Today, HJ is pleased to share with you Melinda Curtis’s new release: The Cowboy’s Accidental Bride
In Bentwood Creek, a broken vow leads to an unexpected promise.
Hayden Bennett is done with love. After being left at the altar, the Montana rancher returned home determined to protect his heart and honor his grandfather’s final wishes. But dividing the family ranch five ways, managing a wandering grandmother, and holding everything together alone is more than even a stubborn cowboy can handle.
Single mom Eve Atkinson is done with marriage, too. Recently divorced and rebuilding her life in Bentwood Creek, the licensed vocational nurse is juggling long shifts, a spirited toddler, and an ex-husband who uses custody threats to control her future. Becoming a registered nurse feels like a dream she may never reach.
When childhood friends Hayden and Eve strike a marriage-of-convenience bargain, it solves more than one problem. She gains stability and protection. He gains the help he desperately needs.
But sharing a home brings buried feelings to the surface. What begins as a practical arrangement soon tests their guarded hearts.
This heartfelt small-town cowboy romance delivers second chances, found family, and a love that proves sometimes the safest risk is trusting the one who knows you best.
Enjoy an exclusive excerpt from The Cowboy’s Accidental Bride
Prologue
“What do you mean you’re not going to marry Hayden?” Eve Fisher stared in disbelief at her older sister. They stood in the living room of their cozy bungalow in Bentwood Creek, Montana. “But…he’s waiting for you at the altar.”
They were already late leaving for the afternoon church ceremony.
“I can’t marry Hayden.” Smiling weakly, Violet held up her left hand, waggling her fingers such that a very small diamond ring tried to sparkle. It failed miserably. “A judge just married us at the town hall. Charlie’s waiting for me outside.”
“You married Charlie O’Neil?” Plain, ordinary Charlie O’Neil? Eve stared at her sister, trying to wrap her head around Violet’s announcement. But all Eve felt was outrage. For Hayden.
With her back to the garden’s French doors, Eve glanced around the heart of their small home. There was the green, velour couch where Mom and Eve had sat when Hayden asked their permission to propose to Violet. There was the kitchen table where a happily chattering Vi had shown Eve how to wrap her chocolate and silk flower wedding favors. There was the kitchen where Mom and Eve had cooked the wedding rehearsal dinner, serving it out back to the happy couple, family, and friends.
Everything had been on track. And now this…this betrayal.
With a swish of her floor-length pink bridesmaid dress, Eve turned to their mother, who stood in front of the fireplace in silence. “Did you hear that, Mom? Vi married Charlie O’Neil on her wedding day to Hayden Bennett.” A one-of-a-kind gem of a cowboy. Eve faced Violet once more, unable to believe it was true. “Hayden ropes steers faster than I can apply mascara. And you gave him up for a guy who once fainted giving blood at the county fair?”
If I were engaged to Hayden Bennett, I wouldn’t look at another man.
“Yes. I married Charlie.” Violet’s chin went up, causing the pearls woven through her intricate blond updo to catch the light. Vi smoothed the creases in her yellow sundress. But she couldn’t as easily smooth away the repercussions of her actions. “Look, I’ve spent the past four years breaking up and making up with Hayden. And…he’s something, all right.” Violet half shrugged, looking small. “But last night, I realized Hayden isn’t my kind of something.”
“What?” Eve’s world tipped on its axis. Hayden was her kind of everything.
“You were married without your wedding dress?” Mom stood in her floor-length pink satin mother-of-the-bride dress. “You were married without something old and…” Mom choked back tears, gesturing to Eve and then herself. “Without us?”
With Dad dead and buried from kidney disease five years back, the three women only had each other. They used to joke about their roles in the house: Mom, the absentminded, loving matriarch; Violet, the perfectionist-seeking beauty queen; and Eve, the impulsive, yet stubborn, glue that held them together.
Eve chewed on her lower lip.
I didn’t realize Vi was cracking or I’d have started gluing long before this.
“Yes. I got married without you. I’m sorry about that.” Violet fiddled with her delicate little wedding ring, suddenly looking uncertain.
Well…Eve was certain.
I’m certain Vi is making the biggest mistake of her life!
Eve may have only been eighteen to Violet’s twenty-five, but she knew that twenty-eight-year-old Hayden Bennett wasn’t the kind of cowboy you threw back after you hooked him.
