Cassie

When her father abandoned his wife and children and her mother died of grief, Cassie had to grow up fast. Their Texas ranch still had a mortgage so she took a job with a freighting company and left her two younger siblings with a friend.

She learned to tolerate the desert heat, manage a team of mules and ignore whispers behind feminine hands. A woman in men's clothing was bad enough in their eyes, but spending weeks in the desert with four men was scandalous. She conquered her fear of the wild country and animals. With the aid of a bullwhip, she staved off any overzealous male admirers. The one thing she couldn't conquer was her distrust of men.

A band of renegade Apache chased a handsome Frenchman into her life and heart. He won her guarded trust when he saved her life. She was ready to say yes to his proposal of marriage until she caught him with another woman. That was when things started heating up.

Could she shut him out of her life? Should she?

Excerpt from "Cassie":

That evening, she climbed from her wagon and beat the dust from her clothes with her hat. Being first in line one day meant being last in line the next. She lifted her canteen from the wagon and took a mouthful. She swishi\ed it around in her mouth to wash out the sand and then spit. Dampening her scarf, she closed her eyes and wiped most of the dust from her face.

Something dropped on the ground beside her and she opened her eyes. She screamed and jumped back before she realized the snakes were dead. Bordeaux sat on his horse, looking genuinely surprised at her reaction. She glared up at him.

"Bordeaux," She said through clenched teeth. "If you throw one more dead animal at my feet, I'm going to beat you over the head with it."

He lifted one brow. "Thanks for the warning." His mouth twisted into a wry grin. "I'll see if I can find a deer next time."