The man I’ve agreed to marry is perfect on paper.

He’s sweet. The ring fits. My dad hasn’t threatened to castrate him.

What more could a girl want?

Now that I’m back in West Texas, I have everything I need—a veterinary degree, a closer relationship with my dad, and high hopes that my new engagement will heal old wounds.

All that’s left is learning to live with the truth that some things are better left behind.

Slamming the door on my past doesn’t mean it won’t come knocking, though. Heston Landry pounds his brutish fist on it every chance he gets.

I never thought our whirlwind of passionate obsession would come crashing down. But somehow, I left with my heart still in Heston’s hands on that ranch two summers ago. Loving him was intoxicating and brutal. Losing him was something I didn’t think I’d survive.

He was a master of quiet restraint, and I refused to chase after a stubborn cowboy. Silence stretched into years of no contact, and I thought he’d moved on.

That assumption could not have been more wrong.

Each time our paths cross, I sense a dangerous unraveling. If I don’t walk away soon, chasing closure might be the most reckless mistake I’ve ever made.

I’m crossing my fingers that the chips will fall, preferably softly, where they may.

But Heston is down to his last cigarette, and the look in his eye promises anything but surrender.

This was never going to end quietly.

Down in Flames is a second chance cowboy romance novel and the fourth and final book in Lainey Lawson’s series, The Bunkhouse.