The Protector Forbidden by Blood

Mackenzie Tatum comes to Montana to hunt Blackwater crimes, and the man whose father ordered him to watch the federal investigator is expected to see that she finds nothing.

After someone tries to kill her, he betrays his own blood and takes on the work of keeping her alive.

One snowstorm leaves them stranded for a night with only one bed, and he can no longer pretend he does not want the woman who stitches him up and sees past the weapon his family made.

He tells her things no one else is trusted with, then learns her grandfather died on Blackwater land and that she holds his family responsible.

When the real killers move to silence her, he takes the bullet meant for Mackenzie.

The truth that follows cuts deeper than the wound: she had counted him as part of her mission, another tool to use against his family, and he knows he would still make the same choice.