A Love to Have and to Hold

Josie Kinsley longs for the security she lacked before the Kinsleys adopted her at twelve. Determined to become a self-sufficient, independent woman, she keeps the secrets of her troubled past carefully hidden and rejects the attention of the many cowboys who visit the family home.

Walker Jones has distrusted secrets ever since his family was torn apart during his childhood. After he is robbed and pistol-whipped, he takes refuge with the Kinsleys. There, he overhears Josie declare that if she ever marries, it will not be to a homeless, penniless cowboy-an exact description of Walker and a painful echo of the rejection he once suffered from another woman.

Josie and Walker are certain they are wrong for each other. He is a wandering cowboy with little to his name, while she craves a permanent home and a secure future. Yet as they spend time together, Walker comes to admire Josie's strength and devotion to her adopted family, while she discovers that beneath his restless exterior is a hardworking, kindhearted man who fills her life with laughter. As their affection deepens, Josie's hidden past threatens the fragile trust between them. To find happiness, they must decide whether old wounds and buried truths will determine their lives-or whether the promise of a future together matters more.