The Cowboy’s Convenient Wife by Joanna Bell

They say you only hurt the one you love… but love was never supposed to be part of this.
I spent my entire goddamned life in my brother’s shadow. Once he was out of the way I could finally claim what was mine: the Devlin Ranch.

All I needed was a wife.
Astrid Walker fit the bill. Pretty, well-educated and just the right side of prim, she seemed perfect – perfectly convenient.
But she blew into my heart like a summer storm blows down off the mountains and in the space of a few blissful days, everything was different.
I was different. I swear I don’t know what that girl did to me but she got me thinking about things I never thought about, giving a sh*t about things I never gave a sh*t about. Things like home and family and what really matters in a man’s life.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It wasn’t supposed to be real.
Now all that matters is making sure she doesn’t learn the truth about who I really am – or what I did. Because if she does, she’s gone – and somewhere between ‘hello’ and the sound of her sweet sighs echoing in my ears, I lost the ability to live without her.