All right, he'd made a mistake. A big mistake. In a bout of bone-deep loneliness, he, straitlaced sheriff Andy Johnson, had cut loose in a night of carnal bliss with spitfire Ginny Bradford. But did that mean he'd never live it down?

Looked that way. Ginny came up pregnant, and only a sorry son-of-a-biscuit-eater would let a local schoolmarm bear the brunt of unwed motherhood. He'd bedded her, he'd wed her, but he'd bet his badge Ginny would never brand his heart....