Bride for a Day by Carolyn Brown

Cassie O’Malley is on the run. In a few months her inheritance will kick in. Until then, she just needs a job and a place to stay under the radar. But when Cassie gets off the bus in north Texas and runs smack into the town sheriff, she quickly does the first thing she can think of—approach the handsome stranger in the café and pretend to be a couple. Luckily, the sheriff believes it and the man surprisingly plays along—all the way up to the courthouse, where the officer insists on escorting them to get married.

Wondering how she got herself into this mess, Cassie can’t believe her plan got so far out of hand. Her new husband Ted assures her that his Uncle Ash, a lawyer, will get the whole thing straightened out with no problem. Cassie will only be a bride for a day, and then she can go on her way. But as his family welcomes her with full hearts, she begins to wonder if she’ll be able to say goodbye to Ted, or to the first loving family she’s known in her life.

Previously published in 2014.