Martin's Reviews > The Heart of Texas

“Adam, may I have a glass of water, please?“

Guy pours water into a glass in front of her, while Alexis addresses the board.

“I’m a very direct woman. If I do not get that approval - and please understand that I have a controlling interest in Denver-Carrington – I shall fire you all on the spot and replace you with a board that will approve of the merger.”

I admit I was too young to have watched “Dynasty” in the 80s, being 3 years old when the show was at the height of its fame, but even I have memorized Alexis Carrington’s power-woman speech that was later comedically re-used in the Bette Midler/Lily Tomlin movie ‘Big Business’.

Therefore I do consider myself a fan of the cult series and I think this book is a glorious homage to “Dynasty” if I’ve ever seen one.

Hayes Oil is the leading oil company in Texas, with the company’s founder and CEO, Gerald Hayes, transferring the power over the family empire to his sons Jeff and Riley Hayes.

Things for once seem to go smooth for Riley who is the head of the Research and Development branch of the company. Having a rather strained relationship with his family and being a notorious party-boy and womanizer, he is more than ready to have his father acknowledge his achievements for the company.

His whole world crumbles to pieces once again when the family lawyer informs Riley that his father only granted a small percentage of the company to him and the majority of the power went straight to his cunning brother Jeff, who has always been his father’s favorite.
Furious and out of his mind, he reads the small print of the contract, stating that Riley will be given the same percentage of the company as his brother if he manages to settle down, marry and stay married for at least a year to prove that he has matured and is ready to carry responsibility on his shoulders.

Calling his father all kinds of names, he thinks of a way to get his fair share of the company and piss his father off in the process.

When his best friend Steve unintentionally brings Riley’s attention to the Hayes’ rivals from when the company was founded – the Campbell family – Riley realizes that there is a way to get what he wants.

The Campbells lost everything after their father, Alan Campbell, and Gerald Hayes set the foundation for the oil empire. No one really knows what happened back then, but Alan was a broken man until he died and his family's only possession left is a horse breeding ranch where Donna, Alan’s widow, and their children live.

Jack Campbell, a typical Texas cowboy, is in charge of the horses and the land, doing his best to make ends meet and to keep his beloved farm running.



So when Riley Hayes shows up on his doorstep, offering to bring an end to his financial struggling by acting as his same-sex husband for a year, Jack still turns him down – his pride outweighing the relief the unexpected money would bring.

However, Riley has some leverage over Jack that he is willing to use – so the two end up married with a water tight marriage contract that requires them to stay together for a year, with no lovers, but lots of public displays of affection whenever needed and sharing the same bed.

With Jack being gay and Riley being anything but certain about his own sexual identity these guys are in for quite a ride before they realize that it’s not a contract keeping them together.



I loved this story. It was fast-paced, exciting and consisted of short cliffhanger chapters. It was like a screen play for a drama soap opera. I just loved it.

Jack and Riley were quite an unusual couple, since they did not get together because they loved or at least liked each other. They did not even know each other before they met for the arranged marriage.
Still, Jack’s love for his family, his animals and especially his sick sister Elisabeth, melted Riley’s cold heart and made him see the wrong path he was going with his life.

While the story was probably overly dramatic and a bit on the extreme soap opera side, I really liked how all the characters got their own POVs and the story was presented from all perspectives.
I might add, though, that there are some characters in there that are so purely evil it was almost comical. Usually, every character, even the evil ones, get to show their motivation and what made them the way they were if we watch them through their POVs, but not here. It’s like Dr Evil himself just walked on stage.



Still, Riley and Jack were an adorable couple. I loved their interactions and how Jack saw something in Riley even though the guy blackmailed him into marriage.

“Look Campbell-“ Riley started.
“That’s Campbell-Hayes!” Jack snapped angrily.

5 stars and definitely a favorite.