Book picks similar to
Sweetwater Seduction by Joan Johnston


historical-romance
romance
joan-johnston
western

Willow


Linda Lael Miller - 1984
    Marshal. Their union was tempestuous and passionate, a mating of two fiery, strong-willed souls destined for each other.But Willow's love for her husband was matched by her devotion to her outlaw brother, a renegade pursued by a man sworn to hunt him down—Gideon! Willow had to choose...she could betray her own kin, or risk everything—even the love she had dreamed of all her life—to save him.

Temptation


Jude Deveraux - 2000
    The tempting bestseller features a fish-out-of-water heroine, a hidden family treasure, and a Scottish laird who would rather die than be married.Temperance O'Neil is a women's rights activist in New York City at the turn of the 20th century. At the age of 29, she had given little thought, time, or attention to her love life and thrown all of her energy into helping the city's poor and downtrodden women. But when Temperance's widowed mother shows up with her new husband, Angus McCairn, everything changes. Angus has control over the O'Neil money and uses it to force Temperance to move to Scotland, where he's determined to make a "proper" lady of her. This results in a brief but amusing battle of wills that culminates in a blackmail deal: If Temperance can make Angus's nephew, James, take a wife within the next six months, then she can have her money and her house back. Temperance travels to James's home in the Highlands, only to discover a huge, filthy, ramshackle house and a style of living that is far from the city ways she is used to. Showing up under the guise of being the new housekeeper, Temperance sets about tidying up the place and finding James the perfect woman. While trying to sneak a humorous parade of inappropriate candidates past James's watchful eye, Temperance finds herself falling in love with the man. But just as she comes to this realization, the perfect match for James shows up: his childhood sweetheart, who is now a widow. Torn between the work she once did, her passion for the people in her new life, and her love for James, Temperance makes a hard decision that forces her to risk everything she holds dear. Deveraux makes good use of historical detail and creates characters who are charmingly and believably flawed. There's a fun mystery to solve regarding a hidden family treasure and the reason behind Angus's determination to see his nephew married off, and plenty of obstacles to overcome. All of it is seasoned with Deveraux's trademark humor and passion, a recipe that never fails to satisfy. --Beth Amos

Coming Up Roses


Catherine Anderson - 1993
    She'd married young, hoping to put down roots in a safe haven, but her husband had shattered her naiveté, and made her fear for her beloved daughter's safety until the day he died.When she first met her new neighbor, Zachariah McGovern, all she saw was danger. But Zach saw much more. He saw beauty, he saw tenderness. He knew he could rescue Kate Blakely from her past - if only she would let him. What Zach couldn't know, however, was the price that had to be paid to save the woman he loved.

Prince Charming


Julie Garwood - 1994
    Now dear Esther -- one of London's richest and most formidable matriarchs -- lies dying. But first she was going to help Taylor pull off the scam of the season.To escape becoming a ward of her unscrupulous uncle, Taylor would wed Lucas Ross, a rugged American rancher. Lady Esther's money would enable Ross to return home to Montana. Taylor had her own urgent reason to go to America...a precious legacy she hadn't revealed to Ross, for they had agreed to part ways once they reached Boston. But as her handsome new husband spoke of life in Montana, Taylor began planning a new future. To Taylor, the wide-open spaces of Montana sounded like paradise....

The Lawman


Lily Graison - 2011
    That is until a single slap to a man’s face starts a barroom brawl that lands her in the last place she expected to be.Town Marshal Morgan Avery wants nothing more than to wash away the trail-dust and sleep for a week, preferably with a soft, willing woman by his side. Instead, he gets Abigail Thornton – all one hundred pounds of her thrust at him seconds before a fist connects with his face. Breaking up the fight takes more effort than he wants to admit and when the last man falls he finds Abigail still standing and not looking the least bit contrite.Throwing her into the town jail for the night would salve his wounded pride and then he will let her go. Or that was the plan. When morning comes he finds himself oddly reluctant to do so. Miss Thornton is hiding something and he aims to find out what, even if he has to bed her to do so. But will one night in her bed be enough?

Tender Is the Storm


Johanna Lindsey - 1985
    So she heads west across a vast and dangerous land -- with no intention of honoring her agreement to become the mail-order bride of a rugged Arizona rancher.But Lucas Holt needs a wife -- any wife -- if his plan to destroy his most hated enemy is to succeed. And this gullible Eastern lady would do quite nicely. However, their separate schemes to use one another are complicated by raw, aching passion. For Lucas's beautiful, unsuspecting pawn was not supposed to be so irresistible alluring. And freedom-loving Sharisse never dreamed she could ever desire one man so much!

