The Cowboy’s Honor by Amy Sandas

Tracy’s rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: Runaway Brides, #2

Release Date: February 26, 2019

When Courtney Adams flees her wedding and heads west to find her friend Alexandra, the last thing she ever expected was to find herself mistaken for a mail order bride and married to a very grumpy and extremely handsome cattle rancher!

Dean Lawton has had enough of his younger brother Randall’s interference in his life, he tells Randall point blank to butt out, but when he arrives in town to pick up supplies and stops by the post office to collect a “very important” package for Randall – he assumes the beautiful woman in the wedding dress at the post office is Randall’s “package” and feels honor bound to marry her – but doesn’t bother to inform her of that fact.

Courtney is grateful to the cowboy for helping her, but is confused why he insists on taking her to see the local judge and has her witness a wedding. It isn’t until they get back to his ranch that she learns the truth – she didn’t witness a wedding – she got married! Once Dean realizes his horrific error, he promises to fix it – but the judge isn’t easily swayed – he insists that they live together for a month before he will even consider dissolving their marriage.

Dean is extremely unhappy about this – Courtney makes him feel things that he has no time or desire to feel. He has his hands full with his ranch and trying to find out who is slaughtering his cattle. Besides, Courtney is a city girl, she will never be happy as a rancher’s wife – she is spoiled and pampered and totally unprepared for life on the range.

He is 100% right, Courtney is spoiled and pampered – but he completely underestimates his temporary wife, because besides being spoiled and pampered, she is smart, determined and possesses an optimistic outlook on life. So no, ending up married to a grumpy cowboy wasn’t her plan, but she will make the best of it. Instead of pouting and expecting to be waited on, she learns to cook and care for the house and slowly worms her way into her cowboy’s heart. Dean acknowledges that Courtney is not what he believed and a bit of hope blossoms as they grow closer and eventually become intimate.

But a partially overheard conversation, a deranged lunatic and past heartache may prevent them from ever having their HEA.

This was a wonderful story, well written and filled with great characters, steamy love scenes, a bit of laughter, a little drama and a dash of angst to keep it interesting. While I did want to smack Dean a time or ten, he completely redeems himself at the end. My only complaint is the book ends a little abruptly and really could have benefited from an epilogue, but even without that, it is a fantastic read and I am happy to recommend it!

*I am voluntarily leaving a review of an eARC that was provided to me by NetGalley and the publister.*