**THE AUTHOR'S CUT!**

The day the earth tried to swallow LA, Alexandra “Sandy” Wheaton dropped her iced mocha in the parking lot of the emergency services dispatch office. Her day went downhill from there. Seven years later, hidden away in a small mountain town in Wyoming, Sandy is still haunted by the day that changed her life forever.

When Ryan McGee left home in a storm of controversy sixteen years earlier, he never expected to return to the land he loved. But an old feud between his family and the MacKays has escalated to a dangerous level, and he answers his brother’s call for help, putting on hold his quest to find someone who once saved his life.

Sandy and Ryan nearly collide on a mountain road and are instantly drawn to one another by a potent force that won’t be refused. But each has a history of lost love they haven't been ready to leave behind yet aren’t ready to share with the other. If they can’t let go of their pasts, how will this new attraction survive their future?

*re-released with some mature language*

**

### From the Inside Flap

Ryan settled his back against the wooden railing and tipped his hat over his eyes. He dangled one leg lazily over the edge, kicking at the tufts of tall grass next to the step as he set his thoughts free to roam.

When he'd first made plans to come home, he hadn't considered staying beyond the time it would take to help his family. That had all changed on a mountain road at sunset before he'd even pulled onto the ranch. *And now?* Well, that was one of the questions to be explored, wasn't it? At the moment, he didn't have any idea of what he wanted to do. Or with whom.

Sandy's unique fragrance, an exhilarating blend of candy, fruit, and spice, tickled his nostrils, and his awareness of her was instantly heightened to an exquisite level. His body began stirring in response to her proximity when he felt the barest brush of something tickling his cheek then moving his lips.

Slowly, he opened one eye and peeked out from beneath the brim of his hat. Sandy was on her knees in front of him, igniting his very explicit imagination along with the corresponding part of his anatomy. With lips curled into what he could only think of as a naughty smile, she held a chicory blossom and had obviously been tickling his face.

When Ryan snaked a hand out and clamped onto her forearm, Sandy's squeal of surprise morphed into a peal of carefree laughter, washing over him and tugging once more at long-dormant emotions.

With his free hand, Ryan tipped his Stetson back to get a better look. "You're playin' with fire, Chicory."

"Really," she drawled, her blue eyes gleaming with mischief. "And here I thought I was playing with a cowboy." She moved closer, and one soft breast brushed against his knee.

"Sweetheart, you've got about five seconds to stop before I finish what you're starting." *Four. Three. Two. Too late.*

Sandy removed his hat and tossed it carelessly onto the porch behind her. Her gaze scorched a devastating path upward to his mouth. Like a serpent, she leisurely slithered her body upward along the same track her eyes had just taken.

His body drank in the feel of every blessed soft curve she pressed against him.

When her mouth was less than an inch from his, she whispered, "Do I look like I want to stop?"

### About the Author

Kay Springsteen grew up in Michigan but transplanted to the south at the turn of the century and now resides in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains, where she enjoys photography, gardening, hiking and camping, and of course spending time with her terrific family. She is a firm believer in happily-ever-after endings and believes there is one out there for everyone; it just may not be exactly what you expect or think you want.