Court-Appointed Marriage
Harlequin American Romance #888
By Dianne Castell
August 2001
Contemporary Romance
I had the opportunity to listen to Dianne Castell at a conference. As she spoke, she kept me so interested that I knew that if she could intrigue me just by throwing in a few examples from her book, that this book was a "Must Read."
Serenity, Texas was not aptly named. Seventy years ago, a feud had started between the McCormacks and Randolphs. It hadn't been so bad in the beginning, but as time had passed, and families grew, kin couldn't get together without worrying about the third world war beginning. Brice McCormack and Prudence Randolph spent most of their time in the courtroom taking on cases for their families - against the other family. When they went to court because Pru's grandmother was accused of tossing nails under Brice’s grandfather’s tires, and she retaliated by accusing him of stealing her tires (but he assured the court that he just mistook her Jeep for his pickup), the judge decided enough was enough. He was going to make this feud end!
First Brice and Prudence were ordered to bring one person from each of their families to meet and talk. When that ended in a food fight, the Judge decided on the next best thing - Brice and Prudence would marry - or he would start throwing their kin in jail - not just order fines and community service. Finally Brice and Pru find something they agree on - marriage was out of the question. But as they work together to stop the feuding, they find out that marriage to the enemy might not be so bad.
Kathy Andrico