other to reach that Promised Land?

    She and her husband delighted in shocking San Francisco society with their sexual exploits, not hard to do in 1888. But now her husband is dead. He left her penniless, forced to live under her wealthy father’s thumb. While searching for a protector, she once again becomes the focus of society gossip, and her father exiles her to her brother’s ranch in Central California.Rebecca is miserable, until she meets the very handsome, very virile ranch foreman Judah Merrill. A real cowboy. Though she’s aware of their differences in status, she pursues him with a single-mindedness, until he catches her in the creek (and in the barn and on horseback). But what happens when she falls in love with him? Will he accept her wild wild heart?

    A widower, and single father, he is focused on building the MacLaren ranch into the largest and most successful in northern Arizona. He is serious about two things—his responsibility to the family and his future marriage to a goal of a wealthy, well-connected widow who will secure his place in the territory’s destiny.Katherine is determined to live the life she’s dreamed about. With a job waiting for her in the growing town of Los Angeles, California, the young teacher from Philadelphia begins a journey across the United States with only a couple of trunks and her spinster companion. Life is perfect for this adventurous, beautiful young woman, until an accident throws her into the arms of the one man who can destroy it all.Fighting his growing attraction and strong desire for the beautiful stranger, Niall is more determined than ever to push emotions aside to focus on his goals of wealth and political gain. But looking into the clear, blue eyes of the woman who could ruin everything, Niall discovers he will have to harden his heart and be tougher than he’s ever been in his life…Tougher than the Rest.