I opened Never Marry a Cowboy because I was coming off a very difficult and disappointing read, and I wanted an author that I could really count on to deliver. Lorraine Heath is just such an author, and while this isn’t as good as Always to Remember (the only book that has ever made me cry in the first chapter) or Texas Destiny, it was definitely a book I enjoyed.

Lorraine Heath can certainly write a provocative opening scene, and the one here is no exception. The beautiful Clarisse lies dying, in great pain, and her husband Christopher purposely gives her the overdose of medication she needs to find peace at last. She dies in his arms, then he goes to tell his brother – and suddenly we learn that it was not her husband Christopher who was with her, but his twin brother Christian. Christian has loved Clarisse even longer than his brother who was her husband, and in the end he was the only one who could face her death.

Fast forward five years. Christian “Kit” Montgomery, the second son of an earl, is now the Marshall of Fortune, Texas. Outwardly he is charming and popular with women, but he is still haunted by Clarisse’s death. His friend David asks him a favor that will surely test their friendship. David’s sister Ashton is dying of consumption; the doctors have said she won’t last through another winter. David knows that Ashton has always been infatuated with Kit, so he asks Kit to marry her. It won’t be a “real” marriage, but it will give Ashton a wonderful wedding day that she will never forget. At first Kit flatly refuses, but then he spends some time with Ashton and he really enjoys himself. He decides to give her one day of happiness.

After Kit and Ashton marry, David expects that they will part ways immediately. He knows that Ashton is too frail to consummate the marriage. But he decides to give her a real wedding trip, even if she cannot fully experience all the joys of marriage. The two head to Galveston, where they spend an idyllic month and come to truly love one another. But there are still clouds on the horizon. Kit has his dark secret about Clarisse that he doesn’t want Ashton or his brother to know, and it threatens to come between them. And then there is the matter of Ashton’s poor health and certain death sentence. Can true love survive such long odds?

This sounds like one of the two-hanky reads that Heath is known for, but actually it isn’t. You can guess early on that Ashton has been coddled and told she would die so long that what she needs most is someone to make her get outdoors and really live, and Kit does just that. The tear-jerker scene at the beginning is about it for the really sad stuff; mostly this is a happy read about two people who think they only have a short time together and want to experience every moment of that together.

I really, really liked Kit. He thinks that he is an awful person because he helped his terminally ill sister-in-law die, but it’s obvious that he was an angel of mercy, and it is hard to imagine a nobler, more giving hero. He marries Ashton because he thinks he can help her enjoy her last days, but he ends up truly falling in love with her. It’s clear that she completes him in every way. Ashton’s behavior was a litle more problematic at times. I loved her when she was in Galveston, but her reaction to the news about Kit’s past was troublesome. She got over her feelings, but I felt that she should have been more understanding – and she should have really talked to Kit about it too, without jumping to conclusions.

I haven’t read the fist two books in this trilogy, although they are both in my TBR pile. This book can more or less stand alone, but my hunch is that you will get more out of it if you read all three books in order. Several interesting plotlines were alluded to but not fully explained. I couldn’t help thinking that although I was enjoying the book I was reading, the other two sounded like they might be even better. (Judging from the higher grades they received here, they probably are.) In any case, I enjoyed the secondary characters (who are obviously primary characters in the other books, and I look forward to reading their stories. Readers who have already met them will probably be happy to renew the acquaintance.

A word about the sensuality rating: Most of Heath’s books that I’ve read in the past were more subtle or warm, and if the sensuality rating of this one seems like something of an aberration, there’s a reason for that. For much of the book Kit is determined not to consummate the relationship, and the result is that he and Ashton need to be a little, well, creative. As such, some of the scenes are a little out of the common way, even though this book is not exactly scorching.

Overall, Never Marry a Cowboy is a touching story with a wonderful hero. It may not be the strongest book in the trilogy, but fans who have read the first two will surely want to read Kit’s story. If you haven’t read the other two yet, I’d recommend that you read them first – which is advice I should have followed myself!