Isabella Montgomery’s future is assured. At fourteen, she was sent to the convent by her father to prepare herself for marriage. She has been betrothed for money to a man as old as her father, one who is said to be cruel. But in the years she is waiting, her father dies. The lawyers make the man wait longer. Now Isabella is eighteen and leery of the day when Juan Garcia will come to claim her as his bride. She is extremely naïve about life and love and what she should expect as the wife of a landowner.

But another man comes to her and thinking she can escape Garcia, she doesn’t hesitate. He is handsome and closer to her own age. Without thinking, she goes with him, only to discover that his plan is to take her to his Diamond Ranch and marry her. Half of the book is their journey and the other half is Isabella’s resistance to their marriage, even though part of her loves him. And the threat of Garcia is always there.

Rafael McKenzie is the son of a proud man and together they have built their ranch. Rafael’s father is dying and wants to see Rafael settled before he passes. Rafael hears the story of the heiress who is hiding out at a convent and decides that this is the person he wants as his bride. He goes after her. Upon seeing her, he is hit with both lust and love. He treats her well along the journey, seeing to her comforts, even while continually assuring her of their future.

Isabella is at times resistant, but generally just pouty. She resents Rafael’s presumption, yet acknowledges that she put herself in this scenario and after all, he will be better than Juan. But then she seems to grow backbone only to have it dissolved the next time he is nice to her. Of course, all this just intrigues Rafael, and he delights in what he considers her bouts of independence. He thinks this is a sign that she will be a strong partner for him.

I was with the story until the wedding, when two things occurred. First, even after the preparation, Isabella gets cold feet on her wedding night and doesn’t allow Rafael to make love to her. He accedes to her wishes because he doesn’t want to be accused of forcing her. Then the next day, with very little prompting and thinking, Isabella runs off, putting herself in danger. I couldn’t abide her actions, which come close to being stupid, but are actually just immature and childish.

At this point, Rafael is elevated to sainthood, because he still treats her with respect and woos her after he rescues her. He is a one-dimensional character and was difficult to like or dislike. The ending was forced in that there is more action, but it is unclear why Garcia is so adamant about chasing her down. There is just so much that doesn’t fit throughout the entire tale.

Sadly, The Bride is one of those stories the reader should be leery of. There is little to like about the hero or the heroine and the story was slow. The action is scant, often not making a lot of sense and by the time I reached the climactic ending, my interest was just in reaching the finish.

--Shirley Lyons