The Ranger and the Widow

the long version

Secrets and lies... Jim Mitchell, chief park ranger of Canyonlands National Park, Utah, has his hands full. Not only is his rebellious teenage daughter giving him grief about living in the isolated park, but he's got a gruesome murder in his jurisdiction that needs solving. The sudden appearance of National Park Service budget lady Anne Winslow is not about to make his life any easier. Especially once she starts nosing around in affairs that have nothing to do with budgets, as far as he can tell. Mitch is pretty certain the murder is connected to moki poaching -- the looting of Anasazi ruins for their valuable artifacts -- and careful sleuthing will reveal the murderer. He's less certain about the beautiful, enigmatic Anne Winslow. She attracts him deeply, and he begins to want something real with her, something real and lasting. But he can't shake off the sense that she's lying to him....