Cochise County needed a new deputy and Cage Nichols needed a cover—pronto. Unfortunately, Cage unknowingly assumed the identity of an undercover hit man who'd marked stand-in Sheriff Grace Steele to be murdered. He was an ex-cop sidelined by a bullet. Now, Cage was embedded in the dusty West Texas border town with no choice but to assume the role of a double agent in order to expose a conspiracy and to protect his own hide. That was the plan. Until he met Grace. Whether it was the isolation of the no-man's-land town of Jericho Pass or the intense desert heat, he couldn't say, but Cage was fast falling for Grace. He only hoped she wouldn't lock him up after he saved her.