“What are we going to tell Hayden?” Mom sounded as if she might cry. She looked that way too, expression crumbling. “And what about the reception? All that food… All those guests…”
All that money wasted.
Anger pounded at Eve’s temples. Violet hadn’t just jilted Hayden. She’d jilted Mom, who’d scraped and saved to pay for this elaborate wedding that Violet had insisted she needed. She’d also jilted Eve, who’d cajoled favors for this rushed wedding from the minister, the florist, the baker, and the band. Favors needed because Violet kept changing her mind.
And here she was, changing it again.
“When did you decide to marry Charlie?” Eve came to stand next to their mother, looping her arm around Mom’s waist. “We had brunch with Mom’s family earlier. You were all smiles. Afterward, we had our hair, nails, and makeup done. You were all smiles. And then… And then…”
Poor Hayden. How am I going to fix this?
“And then, you said you wanted to be alone, Violet,” Mom finished for Eve, still blinking back tears. “We put on our fancy dresses before we knocked on your bedroom door to help you into that gorgeous wedding gown. And that was when we realized…you…were…gone.” Mom’s voice was heart-wrenchingly ragged. “We bent over backward to organize this wedding with two months’ notice. And you… You changed course without a word to us.”
“I didn’t mean to go behind your back.” Violet’s fingers knotted. Her brow furrowed. “I went to see Charlie because of the way Hayden handled that fight with his grandfather.” The mysterious dustup that had driven a wedge between the Bennetts and had Hayden moving off his family’s ranch. Tears filled Violet’s eyes. “Family forgives. But Hayden can’t seem to. He holds on to grudges with a death grip. What does that say about our future together?”
Eve bit her lip. She didn’t want to admit it, but Violet might be right.
“I love Hayden,” Violet said in a quiet voice, a pained voice. “But being with him… It’s like standing in a house with all the windows shut. Safe. Solid. But the air gets thin after a while.” She gave a small, wistful laugh. “He doesn’t mean to. It’s just…he’s always trying to fix things. Organize, improve, cover every contingency. And sometimes, I feel like I’m one of the things Hayden needs to change. Like he’s always encouraging me to become someone different. Someone…easier and less…me.” Violet’s pleading gaze flickered from Mom to Eve. “This wasn’t an impulsive decision. I just realized too late that part of loving and being loved means you have to be able to breathe easy in your own skin.”
Eve gasped. Growing up, she’d felt the pressure from Violet to change and be more like her—more feminine, more composed, more aware of the impact of her impulsive actions—especially after Dad died. But Eve had never felt she had to be someone different with Hayden. Not once.
And yet…if Violet couldn’t be herself with Hayden, maybe they shouldn’t get married. Maybe Violet had made the right choice.
Even if it breaks Hayden’s heart.
Eve was torn. Emotions in a jumble.
The Fisher women looked at each other, as if waiting for one of them to say, “What now?”
A horn honked outside.
Eve startled, nearly knocking Mom over.
And Violet?
She beamed, looking every bit the blissful bride about to embark on her honeymoon. “That’s Charlie. I have to go.” Violet darted into the bedroom she shared with Eve, returning with her suitcase. “We’re leaving town today, making a new life in Marietta.”
“You can’t leave yet.” Eve rushed forward, grabbing hold of Violet’s arm. “You have to tell Hayden.”
“I can’t.” Tears welled in Violet’s eyes, watering down her smile. “I know how this looks. I know it’s cowardly. But I…I can’t face him.”
And then she was gone.
Excerpt. ©Melinda Curtis. Posted by arrangement with the publisher. All rights reserved.
Giveaway: An ebook copy of THE COWBOY’S ACCIDENTAL BRIDE + one additional Tule ebook of the winner’s choice
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Meet the Author:
Melinda Curtis is the USA Today bestselling author of light‐hearted contemporary romance, romantic comedies, and women’s fiction. Her book Dandelion Wishes was made into a TV movie – Love in Harmony Valley, starring Amber Marshall. She lives in Oregon’s wine country with her husband – her basketball-playing college sweetheart. While raising three kids, the couple did the soccer thing, the karate thing, the dance thing, the Little League thing and, of course, the basketball thing. Now when Melinda isn’t writing and Mr. Curtis isn’t watching college basketball, they do the DIY thing.
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