The Sentinel of Blackpine

Hazel Ortiz inherited a failing ski lodge, a raccoon, and a right-of-way dispute she cannot afford to lose. What she did not inherit is permission to plow the only road up Blackpine Mountain — that belongs to Nolan Ríos, retired mountain warfare operator, current defense-tech billionaire, and the least neighborly man in Colorado. He won't sell. He won't negotiate. He won't even answer the door. Then the grid fails, the temperature drops to single digits, and the only working generator on the mountain is behind his fence. Eleven days in the dark with a man like that will change a woman's mind. So will the stranger in the bar who keeps asking about him. A small-town billionaire military romance about a stubborn lodge, a stubborn soldier, and a road neither of them will close.