HER RISK TO TAKE is a twenty-thousand word novella (approximately 80 print pages). If only ER doc Sarah Sullivan could get the ornery cowboy she's loved since she was a girl to cooperate, she could move on with her life, and maybe even think about starting a family. But he's pulling away, and she doesn't know why. What she does know is that she can't imagine life without him. Ex-con Cal Landon lives in fear of the day his ugly past catches up with him and takes away the best thing he's ever known-Sarah Sullivan. Cal would die to protect her, but she deserves better than a world-weary ranch hand. Even though it's way past time for him to leave her family's Montana spread, he can't bring himself to let go. When Sarah proposes at Christmastime, Cal has no choice but to walk away. Then a hostage crisis hurls Sarah into a life-and-death situation, and the love that made Cal leave sends him racing back to her side, straight into danger. He will get her out alive-or die trying.