Stay with Me — Janith Hooper

Rose Marie Swanson goes home to San Francisco with a renewed commitment to the life she has chosen. She has work to do, and must make sure no one interferes. When Johnnie gets in the way, she devises a plan to destroy his intolerable curiosity and dangerous desire to help.

* * *

Johnnie Williams is done with cow-poking. That happened the moment his best friend married the woman he fancied spending his life with. It's time to leave Harper Ranch and return to his San Francisco life as a Pinkerton detective, where rounding up the dregs of society is all in a day's work. There is only one problem with his plan: Rose Marie, the woman who is overtaking his thoughts, his self-control, and his job. With their every encounter, blond belle Rose Marie shaves off a few more rusty pieces from the hinges of his heart while turning his well-ordered life upside down. 

Rose Marie Swanson is a beauty without equal. Always known as dazzling and tempting, she is sick to her soul of being either one, and fed up with the kind of male attention that daily surrounds her. She has a job to do and can't afford to let anyone get in her way. Then handsome cowboy Johnnie Williams bulldozes into her life without a speck of personal conquest in his eyes, and Rose Marie is both baffled and relieved. At least he presents one less distraction for her end game. That is, until he turns the tide and starts delving into matters that are not his business, lethal to her agenda, and perilous to his well-being. 

                An inspirational romance of complicated love and intrigue.