Prologue

Cassandra fled from Yellowstone Ranch the moment she felt herself becoming too close to him. She left for five years, not for her own benefit, but for his. She believed that she didn't deserve him, not with the blood that stained her, not after all she had done. So when she came back, she was as cold as stone to him. But Cassandra told herself it was for his own good, even though it killed her to treat him the way she did.
She cared about him too much to let him be tainted by her past.