The Front Runner (Gold Rush Ranch, #3) by Elsie Silver

He's beautiful, brooding, and bossy…and she just agreed to three fake dates with him.

Stefan Dalca is public enemy number one in this small town, a prickly outsider with a murky past that's hard to overlook. All he wants is to race his horses and be left alone—but when veterinarian Mira Thorne needs his help to save a sick foal, he's too drawn to her to refuse. In exchange…he wants her.

Their time together starts as a simple transaction, but the more Mira gets to know Stefan, the more she wonders if he isn't quite the villain everyone's made him out to be. With every intimate conversation and lingering look, the tension between them builds. She's been drawn to Stefan since the day she laid eyes on him…but now he's downright irresistible.

Mira knows sleeping with the enemy is playing with fire. But like a moth to a flame, she's attracted to the mysterious man in a way those closest to her wouldn't approve of or understand. And the more Stefan softens for her, the harder she falls.

But as his mysteries unravel, so do hidden truths. Truths that are bound to get someone burned.

Mira just didn't expect that someone to be her.