Acknowledgments

I’m in awe of Monique Patterson, Mara Delgado-Sanchez, Natalie Tsay, DJ Smyter, and the rest of the team at St. Martin’s—especially the wildly talented art department that keeps gifting me with these glorious covers—for all their hard work getting these stories into shape and these books out into the world!

Christa Soulé Désir has copyedited all three Cold River Ranch books, which means her reactions are not only the first I get to see—but she also cleans everything up so no one knows how many sentences I start with the word AND. A hero, in other words, who I can never thank enough!

I would be lost without the incomparable Holly Root, who handles everything, including me, with enviable good humor.

I feel grateful and lucky every day to have Nicole Helm and Maisey Yates as friends and readers, but they both went above and beyond on this book when I had to tackle some tricky revisions and needed even more guidance than usual. Thanks seem inadequate, so I will have to make it up some other way. I suspect sugar will be involved.

I’m deeply thankful, as ever, that the wonderful Jane Porter is willing to read my terrible drafts and always, always helps me change them for the better.

And none of this would possible without Jeff, my favorite.

Or without you, my marvelous readers!