The Cowboy Wins a Bride

Jamie Lassiter is a cowboy with a plan: save his money, buy into the Cruz Guest Ranch, and marry Claire Cruz. He's got two out of three goals checked off already, and now he's ready to woo his future bride. He's designed a series of careful steps to make her fall back in love with horses, with the ranch, and with him. Nothing can screw up such a failsafe strategy.

Except one of Rob Matheson's practical jokes.

Claire Cruz has plans of her own. Now that Jamie and her brother, Ethan, have bought out her share of the ranch, she has plenty of money to leave Montana and start all over again. First she'll take a round-the-world cruise to erase all memory of the awful last few years. Then she'll find a new home, a new job, and maybe – just maybe – a new man. Nothing can screw up such a perfect future.

Except one of Rob Matheson's practical jokes.

When Claire announces she's leaving Montana on the morning of her brother Ethan's wedding, Jamie panics – and proposes – before even asking her out on a date. Now Claire's furious, convinced his proposal is part of an awful joke Rob played on her earlier. He'll have to think fast to keep her in town long enough to prove he wants to marry her for real.

Claire can't believe Jamie would participate in one of Rob's stupid jokes – on her brother's wedding day, no less. Bad enough he broke her heart once. Is he really planning to do it again? She'd give anything to give him a dose of his own medicine. So when Jamie proposes a bet – give him six weeks to convince her to marry him or he'll pay for her round-the-world tickets – she accepts, with one condition:

He can't touch or flirt with her – or any other woman – for the duration of the bet, or she automatically wins.

Now Jamie’s on the run from a bevy of cowboy-groupie ranch guests, and Claire’s learning she cares about the ranch – and Jamie – more than she dreamed possible.

Maybe it’s time to lose that bet.

As long as Jamie loses it first.