The Independent Bride


Leigh Greenwood - 2004
    Fort Lookout: It was a rugged outpost where soldiers, cattlemen and Indians lived on the edge of open warfare, the last place any woman in her right mind would choose to settle. Abby: She is everything a man should avoid—with a figure made for temptation, a face of beauty and an expression of stubborn determination. Colonel Bryce McGregor knew there was no room for such a woman at his fort or in his heart. But no matter how many obstacles he put in her path, Abby was determined to make a go of her father's store. And as she received proposal after proposal from his troops, Bryce realized the only man he could allow her to marry is himself.

Sunset Embrace


Sandra Brown - 1985
    Two passionate travelers, united by need, threatened by pasts they could not outrun ...Lydia Bryant --- voluptuous and russet-haired, fleeing from a secret shame, vowing that never again would a man, any man, overpower her ...Ross Coleman --- dark, brooding and iron-willed, with the shadow of a lawless past in his piercing eyes, sworn to resist the temptation of his wanton longings ...Fate threw them together on the same wild road, where they fought the breathtaking desire blazing between them, while the shadows of their enemies grew longer. As the wagon train rolled west, the danger to them drew ever closer, until a showdown with their pursuers was inevitable. Before it was over, Lydia and Ross would face death ... the truth about each other ... and the astonishing strength of their love ...

The Gamble


LaVyrle Spencer - 1984
    Scott Gandy has always been a gambling man, relying on his lazy Southern charm to smooth a way out of difficult situations. Hoping to make his fortune, he opens a saloon in Proffitt, Kansas. But he soon becomes a target of the prohibition movement, led by the owner of the hat shop next door to his establishment – the enchanting yet volatile Agatha Downing.The saloon keeper and the prim and proper milliner are hopeless adversaries… until the innocence of a child opens their eyes and hearts to each other.

Promises Linger


Sarah McCarty - 2004
    Asa dreams of a place of his own, a wife, and the respect that comes with both. Marrying Elizabeth may have started as a means to an end, but nothing in Asa's wildest dreams prepares him for the excitement of unleashing the carnal woman beneath his wife's prim and proper exterior.

Lion's Bride


Iris Johansen - 1996
    After her caravan is destroyed, Thea is rescued by blustery knight Lord Ware and carried (pressed up against his hard, unyielding armor) to his desert fortress, Dundragon. Ware, hunted by the Knights Templar because he's discovered the secret of their Lion Throne, must protect Thea from the deadly consequences to anyone who gets close to him. Thea, an ambitious career woman, must stop Ware from running roughshod over her big plans. Together the feisty lovers battle crusaders, Muslims and their own misguided agendas before settling down in the Scottish Highlands to breed lusty little bairn

Nobody's Darling


Teresa Medeiros - 1998
    Lucky for him, she's a mighty poor shot. Instead of killing him, she hires him to find her runaway brother. He should turn down her offer. He should resist her charms. But he doesn't. Because there comes a time in every man's life when he's got nothing left to lose...but his heart.

Straight for the Heart


Marsha Canham - 1995
    Quick and vicious...just the way I like it sometimes."She risked everything to play a man's game in a man's world. As the elusive, mysterious Montana Rose, she was known as the queen of the Mississippi riverboats, a sensual and dangerous Southern beauty who was willing to gamble everything, even her life, on each cut of the cards.Intent on calling her bluff, the equally devious and dangerous Michael Tarrington is determined to teach the fiery lady gambler a lesson in seduction. But instead, the rakishly handsome Yankee finds himself swept into her world of illusions, treachery, and smoldering passions that threaten to cut Straight for the Heart.

Only His


Elizabeth Lowell - 1991
    But she fears this stranger who burns to avenge the wrongs of treacherous men. For Caleb is as wild and unpredictable as the uncivilized land he loves. Yet, though she challenges him at every turn, the spirited southern lady knows this proud, enigmatic loner is her destiny. And no matter what peril awaits, they must face it together -- for Willow has become a fever in Caleb′s blood ... awakening a need so fierce that he would defeat the devil himself to possess her.

Sweet Release


Pamela Clare - 2003
    Though Cassie hated the slave trade, her Virginia plantation demanded the labor, and she knew this fevered man would surely die if she left him. But as his wounds healed and his muscled chest bronzed from the sun, Cassie realized Cole Braden was far more dangerous than his papers had indicated --- for he could steal her breath with a glance or lay siege to her senses with a touch.Abducted, beaten, and given a new name, Alec went from master of an English shipbuilding empire to fourteen years of indentured servitude in the American colonies. There, he was known as Cole Braden, a convicted ravisher and defiler of women. And while he longed to ravish the auburn-haired beauty who owned him, he knew his one hope of earning her love --- and his freedom --- was to prove his true identity. Only then could he turn the tables and attain his ... Sweet Release.