The Rich Stranger

Princes of the Outback #2

by Bronwyn Jameson

"ONE LAST SPIN. IF YOU WIN, YOU KEEP ALL THE MONEY. ENOUGH TO PAY OFF YOUR DEBTS."
"AND IF I LOSE?"
"YOU MARRY ME. YOU HAVE MY BABY. AND I PAY OFF YOUR DEBTS."

On the surface, it was a win-win proposition. What the whim of the roulette wheel, Catriona McConnell would keep her outback home. So, in a Vegas casino on the dare of a rich stranger she'd rescued mere days before, she gambled.

And lost.

And in the harsh light of morning, after a night of Rafe Carlisle making her his wife, Cat realized she'd wagered badly.

Because she'd upped the ante impossibly: She wanted Rafe's love.

Genres: Romance, Harlequin Desire

184 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2005

About the author

Bestselling and award-winning author Bronwyn Jameson grew up on an Australian farm where she developed a lifelong love of animals and the written word. Happily she was able to marry the two working as a rural journalist before a magazine article introduced her to Romance Writers of Australia and the possibility of a new career writing the books she loved to read.

After five years, a handful of contest wins and an equal number of rejections from Harlequin Mills & Boon, Bronwyn received the phone call all aspiring novelists dream of: Leslie Wainger at Silhouette Books wanted to buy the manuscript she'd judged in the Romance Writers of New Zealand Clendon Award.

Silhouette Desire published In Bed With The Boss's Daughter in July 2001. Since then Bronwyn has continued to write take-to-bed romance for Desire, winning contests such as The Aspen Gold, The Write Touch Readers' Award and the Anne Bonney Readers' Choice. In 2006 she was a triple RITA finalist with her Princes of the Outback trilogy and a nominee for the Romantic Times Series Storyteller of the Year.

As well as strong Australian heroes and spirited heroines, her stories feature all kinds of animals including an energetic Border Collie named Mac, a jet black racehorse named Stella, an attack cat named Gizmo, a talking pony nicknamed Mini Ed, a bitzer named Digger, a Russian Blue named Tolstoy…well, you get the picture.

She still loves animals and the written word. Her home is still a farm in the Australian heartland, which she shares with her husband and three sons, a thousand sheep, half a dozen horses, three dogs, an echidna and a wallaby.

Reviews

[Sudakshina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very sweet story. Both the hero and the heroine were very strong characters. The heroine was no doormat. She was a strong willed, gutsy, independent woman. Rafe, was a very sensitive man who hid his true self behind a facade of carefree, playboy persona. He won my heart with his thoughtfulness.

[StMargarets · Rating 2 out of 5]

Heroine ruined this one. She had that junk-yard-dog bark and bite that rejected every kind word and gesture from the hero and it just got old after awhile.

Hero was the second son of the patriarch who willed his Outback station to the son who produced a baby within a year of his death. Hero is a smooth playboy who never commits, but one look at the heroine after he crashed landed his plane on her failing station, makes him decide to marry her.

They have a quickie marriage during a Las Vegas weekend (I can't imagine the jet lag). And then the heroine complains/obstructs/sabatages until the very last chapter.

I was annoyed and not at all convinced of their happy ending.

On to the last in the series . . . .

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars! ~ Middle son, Rafe is the playboy hotel magnant of the Carlisle princes. Outwardly he gives off the personna that he's all fun and games, yet, inward he's a very shrewd business man and doesn't miss much. Rafe feels he has to prove to his brother's that he can be responsible too and takes the stipulation of his father's will very seriously. The only thing is to find the woman, perhaps that old flame on a neighbouring ranch? Catriona is bound and determined to do whatever it takes to hold on to her father's ranch. With her resources running dry and debts mounting, Cat is becoming desperate. Rafe has to make an emergency landing with his plane on an old airstrip on Cat's ranch. His landing gear fails and Cat has to pull him out and haul him to the ranch house. There's something about Cat's determination and spirit that grabs hold of Rafe and soon he's forgetting the woman he was going to see and sets his sights on Cat. Rafe knows just how to hook Cat in, and makes a wager, if she wins her ranch is debt free, if she loses she marries him, produces a child and her ranch becomes debt free. Cat loses and soon wonders about this man she married. He's not the playboy fun lover he lets on to be, could it be true ... Cat was Rafe's only choice?

Cat and Rafe have much in common. Both suffer from fears of disappointing those they love. Rafe chose to be the fun loving playboy so the expectation bar wasn't set so high. Cat was who she was, an outback cowgirl who loves her solitude and terribly afraid of being found wanting in front of Rafe's family and colleagues. I really liked these two.


PRINCES OF THE OUTBACK trilogy by Bronwyn Jameson

When Charles Carlisle realized he was dying, he decided it was time to shake things up in the family. He wanted to give his wife Maura a purpose to keep going on and to bring his three sons closer together. In his will he stipulated that in order for the Carlisle properties to remain in Carlisle ownership, one of his sons would have to produce a child within the first year of his death. He knows that all three of his sons will give this his best shot increasing the odds of success. This is a true challenge; not one of the sons has a wife or a steady woman in their lives. In fact, the youngest is a recent widower and this will prove especially difficult for him.

[Mel]

boring & didn't finish