Bride for the Rodeo

Cassie Sutton is used to fixing other people's disasters. As a freelance event planner, she knows how to stay calm, solve problems, and keep her own life from falling apart by sheer force of will. So when her best friend Gil asks for an impossible favor, Cassie knows she should say no. The favor? Spend twelve weeks pretending to be the girlfriend of rodeo star Mike Wylder. Mike needs image repair after a damaging scandal cost him a major sponsorship, and Cassie is supposed to be the perfect solution: practical, professional, believable, and temporary. But Mike is not the polished cowboy Cassie expected. Behind the public charm is a quiet, guarded man who notices everything, says little, and carries old wounds he has no intention of showing. At first, their fake relationship is awkward enough to fool no one. But as Cassie travels the rodeo circuit with Mike, the performance begins to blur. She sees the danger of his world, the tenderness he hides, and the private version of himself he believes no one will stay for. Mike, in turn, sees past Cassie's competence to the woman who has spent too long believing she must earn care by being useful. What begins as an arrangement becomes something neither of them planned for: real trust, real longing, and a love that feels far more dangerous than any rodeo arena. But when the truth about their fake relationship leaks, Cassie becomes the target of public humiliation and runs before Mike can tell her what she has come to mean to him. Now Mike must decide what matters more: the sponsorship he was trying to save, or the woman who made him brave enough to be seen.