Title: THE COWBOY’S MAKE BELIEVE BRIDE
Author: Kristi Rose
Genre: Western Contemporary Romance
Book Blurb:
Searching for a new future…
Fortune “Fort” Besingame left ranch life years ago, joining the Navy to escape the shame of his father’s gambling addiction and the enormity of his losing the ranch on a bet. Now Fort has returned to Wyoming, to his mother’s ranch in hopes to start a new life. A former Military Police, he wants to run for Sheriff… but convincing the townsfolk Fort intends to put down roots in the small community is going to take more than words. He needs a bride.
Running from the past…
Cori Walters realizes she will never become the photographer she dreams of being in the town where her father’s – former mayor turned cattle rustler – legacy taints everything she attempts to accomplish. When her friend offers her a temporary job posing as a fiancé, Cori decides going to Wyoming might be just the new start she needs. Until she realizes her pretend groom-to-be is someone she knows from high school… And hates her.
Somehow Fort and Cori have to put aside their family differences long enough to get Fort elected.
If they don’t kill each other – or fall in love.
Excerpt:
Cori came from around the curtain and went into the bathroom. Her PJs were a T-shirt that reached her knees, and she looked like she could blow away in a strong wind. Or was in dire need of food. He thought back to how much she ate at dinner. A lot. He wondered what the last decade had been like for her. After using the restroom, he folded himself in half and tried to get comfortable on the loveseat. It was kinda hard with his knees higher than his ears and one of his shoulders hanging off the side.
“Dammit it all,” he mumbled and tried to shift, but there was no way to go.
“Shut it,” Cori called from the other side of the curtain.
“You shut it. You're not the one sleeping in a suitcase.”
He never saw her coming. One minute he was trying to balance and not fall of the couch and the next she was standing over him.
“Judas Priest,” he said.
She wasn't wearing her glasses. Her hair stuck up in one spot, likely from the pillow. Holy hell, Cori Walters was a knockout. She wasn't the overdone type. She was classic, and when she smiled, like she was right now, she sucked the breath right from his lungs, the feeling equal to a punch to the solar plexus.
A giggle escaped her.
“You think it's funny?” His arm ached and was tingly from hanging off the side.
She shrugged one shoulder. “Kinda. You do look like you're stuffed in a suitcase.” She hid her grin in her shoulder. When she turned back to him her smile was gone, though her lips twitched slightly. “I'm not heartless, Fort. I know we don't like each other, but I also know that working a ranch is hard, and if you don't get decent sleep, you'll be useless. I'm not going to be the cause of that. So”—she held up one finger—“I propose we share the bed. We have one thing going for us—the lack of physical attraction. So sharing shouldn't be a problem. We can build a barrier just as an extra precaution.”
She wasn't attracted to him? So she said. Back in the day he'd have argued that. Why else had she kept coming around?
“Are you really thinking it over?” she asked incredulously. Then changed to a teasing tone. “Is it because maybe you find me irresistible?”
“Hell, no,” he said. In one swift move, he vaulted over the couch and was on the bed in a flash, taking his pillow and blanket with him.
“Nope,” she said. “We have to do this feet to head. I'm less grossed out by your feet than your face.”
He sat up on his elbow and gave her a disbelieving look.
“Yes, I'm dead serious,” she said and swirled her finger in the air, telling him he needed to rotate.
“You're a lunatic. But then I already knew that. Runs in the family.” He flipped to the bottom of the bed and buried his face in the pillow.
Buy Links:
Book webpage link: https://www.kristirose.net/cowboys-make-believe-bride
Author Biography:
Kristi Rose was raised in central Florida on boiled peanuts and iced tea. Today, she's a wife and a mother. She's been lucky enough to travel the world and has lived by an active volcano, almost fallen off a German Alp, and eloped in Arkansas. No matter where she is, she enjoys watching people and wonders about their story.
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