All Eliza Smallwood knew about men was to stay away from them. So when her guardian uncle forced her to sing in his Buffalo, Wyoming saloon, the untouched beauty was petrified with fear. Suddenly, a lean, rugged man shouldered his way past the leering cowboys and demanded that they respect her – or face his brand of frontier justice. Now Eliza didn’t know if she’d faint with relief or swoon with passion. For the instant he became her champion she vowed to spend her life showing her loving gratitude.
Tough Cord Stedman didn’t have much use for females; the prettier they were the more conniving they were, too. But when he saw the black-haired songbird looking like a cornered lamb, the muscular cattleman had to defend her. Cord tried not to take advantage of the adoring girl, tried to keep his hands from roaming her alluring curves. But the instant his lips crushed hers, all the virile man wanted was to claim her as a stallion takes his mare, all through the wicked Wyoming nights.