THEIR RELATIONSHIP CHANGED that day, at least physically. Where once Sloan had ignored her, now he couldn’t seem to get enough of her. He took her whenever and wherever he pleased.

Helpless to resist, overwhelmed by his heat and sexuality, Heather gave him everything, her body, her honor, her pride.

He became master of her body. Under his tutelage she discovered a wild, uninhibited side of herself she never suspected existed. To her dismay, she reveled in her liberation, appalled yet renewed at the same time.

He showed her the many different facets of passion. She’d never realized that lovemaking could be a slow, languorous tangle of bodies, or a feverish battle of wills. She never felt so alive as she did in his arms, losing herself in a pleasure so intense she became mindless.

Sloan, however, appeared to escape the devastating impact of their smoldering encounters. The words he whispered to her in the heat of passion were of lust and carnal need, merely that. She could put no stock in them.

Oh, he wanted her body, of that she was certain. She couldn’t mistake the taut, savage look on his face as he took her. But their lovemaking was raw and hot and purely sexual, nothing more.

Heather tried not to let it wound her. She tried to ignore the fact that Sloan’s bedchamber was still off limits to her. He never took her there, although any other location in the house seemed acceptable—her bedchamber, the kitchen, his study in front of the hearth, the spare room upstairs that was used for sewing and storage and extra overnight guests. Each time, she desperately fought the feelings he unleashed inside her. If she was to survive, she would have to keep her distance emotionally. She would have to try her level best to hold herself aloof.

But she feared she was fighting a battle she could never win.

The battle proved easier once spring roundup began in mid-May. She’d heard tales of the West, thrilling stories of cattle drives and gunfights, but the reality of a ranch was endless days of grueling, mundane work as Sloan and his cowboys brought the cattle down from the hills to mark them with the Bar M brand.

Several times Heather drove out with Janna to observe the operation at a safe distance. The scene looked chaotic, the air filled with the smells of dust and smoke and burning hide, as well as the lowing of hundreds of cattle and the singing and calling of the drivers at their flanks.