The Ashford family was drowning in debt, and Rosalie had become the easiest bargaining chip. Her father called the arrangement practical. Her drunken brother, Merrick, told her she should be grateful.
No one asked what Rosalie wanted.
Snow blanketed Coldwater on her wedding morning as she stood before a cracked mirror, wearing her late mother’s faded ivory dress.
Then Gideon Rook arrived.
At thirty-eight, Gideon owned the largest ranch beyond the northern ridge. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and almost completely deaf. The townspeople had turned those facts into something sinister.
