About the book

Sofie McAllister fled an abusive marriage with nothing but her daughter and the clothes on their backs. Now, rebuilding her life feels like climbing a mountain, one careful step at a time. She's finally finding her footing, even beginning to imagine a future where she and four-year-old Olive are safe.

Then her ex is released from prison.

Enter Knox Duvall. A man who's spent his life preferring horses to people, content in his solitude on his ranch. He doesn't get involved. Doesn't let people close. But when Sofie's terror about losing custody of Olive becomes impossible to ignore, something shifts inside him.

He proposes marriage. Not romance. A shield. Legal protection from a man who could ruin everything Sofie’s fought to rebuild. It's supposed to be temporary. Nothing more than a paper marriage to prop up a desperate mother's fight.

But soon, temporary doesn't feel right. The fake feelings they’re projecting to the world become all too real, and the walls they’ve both spent years constructing don't hold against the bonds they now share.

Except some threats can't be stopped by contracts and vows—and the man determined to destroy her will stop at nothing to take Olive away.