Jefferson

Marshal Jeff Howard has spent years believing a badge is the closest thing he'll ever have to a family. He can keep the peace. Build a home…not so much. Then Eleanor Hayes steps off the stage, claims a crumbling house and the four half-wild orphans squatting inside it, and everything changes. Watching her fight for the children Echo Ridge tried to ignore cracks open something in Jeff he thought long dead: the dangerous, aching need to protect, to belong, to build something real.Living as Eleanor Hayes, Constance Gwynne expected Echo Ridge to be just another place to disappear. Instead, she finds herself responsible for four half-wild orphans and a future she never imagined. The last complication she needs is a sharp-eyed marshal who sees through every lie—and makes her wonder if she's finally found the one place where she can stop running. As she transforms a broken-down shack into a home for children who have known only fear and hunger, Constance discovers something even more dangerous than being found: wanting to stay.But when Constance's past finally catches up with her, Jeff must decide whether a badge is enough—or whether protecting the family he's finally found is worth risking everything.