Fun book. The day before her wedding, Jane overheard her fiancé, John, and his sister, Ramona, plotting her death so that her stepfather can retain control of her property. Now she's on the run, looking for a safe place to hide out until her birthday when that property becomes hers. After laying a false trail, Jane took a bus west and got off in a small town in Texas, hoping to find a job. There she met Nellie Luckadeau, who is the answer to her prayers. The feisty old lady hires her to help cook on the ranch and be her driver, which suits Jane just fine. Unfortunately, Nellie's grandson, Slade, disagrees with his grandmother.
Lucky can't believe his grandmother brought some stray woman home from the bus station. He is sure Jane is a con artist looking for a way to part Nellie from her money, and he won't stand for it. But Nellie is adamant that Jane stays: "I hired her. You can't fire her," so Slade tries rudeness and intimidation next. I understood that Slade was worried about Nellie, but she's a sharp old lady, and it would take real talent to pull the wool over her eyes. It bugged me that Slade didn't trust Nellie enough to give Jane a chance.
The sparks that flew between Slade and Jane were fierce but mostly antagonistic. He is flat-out rude to her, but Jane fires right back. He's convinced she's a useless city girl who will turn and run at the first sign of hard work. Jane delights in proving him wrong at every turn. For the first couple of weeks, they can't be in the room together five minutes before they're slinging barbs at each other. When Nellie gets the bright idea to visit her sister, Ellen, leaving Jane behind to manage the cooking for a week, things start to change a little. I loved seeing Jane pitch in on the ranch work, showing Slade that he's wrong. The antagonism begins to fade a little, though the snark and sniping continue.
By the time Nellie and Ellen return, there is a different kind of spark mixed in with the sniping, though neither one wants to admit it. Those two ladies have matchmaking on their minds, and nothing is going to deter them. It was fun to see them find ways to throw Slade and Jane together. Their big chance comes when Jane's past catches up to her. After spotting John and Ramona at the July Fourth celebration, Jane confesses all to her friends. Nellie wants Slade to take Jane and hit the road, keeping her moving until her birthday. Once again, Slade allows his cynicism and suspicion free reign and is a total jerk. Nellie wins the battle, though Slade takes some steps of his own to try to discover the truth. I wouldn't have blamed Jane if she'd clunked him on the head and shoved him out of the truck.
The next part of the book ranks right up there as some good romantic suspense. Slade and Jane barely keep one step ahead of their pursuers, even with the help of the FBI. Jane finally gets to the point where she's had enough of running, and they decide to turn the tables on their pursuers. I loved their plan and had to laugh at some of their antics as they pulled it off. I found it hard to believe that John didn't recognize her, but it worked. Things get a little intense when John escapes custody, and then Slade and Jane barely escape a safe house with their lives. There are a few more twists before Slade delivers Jane to her home just after her birthday.
By this point, both Slade and Jane have realized that their hearts are involved, but neither talks about it. Slade can't see why someone in Jane's position would be interested in him, so he slinks off back home to Texas. I felt like he'd earned his misery, though I did feel a little sorry for him. Meanwhile, Jane faces a slew of decisions to make regarding her future. I cheered for her at the oil company office that first morning as the new-and-improved Jane took charge. A little more self-examination showed her what she needed to do to be happy. I loved the ending and seeing Slade's reaction to her purchase. More sparks - of both kinds - fly as they work their way to settling their future together.
I loved Nellie and Ellen. Both of them have big hearts, and I liked how they took to Jane. It was fun to see them try to wiggle information out of her, though what they did with it came as quite a surprise. I was bothered a bit by their ease with Ellen driving after drinking and Nellie driving with her vision problems. At least Nellie took the steps of hiring Jane to do the driving for her. Though she only appeared for a little while, I loved the little girl, Lizzy. I liked how Jane helped her deal with the two bratty girls and loved the bit with the leprechaun's gold. That Kristy woman who tried to claim Slade was a real piece of work, and I enjoyed seeing Jane take her down. I haven't read the other three books in the series yet, but I want to read Beau and Milli's story and see what happens with Griffin and Remington.
#netgalley
this is another good book. Jane has run away from her groom who has plans to do away with her and she overhears the plans. She finds a friend in the form of an older than her woman in a town where her mother had grown up. This friend calls herself granny and unknown to Jane, recognizes her as a look-a-like for Jane's mother. Granny's grandson, Slade, wants her gone and suspects Jane's a gold digger which is far from truth as Jane's rich in her own right. Story is entertaining and easy to read. It's good. Slade determines not to marry, Jane's in love with Slade. She finally returns to her home when she turns of age so she can take over her inheritance which is why her fiance was going to kill her after they were married. Slade doesn't go after her but they do get together before the end. Read it.
