I really liked both Sarah and Clay. After her mother's death, Sarah was stunned and hurt to discover that she had been adopted but had never known. The private investigator she hired discovered that her mom had grown up in Saddlers Prairie, so Sarah headed there to see if she could learn any more. She was shocked when Clay opened the door of her mom's old house. She had known Clay three years earlier while doing a magazine article about him and had been attracted to him. After hearing him talked about as a player by other women she finished her interview and left, writing a less than flattering article about him. At first he is quite rude to her, but soon she finds him being nice. I really felt for Sarah and her search for her birth mother. She has no family left and is feeling pretty lost. I liked her determination to find out anything she could. During the emotional upheaval Clay is by her side. The more time she spends with him the more she sees a different Clay than the one she saw before. I really liked the way that she started to wonder if she'd been completely fair in her article about Clay. She also worried that she was falling in love with him because she wasn't sure if he was still a "no commitment" type of guy. Sarah also had some issues of her own to face before she could fully open herself up to a future with Clay.

Clay had been a champion bull rider before he got hurt. Now he is getting his ranch up and running in Saddlers Prairie. Seeing Sarah at his door brought back a whole bunch of memories, many of them bad ones. It also made clear to him that his attraction to her hadn't died. He found himself wanting to help her and support her in her search. He could see the pain in her eyes when she talked about her adoptive mother and why she had kept the secret of her birth from her. He tried to fight the attraction but he found that she was constantly on his mind. He tried to tell himself it was just physical and that he couldn't allow himself to have feelings for someone he couldn't trust not to trash him again. I really liked the way that Clay was so good at being there for Sarah when she needed him. I also loved the way that since his accident he has admitted to himself that his old lifestyle doesn't fit him any more and he's ready for a change. His final admission of his feelings to himself and his approach to Sarah at the end was wonderful. I loved the epilogue. ( )