book review: "the vigilante's bride" by yvonne harris

Emily McCarthy is traveling to Montana to marry a man she’s never met. At eighteen, the orphanage where she was staying needs her room to house some young Indian girls. Emily is left with few other options so she boards a train in response to the newspaper ad for a bride the director of the orphanage accepted on her behalf. On the last leg of her journey the stagecoach she’s riding in is robbed, her taken along with $1,000.

Luke Sullivan is going after what’s rightfully his. The money belonged to his father but he was cheated out of it by the man Emily is expected to marry. Taking her with him wasn’t part of his plan. When he found out where she was going, he decided he needed to protect her so he whisked her away, riding into the night. Though he thought he was helping, Emily is outraged Luke would kidnap her. She’s sees him as a thief and not to be trusted. He takes her to the orphanage where he was raised and still lives until he can figure out what to do with her.

Trouble comes when Bart Axel, Emily’s fiancé, comes looking for her. The man orders her to come with him – giving her the chance to see the kind of man he is and making her inwardly grateful Luke kidnapped her. Luke tells the man to leave, giving him the amount of money he paid for Emily and he stomps out, spewing veiled threats every step of the way.

Luke begins to feel things aren’t quite right when the number of cattle he oversees for the orphanage is dwindling. Since cattle equal money, their livelihood is at stake as well as the future of the orphanage. When he finds out Bart is behind the disappearances, he knows he has to do something. Tension continues to escalate until finally Bart dies in a stampede by the cattle he had taken from Luke. Through it all, Luke and Emily forge a friendship as they work to uncover who’s behind the missing cattle. When she puts her life in potential danger, Luke realizes his feelings for her are more than friendly. In the final pages of the story he asks her to marry him and she accepts.

I enjoy Christian Romance and this didn’t disappoint. There were times when I felt the story was more about Luke than Emily (and maybe that’s the way Harris wanted it to be). I wasn’t completely swept away into the story but I still enjoyed it. There were some humorous moments I laughed out loud at and it was overall a good read.

* I received a copy of the book from Bethany House and was not required to write a positive review.