4th in the series. Hero's known heroine since she was a young girl. He was already a Texas Ranger when he met her, so there's obviously an age difference, but it's ignored. In a previous book, she was shot in the back, & the bullet remains lodged next to her spine, so she's mostly an invalid with a lot of pain. Hero returns to town when she takes out an ad offering a half interest in her properties (there are quite a few) in exchange for marriage. He proposes, but she says no because she wants better for him. Cute because they're both so clueless, but the back & forth got to be a little much, plus the reasoning for it wasn't very clear. A couple of secondary romances, too, which was nice. And a mystery, part of which wasn't explained at the end. ( )