I’m the only Dixon brother to step up when our family crumbled. When I took over the ranch, I lost everything, career included. My heart hadn’t been in it anyway. It couldn’t. A girl left with it over a dozen years ago.

Now she’s back.

Different hair. New style. Kid clutching her hand. Not a trace of the Madison Black I knew. A down-home girl with the sweetest smile and drawl. The rebel with a spirit that glowed so bright.

But with one conversation, that girl starts to reappear. One kiss, the years apart fade away. One night, I vow to never let her go again.

But some pasts refuse to stay buried. And when the heart-wrenching truth behind her leaving is revealed, it might ruin us all.