Distilled Heat — Jennifer Bramseth

Pepper Montrose has only known hard luck for most of her life in little Bourbon Springs, Kentucky. Then her world is irrevocably changed by incredible good fortune -- as well as an unexpected encounter with Jon Buckler, her lifelong best friend and attorney for Old Garnet Bourbon Distillery.

Brokenhearted after making a discovery that opens old wounds, Pepper pushes Jon away and retreats to her new home, GarnetBrooke, the sprawling thoroughbred horse farm across the road from Old Garnet. Trying to put the past behind her, Pepper focuses her energy on building a retirement facility for thoroughbreds.

But Jon isn't about to give up on a future with Pepper, even as a new challenge in the form of a familiar face returns to Bourbon Springs. His instinct to protect her emerges -- even though that same instinct has the power to tear them apart.

Distilled Heat is the sixth book in the Bourbon Springs Series.