Bygones

Jonas Abrams, bookish historian, has never met anyone like hard-hitting Texas Ranger Gabe Ryland before...
After a false accusation derailed his academic career, reserved history professor Jonas Abrams left teaching, and left town. Taking a job at San Antonio's Intrinsic Value antiques store gave him the confidence to work with people again, and he's even ventured back into college teaching and volunteering at a local museum...but none of that could have prepared him for Gabe 'Rye' Ryland.
Texas Ranger Rye is an old-school lawman to his core. When his partner is killed on his watch, Rye's instincts tell him there's more to things than meets the eye, and he burns to investigate. Facing a suspension for dereliction of duty, he accepts a bullshit assignment out of town...to San Antonio, the place he intends to dig around for answers.
Rye is not just out of Jonas' league-he's out of his comfort zone, and not the kind of person Jonas would ever have imagined he'd fall for. But he does, hard, from the get-go, just as Rye does him. The academic and the Ranger shouldn't make sense as a couple, but they do. Or at least, they were just starting to, until the case Rye is investigating heats up to flashpoint, engulfing them both in the flames...