A Breath Without Life

After four months on the job, 24-year-old Rebecca Harper has become something of a jack-of-all-trades on the Cooper Bar-6 Ranch...except for her cooking. But the four strapping sons who run the ranch in their father's absence need wise counsel more than unburnt bread, and Rebecca is perfect for the job. Whether dealing with the driven eldest, the belligerent youngest, or the personalities in between, she recognizes the source of each young man's pain is a lifetime of a father's indifference. As soon as the rogue returns, Rebecca aims to give "Mr. Cooper" a thick piece of her mind.

Colt Cooper is besieged by the single women of Crook County, each fighting to stake her own claim on the handsome rancher. Women are a foolish waste of energy, his past has proven, so focusing on his horse training business and overworked brother is time better spent. Though when a feisty redhead shows up for one of his horses, his thinking falters. It seems her sights are set on only one goal, and it’s not him.

Clayton Cooper is a bona fide daredevil. Always has been. Always will be. At first, he uses his talents for thrills and payouts on the rodeo circuit. Success seems to greet him at every turn. So when he marries his high school sweetheart, he assumes she’ll follow him anywhere. But after a year and a half, she calls off the marriage and turns Clay’s heart to rubble. He sees only one way to survive: lose himself in the rigors of Alaskan smoke-jumping.

Hunter Cooper was made to be a veterinarian, to heal animals of every kind, far and wide. But when his first patient dies—by his hand—his confidence shatters and his dream dies.