The Fiancé Who Cheated, The Brother I Married

Synopsis

Evelyn is the sole heir to the Carter equestrian family, which has been based in Central California for four generations. She is also widely regarded within the industry as the young rider with the greatest potential to win the U.S. Show Jumping Championship. Three years ago, she became engaged to Ethan, the eldest son of the Warren family, owners of the region’s largest livestock processing group. The supply chain ties between the two families were originally expected to secure exclusive sponsorship for her ranch at this year’s competition. Three months ago, Ethan went missing in a wildfire while driving north to inspect pasture land. After being rescued, he suffered complete amnesia. In public, he denied his engagement to Evelyn and announced his intention to marry Mia, a fast-food server who claimed to have saved him at a wildfire shelter. The Warrens immediately severed all ties with the Carters. The Carter Ranch, already reeling from devastating losses due to last year’s equine epidemic, instantly faced a cash flow crisis, with distant relatives clamoring to sell off the ancestral property and split it into smaller, profitable recreational horse farms. With her back against the wall, Evelyn went to drown her sorrows at the saloon next to the ranch, where she met Ethan’s younger brother, Liam. Everyone assumed Liam was a playboy who spent his days in Wyoming breaking in horses and had no interest in the family business. No one knew he held the pedigree certification rights for most of North America’s top racehorses and controlled twenty-three high-end equestrian clubs spanning the East and West Coasts. Liam proposed a contract marriage: he would cover Carter Ranch’s financial shortfall and help her regain her competition eligibility, and all she had to do was play the role of his legal spouse for two years to help him fend off his family’s demands that he marry the daughter of a Texas rancher. Evelyn agreed to the marriage to save her family’s ranch and her own championship dreams, unaware that from the moment he first saw her clear a 1.6-meter jump at a junior equestrian competition ten years ago, Liam had been plotting to bring both her and her ranch under his protection.