Is this widower cowboy prepared for the feelings stirred up by this much-younger feisty maid running from the law?

When 40-year-old cowboy Dusty returns to his ranch in small-town Clear Creek County, he is shocked to find 19-year-old, beautiful black servant Lovely Jo hiding in his stables. She explains how she ran off after finding the master of her household, dead. She swears she’s innocent, but needing money to save his ranch, Dusty tries to take her to the Sheriff to claim the bounty for her return.

Lovely Jo ain’t the smartest weed in the field but she’s an excellent judge of character and she knows that despite his grouchiness, drinking, and gambling, Dusty is a trustworthy man and there is no one else in town she’d rather run to.

Desperate with her life on the line, Lovely Jo promises Dusty the one thing she has in her possession if he’d help her escape town: her virtue. But she never intended to give him her heart.

Tropes: grumpy cowboy, woman in jeopardy, widowed hero, interracial, small-town, age-gap, untouched/pure heroine, protective hero

When Baltimore Homicide Detective Lisa Swanson and her partner Dee Quarter are called to investigate the murder of Ernest Juarez, Lisa meets wheelchair bound Jake Jenson, a man determined to find his best friend’s killer at all costs.

Jake is instantly attracted to the standoffish Lisa yet can’t understand why Lisa keeps him at arm’s length.What Jake feels is resistance toward him, is really Lisa’s distrust of men caused by a previous relationship centered on domestic violence. Lisa desperately searches for Ernest’s killer while fighting her feelings for Jake and trying to mend the pain from her past.

Jake just might be the man of Lisa’s dreams, but will she let shame and fear stand in the way of a new love?