2.5 I found this first installment of a 3-part modern day marriage of convenience rather flat, romance-wise. Sixteen-year-old Ellie loses her rancher father; to avoid having her placed in foster care, the 26-year old foreman of the ranch, Jake, offers to marry her (they live in Montana, which apparently thinks this makes sense). The two have been friends since Ellie's birth, and their marriage is decidedly not filled with sexual tension—until one day when Ellie catches sight of Jake in the all-together. The story ends with Jake rescuing Ellie from a snowstorm, and giving her a punishing kiss in his anger. A kiss that makes him aware that he's now attracted to Ellie, too (good thing she's turned eighteen by this point). I guess all the simmering tension will occur in part 2...