Cowboy Christmas redemption

Yates's outstanding eighth Gold Valley contemporary (after Lone Wolf Cowboy) will delight newcomers and fans alike. In the four years since Clint Bell died in a helicopter accident while on a firefighting mission, his widow, Ellie Bell, and her four-year-old daughter, Amelia, have relied on the friendship of Clint's best friend, Caleb Dalton. Ellie even teaches at the school for troubled boys located on the Dalton family ranch in Gold Valley, Ore. When Ellie learns Caleb is planning to leave his job at the school to take over a Christmas tree ranch, her Christmastime melancholy is amplified. She realizes one of the things she misses is sexual intimacy, and she makes Caleb a no-strings-attached proposition. Ellie's forthright honesty stuns Caleb; he's also insulted that she thinks he's "safe" and "nice," having no idea how passionately he's loved and desired her for years. She's shocked in turn to learn about the depth of Caleb's feelings for her. As Caleb and Ellie act on their mutual attraction, their relationship becomes intense and all-consuming, making Ellie wonder whether it's more than she can handle. As Yates reveals how the protagonists' pasts have shaped them, they become fully realized and three-dimensional, and their slow progress from heated glances to scorching sex is devastatingly intense. This charming and very sensual contemporary is a must for fans of passion that, in Ellie's words, is almost "too sharp and too bright" to bear. Agent: Helen Breitwieser, Cornerstone Literary. (Sept.)