Wild Dream — Alice Duncan

A hopeless romantic, Addie Blewitt dreams of southern heroes and brave knights as she works her farm and cares for her spinster aunt Ivy, but when Charley Wilde, a dashing artisan/thief spends time on her farm, he falls head over heels for innocent Addie.

She knew he was the One the moment he galloped into her life, dusty and wounded, but handsome as sin. Miss Addie Blewitt had dreamed all her life of him the perfect southern gentleman, her own Prince Charming. Charley Wilde said he and his partner were musicians looking for a place to stay a place he could recuperate from his injury.

Addie didn't see many such fine gentlemen as these in the wilds of New Mexico Territory and she was determined to woo Charley with her most gentle southern manners. But Charley's hot gaze made her burn inside as Addie nursed his body with loving care, making it nearly impossible for her to behave like a lady.

He was on the lam from the law, wounded in a botched holdup, when he rode onto Miss Addie's spread. Those big gray eyes of hers were beguiling, and Charley Wilde did need someone to patch him up. And when Addie told him about the Blewitt rubies, he thought he could take the jewels and run but soon Miss Addie had him hog-tied and ready to explode with lust and guilt. Her innocence was pure seduction, her passionate kisses, sweet torture. He couldn't leave. He couldn't stay. She made him a hero in spite of himself. How could he tell her the truth?