Secondhand Bride

SUMMARY:"To win his father's ranch, a hard-living cowboy settles down and takes a wife -- another man's wife!" The youngest McKettrick brother, Jeb, is the wild one who never could stay out of trouble. And trouble is what he gets when he proposes to Chloe Wakefield. No sooner had he and the pretty schoolteacher tied the knot than Jeb discovers she's already married! After a major dustup with Chloe in a Tombstone barroom, an irate Jeb hightails it back to the Triple M Ranch, certain that his chances of winning the spread in a marriage race with his brothers are dashed. Now Chloe has come to Indian Rock, hoping to find her beloved uncle John and a much-needed teaching post. But when she unexpectedly crosses paths with Jeb, her rage -- and passion -- flare even stronger than back in Tombstone. Chloe never intended to mislead Jeb about her previous marriage to a scoundrel of a man. But when she finds out Jeb needs a bride and a baby in order to inherit the Triple M, she is livid. Learning to trust will be the hardest part of this mixed-up marriage -- until a stagecoach robbery and the return of a dangerous stranger prove to Jeb and Chloe that they need each other to love and honor as long as they both shall live. From Publishers WeeklySet in 1880s Arizona Territory, the final installment in Miller's McKettrick Cowboys trilogy (_High Country Bride_; Shotgun Bride) finds the short-tempered McKettrick brothers still squabbling and still vying for ownership of the Triple M ranch, which their father, Angus, will give to the first son who marries and provides him with a grandchild. For youngest son, Jeb, the ranch is the one thing in the world that he holds most dear, so with both his older brothers already wed, Jed needs to move it or lose it. A quick marriage to schoolteacher Chloe Wakefield gets him in the race, but when he hears that his new bride already has a husband, he hightails it back to the ranch instead of sticking around to learn the truth. But Chloe, reputation in shreds, isn't about to go down without a fight. The romance between Jeb and Chloe runs lukewarm, but Miller succeeds in drawing a compelling picture of 19th-century ranch life populated with flawed but genuinely likable characters. Prose as bright as moonlight on the prairie keeps the pages turning, and a perfect, if highly improbable, ending ties things up nicely. Still, the story has an unfinished feel, leaving readers to wonder if a spinoff involving Angus's long-lost son Luke and his daughter, Lizzy, is in the works. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ReviewRomantic Times You'll adore the McKettricks....