Lauren Hart had been raised among outlaws, taught to gamble to make her way in the world, but she wanted nothing more than to lead a decent life, to meet other girls her age, to own a pretty dress. One glance told her Flint Mahone was trouble, a ladies' man who knew all the right moves and none of the right emotions. Love was as foreign to him as marriage, but Lauren couldn't resist his plea for help. And when she saw the gentle way he held his little niece, she knew there was hope yet of reaching the warm, caring man beneath the wild, carousing cowboy.