South Country Cowboy

As the granddaughter of a cattle rancher, twenty-one-year-old visual artist Alexandra Mackenzie knows full well how challenging it can be to carve a living out of prairie dust and gopher holes, but when she goes against her grandfather's wishes and joins a Park's Canada survey crew that's examining options for a possible expansion of the Grassland Parks-hoping to expand her portfolio with spectacular prairie vistas-she had no idea just how strong the pushback would be from the area's less-stable locals, as well as the families who've worked the land for generations.
Local ranch hand Ryerson Coderre comes from just such a family and is no fan of expansion himself, but he can see the inevitability of it and the wisdom of working with the government rather than against it. Still, as tensions between the survey teams and the locals mount to dangerous levels, he finds himself the only person available to look out for the beautiful young surveyor. He can't help but wish for a return to simpler times ... especially when local secrets, long since buried, begin inching their way closer to the surface.
Alex's long-term goal is earning a highly sought after scholarship to study art in Paris on the line, while Rye is caught between loyalty to his family and an undeniable fascination with the lovely outsider. They both have a lot to lose-not only their hearts but if they aren't careful ... their lives as well.