Book excerpt: Lorinda Kemp, a businesswoman from the big city, comes home to her parents' western South Dakota prairie ranch, to do cattle chores, while her father goes hunting. She needs this time to spend with her elderly mother on the quiet peaceful ranch, where her childhood friends and neighbors welcome her home with open arms. A strong-willed, tough woman, at forty-seven, divorced for many years and raising a child alone, she figures she has seen it all. This week will change her mind. She ends up being held hostage in her parents' barn by a terrified young man. Then the new rancher she's fighting hard not to love turns out to be someone more than a rancher. The shocking conclusion of her now-ruined vacation is to find that some of her beloved friends are hiding a secret; they will kill to keep it hidden.