Chloe Morgan is a thirty-three-year-old part-time waitress, small-time horse trainer, and full-time thoroughly toughened Western woman living in a corner of the dwindling canyonlands of Southern California. Though surrounded by such memorable friends as Rich, her boss at the diner who rules by intimidation; Kit, Rich's obese and talkative teenage daughter; Gabe, a lusty veterinarian; and Wes, a classic cowboy with a heart of gold, the only creatures Chloe allows herself to love with total abandon and complete faith are Hannah, her German shepherd, and Absalom, her beloved horse.That is, until a quirk in the weather and a sunrise funeral service cause her to cross the path of Henry Oliver, a sedate professor of folklore at the local junior college who, like Chloe, has reasons for holding back. But once Hank steps inside Chloe's makeshift cabin in the hills, Chloe realizes she must come to terms with her losses and choose between the life of solitude she had always thought was her fate and the love of a man who seems - at first - all wrong. Read Less