With “vivid imagery and a fine sense of time” (Publishers Weekly), USA TODAY bestselling author Stef Ann Holmes pairs two unforgettable characters in a heartwarming and surprising novel where secrets abound.

Determined to keep her Pony Express station after her father’s murder, Helena Gray soon learned that a lot of people wanted her to fail. Cut off by her suppliers, she brazenly went after what she needs: a husband. She chooses a loner from the mountains who is known simple as Carrigan—a man whose eyes were flat and unemotional, and whom the folks of Genoa fear. It would be a business proposition, that’s all. Now all she has to do is convince him of that.

Living in the Sierras with his dog and Colt revolver for company, Carrigan is certain he doesn’t need a woman. Then Helena Gray ventures up his mountain and asked to become his wife. The arrangement sounds beneficial, a business proposition pure and simple, with no intimacy and emotions. However, things get complicated when Carrigan unexpectedly finds himself wanting Helena on new terms that come unsolicited from his heart.