High-Tide Bride
Harlequin American Romance #968
By Dianne Castell
April 2003
Contemporary Romance
Sheriff Clay Mitchell had never seen anything like it in his town. A runaway bride who had stolen the caterers van comes careening through town, doesn't have a license, won't give her name, and is shocked that he arrests her. What else could he do? It was the law, nothing else mattered, not even the fact that from the moment he sees her, locking her in his bedroom, and not the jail, may be uppermost in his mind.
Hope Stevens had borrowed the van to escape her fiancee and politician father. She'd had her fill of bossy men, and intended to start living her life the way she wanted. Paradise Creek was the perfect place to start. Granted, she wasn't sure exactly what it was she wanted out of life - except maybe that sheriff who personified why women thought men always looked better in a uniform.
Determined that they should not act on the feelings they have for each other, Clay and Hope decide to stay away from each other - with disastrous yet hilarious results for the town. Nothing is safe from Hope and her paint brush, and nobody is safe from Clay and his citations. Once the townsfolk of Paradise Creek reach their limit, they become equally determined that once Clay and Hope resolve their problems, then life at Paradise Creek will settle back to normal.
Entertaining from the very first page, High-Tide Bride is a fast-paced romance that the reader will not want to put down. A relatively new author, Ms Castell is establishing herself as someone who writes romances that are full of humor and delightful secondary characters.
Kathy Andrico - ReaderToReader.com