My name is Cassie Brand, and my life is a shambles. To start with, I’m renovating my grandmother’s house in the hope of turning it into a functioning bed and breakfast soon enough to avoid debtor’s prison. Oh wait, wrong time period. Same difference though, because if I fall behind, Dearborn Suttle (aka Doofus) will gladly take the estate off my hands. Why, I don’t know. Don’t want to know. Don’t even care to find out. But I will do anything to keep that from happening. Including make a deal with the… devilishly sly, smart, and handsome, Jake Garrison. It was supposed to be simple. I help him get back into the dating game, he helps me with this month’s loan payment. It’s all in the name of good friendship until… it isn’t. Now I’m in over my head (and head over heels), and I think I just discovered that Doofus isn’t my worst enemy. I want to scream, “Make it stop!” but... I think this disaster train was of my own making.

The name is Burke McFarland, but folks call me Bear because I’m ugly as a warthog, big as a grizzly, and just as mean. Maybe that’s just my old granny’s opinion, but women either take one look at me and run for the hills, or they laugh until they cry. There never seems to be a middle ground. My first run-in with Andi Brand ended in a typical scream-and-run kind of situation that got her a busted up knee and me a run-in with an over-zealous cop. All I wanted after that was to lay low and stay out of trouble, but Andi stopped by to apologize and kept coming back. Now I’m dealing with a heap of trouble and a swarm of bees too. I didn’t want either, but one look into those big brown eyes and… I couldn’t tell her no. Like Gran said, I’m big as a grizzly and just as mean. When trouble comes calling, I’d run if I could. But seeing as I can’t build up steam fast enough to outrun anything, I’m gonna have to do whatever it takes to keep Andi safe. Because that’s what matters.