Desert Bloom

That Blooming Heat

For Lilla Traften, the Texas Panhandle was nothing but hot cactus and dirt, its inhabitants worse. Every cowpuncher and soiled dove she met needed a good scrubbing -- and some lessons in manners. Grady Finch, too. The rugged foreman of the WC Ranch might be devastatingly handsome, but he was tactless. Worse, the heat was getting to her; sunstroke was making her dream of Grady's hands upon her, of the sweaty love they might make in the dust. Hardly normal thoughts for a proper miss and charm-school teacher! Still, she couldn't help wondering what would win the heart of a man like Grady. She'd have to prove she could survive on her own. She'd have to show she wasn't the prissy snob he thought. He'd have to see that not only the land could undergo transformation, but that Lilla, too, could flower in the desert.