Book excerpt: This soldier’s wounds go deep… Newly returned home from combat, Hank is battered, but not quite broken. Now it’s his job to keep a hundred-year-old house from falling down around his ears. He’s all alone—just like he wants… until one irrepressible woman invades his sanctuary, hunting the secrets hidden within. A determined scholar searching for a legend… Graduate student Lale is investigating a century-old mystery. Unraveling it is her ticket to tenure and life as a star history professor. But one surly former soldier is standing between her and the information she needs. She’ll break his heart… or heal him. Lale launches a charm attack Hank can’t resist, and Lale isn’t immune to the core of honor shining through Hank’s surly defenses. But when Lale threatens to unearth Hank’s secrets along with those in the archive, their hearts might not survive the upheaval. cowboy military multicultural western small town wounded hero romance