Following the death of her parents Sage Willows had lovingly nurtured her younger sisters through childhood. She loved her sisters. She’d seen each one married and was glad to see them settled and happy. Furthermore she held no resentment at never having found a good man of her own to settle down with. Yet regret is different than resentment—and far more haunting. Still Sage found as much joy as was allowed a lonely young woman—in being proprietress of Willows’ Boardinghouse and in the companionship of the four beloved widow-women boarding there. Until that is the devilishly handsome Rebel Lee Mitchell appeared. It seemed Reb Mitchel instantly and forever vanquished Sage’s feigned contentment. Dark mysterious and secretly wounded Reb Mitchell utterly captured Sage’s lonely heart. Nevertheless to Sage Williows the powerfully attractive cowboy—admired and coveted by every female in his path—seemed entirely unobtainable. How could a weathered boardinghouse-proprietress resigned to spinsterhood ever hope to hold the attention of such a man? And knowing she couldn’t—would Sage Willows simply sink deeper into the bleak loneliness she’d secreted for so long?
