Code Name: Cowboy

Mustang, Montana #2

by Carla Cassidy

Code Cowboy by Carla Cassidy released on Nov 24, 1998 is available now for purchase.

Genres: Romance

250 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 24, 1998

Reviews

[Saly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating 3.5
This is the second book in this series, about the brother we met in the first.

Cameron has lost his faith in human-kind, he lost his parents in a crash, his bounty-hunter partner betrayed him with the woman he thought he loved, someone stole his trust-fund etc. So, now he's moved to Mustang, trying to start up a ranch.

His place is not in good straits and Alicia comes looking for a job as a housekeeper, he refuses but when he sees her daughter Rebecca he agrees. He knows Alicia has secrets.

Alicia ran with her daughter after her husband died and her cold in-laws threatened to take her daughter away. With Cameron she finds a safe place, and he arouses a lot of feelings in her that her husband didn't but Cameron is not willing to open up.

I liked Cameron over coming his past through the confrontation he really needed and Alicia finally deciding to take control.

The book was pretty enjoyable.

[Shirlene]

Cameron Gallagher had worked for 10 years as a bounty hunter to save up enough money to buy a ranch in Montana. With the money from his parents inheritance, which had been stolen and subsequently returned, he purchased a run down place that he was working on fixing up. It had been two years since he had found his girlfriend in bed with this best friend so he had become somewhat of a loner since then. He had purchased the ranch a year after that event and was still somewhat bitter.
He had advertised for a housekeeper and Alice Burwell had shown up with her daughter. Her blue eyes instantly reminded him of Ginny and he wasn't going to hire her until he found out she had a daughter and they were living in her car. He could tell her haircut was bad and the color wasn't natural. He also recognized her Texas accent rather than a Pennsylvania one, which was where she said she was from. He didn't know what secrets she was hiding but his previous job had made him curious, especially when her daughter was having nightmares and spoke of people monsters trying to take her away from her mother.
Alice was having a hard time keeping the growing attraction to her boss from showing. Cameron was feeling the same way about her. He wasn't paying attention one day while working and got tangled up in some barbed wire. Alice doctored his back and he rode an hour on horseback to the nearest saloon. He didn't know how many drinks it would take his mind off of wanting Alice.
Alice's real name was Alicia. She was running from her deceased husbands parents, Broderick and Ruth. They wanted to take Rebecca from her. Alicia had chosen to run to avoid the legal battle that she was sure she would lose due to her in-laws money.
During the first three weeks of her days working for Cameron, she met his sister, Elena. Cameron began giving Rebecca horseback riding lessons. She had met the sheriff and the town gossip. She refused to accept being written up in the local paper. She and Rebecca attended a Halloween party which Cameron had at first refused to attend. He didn't want Alice going alone so he gave a pair of boots to Rebecca to complete her cowgirl costume and drove them to the party. Rebecca stayed that night with her best friend from school. Cameron and Alice were left in the house alone and made love that night. She didn't know what to say to him in the morning. She felt nervous knowing that the arrangement couldn't become permanent while she was still running from her husband's parents. Cameron had thought that making love with Alice would satisfy his longing for her but his wanting her increased after they spent the night together.
It was another week later that Alice received a phone call at the house. The caller had hung up and she became nervous. She yelled at Rebecca and made her cry at dinner. Cameron found her outside and asked her who she was running from. She lied and told him no one. They kissed but Cameron backed off and told her that he wouldn't be used to make her forget her problems. Cameron realized then that he wanted more from Alice. He had let go of his hurt over Ginny. He realized then that his love for her wasn't the lasting kind. He wasn't thrilled about being brought back into a world where he cared for someone again.
It was another week later that the sheriff came to visit. He told Cameron that Samuel, his ex-partner that had cheated with Ginny, was out of prison. Cameron had been a large part of him being caught taking bribes that had landed him in prison. Samuel had made it known that he was looking for Cameron.
Alice had decided to confide in Cameron when Cameron told her about Samuel. She didn't tell him about her ex in-laws as she had planned. It frightened her too much when she found out that he had been a bounty hunter. Alice decided she had to leave.
