"Home and family" aren't on Jess Cooper's Christmas List. In fact, the Colorado cowboy doesn't make Christmas lists at all. Jess knows better. There is no Santa Claus. There are no gifts. Jess works for what he wants - and right now he is working to buy the Rocking R ranch. Then Alison Richards returns to the Rocking R and turns Jess's world upside down. No longer the innocent girl he remembered-and could resist-this Alison is all grown up and more enticing than ever. Alison considered Jess Cooper part of her foolish past. But face to face with him again, she's as smitten as ever. Suddenly her teenage dreams of sharing a ranch, a home, a family with him are back in full force. Jess doesn't trust dreams. He doesn't trust hope. They always let you down. But what if this time they don't? Can a guy with no hope trust in a future with a woman who has dreams enough for both of them?