Ohhhhh where do I start?
Be warned, this is a very negative review with spoilers.
I knew this wasn't going to be a very good book. But I just got so frustrated with almost everything that happened.
The beginning wasn't bad. Chase Logan is tasked with delivering the news of Nathan Strong's death to his 18-year-old widow, Jesse. The news couldn't come at a worse time. Jesse is expecting an orphan to arrive any day, and she needs her husband there to complete the adoption. Guess what, she ropes Chase in to pretend to be her husband (I love the pretend partner trope).
So she gets her little girl and a teenage boy to take care of, and Chase leaves. Only thing is, he forgot to deliver Nathan's bankroll to Jesse. So he goes back. But for some convoluted reason he doesn't tell Jesse about the bankroll right away, giving him an excuse to stay a little longer until the orphanage director leaves. This leads Jesse to believe that Chase came back solely out of the goodness of his heart.
But then Chase gets injured, and ends up staying at Jesse's for the next few days, distracting him from the bankroll. Now, there's not really anything they could have done about this. The dude is INJURED. Plus no one knows he's out there.
When the (really irritating busybody) owner of the local mercantile hears of this, she's quick to organize a shotgun wedding (groan). I mean really? She could have just kept her trap shut and Chase could have left and no one would be the wiser. Or better yet, if they really wanted to up the romance, he could have left and then come back later.
Jesse and Chase agree that once it's over and they've had a few days to appease Mrs. Hollyhock, he'll ride out and she never has to hear from him again.
Then they decide to move to Logan Medows, where Chase has a ranch. He'll give them the ranch and still leave her alone.
And all this while there's a disturbing dude following them, wanting revenge on Jesse because his brother was hanged for attempting to rape her. So he comes in later.
Once the family arrives in Logan Medows, everything is nice and fairy-tale like...for about a week. Then Jesse learns of the bankroll and her entire image of Chase changes.
But before anything can happen, the little girl, Sarah, is kidnapped by afore-mentioned Bad Guy. Chase rescues her no problem, but Jesse still takes the kids and leaves. She does this without telling him that she's pregnant with his kid. It's this decision that made me hate Jesse. Chase deserves to know he's got a kid.
But there's really no trouble getting her back, and very little romance involved.
And they all live a boring happily-ever-after. The End.