The Reluctant Bride — Leigh Greenwood

Colorado Territory, 1872: It was about as rough-and-ready as the West could get, a place and time almost as dangerous as the men who left civilization behind, driven by a desire for land, gold...a new life. Boulder Gap: It was a false-fronted, one-street town where the only way a fellow could find a decent woman was to send away for her. Tanzy: When she first caught sight of the man she'd come west to marry, he was galloping after a gang of bandits, peppering their worthless hides with buckshot. Russ Tibbolt was a far cry from the safe, respectable husband she'd expected when she agreed to become a mail-order bride. For one thing, he'd killed a man ten years before. For another, he was much too compelling for any woman's peace of mind. With his cobalt-blue eyes looking down into hers and his powerful body doing its magic, how could she hope to win the battle of wills between them or keep her heart intact? For beneath the onslaught of Russ's kisses, she was very far from being a reluctant bride.