Cameron sensed that she was going to leave him. He confronted her and she admitted that she was leaving. He was grateful in the sense that she wouldn't be harmed when Samuel came after him. They made love once again before she left. She decided that she had to tell him the truth before she left for good. She explained to Cameron that her name was Alicia Randall. Her husband's parents had offered her a large amount of money to leave Rebecca with them and she had run out on them. She was scared that they would use their money to pay for false witnesses to state that Alicia was a bad parent so that she would lose Rebecca. Cameron gave her a check to pay for an attorney to fight for her daughter and told her to go back to Dallas. He then asked if her in-laws had any skeletons in their closet that she could use against them in order to keep Rebecca. Alicia couldn't think of anything but something was at the back of her memory that she couldn't quite recall.
Alicia headed out towards Wyoming. Rebecca kept asking to go back to Cameron's. Alicia decided that she would head back to Dallas and confront Rebecca's grandparents. She called and told Cameron the that she was headed back to Dallas. She didn't know what it would take but she was going to fight for what was hers. She arrived at her old house and the first thing she looked for was her dead husband's briefcase. She thought she might find something she could use inside.
Meanwhile, Samuel had left a note for Cameron to meet him that evening. He got his gun out and was preparing for a fight. Cameron dropped his gun when he realized that he could never shoot Samuel. Samuel told Cameron he had come to apologize. He told Cameron that Ginny and he had fallen in love. They hadn't meant for it to happen. Samuel told him that he had taken the bribes to make more money to provide for Ginny. He thought he needed more to keep Ginny. Samuel told Cameron that Ginny had waited for him and they were going to build a future together. He just wanted to explain why he had done what he had first. The fight Cameron had been expecting from Samuel wasn't going to happen. Cameron realized then that he hadn't been in love with Ginny. Alicia was who he wanted and he was going after her.
Alicia wracked her brain and searched everywhere she could think of inside her house for her husband's briefcase. She finally gave up and gave into a good cry. Then she remembered coming home and having the briefcase with her. She had taken it into Rebecca's room and kicked it out of her way underneath the bed. She went and found it there. She searched through the papers and found an envelope there containing an article about a doctor being arrested for selling babies on the black market. She then realized that her husband had been purchased from that doctor by the Randall's. She had her skeleton.
Alicia got up in the morning and called to make an appointment to meet with the Randall's. She dropped Rebecca off at a nearby daycare and drove back home. Cameron was waiting there for her in a rental car. He asked if she wanted him to go with her to meet with the Randall's and she agreed. No matter what the outcome, he would give her moral support.
The Randall's were expecting to win with a fight in court to gain custody of Rebecca. They expected concession, not a fight from Alicia. They quickly conceded when they found out what she knew. Alicia would retain custody of her daughter.
She went back to the house with Cameron expecting him to leave soon. He had never told her that he was in love with her. She had confessed to him that she was in love with him before telling him she was leaving. Cameron told Alicia of his meeting with Samuel and confessed that he had never agreed to a commitment to Ginny and that's why she turned to Samuel. He hadn't met his soul mate until he met her. He told Alicia that he was in love with her and wanted her to come back to Mustang, Montana and be his wife. She agreed and they went to pick up Rebecca from daycare.
Rebecca was excited to see Cameron and even more excited to learn she was going back home with him and her mother was coming too. Alicia and Cameron were married a few weeks later. Rebecca told them that she was crossing her fingers that she would soon have a baby sister. Cameron told her that she would get her wish soon.

[Danielle Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

I borrowed this from my aunt back in high school, and the story stuck with me. Late last year, when she told me to raid her old stack of romance novels and take whatever I want, I remembered it immediately. I think it was the premise of a mother being so desperate to protect her child that she would sacrifice her own life and freedom. As well as a man who has decided that whatever feelings led to his heartbreak before were not worth experiencing again. And also that the love that opened his heart again was not the love of a woman but the love of a child. I like that spin.

So I liked it. The grandparents being desperate for a child for all the wrong reasons was also interesting to explore.

[Crystal Alexander-Bentley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the characters. I couldn’t put this book down