How to Measure a Man (The Truxtons Historical Romances #1)
Rebekah Johnson
Rated: 5.00 of 5 stars
5.00
· Steam/Spice level: 3 of 5
Open door [?]
· 2 ratings · 360 pages · Published: 01 Jul 2025
Leo knows any pursuit of Georgia’s love is pointless. A scandal buried in his past means he will never meet her family’s approval. The courtship charade is to teach them to play by the rules, but with the girl he loves pretending to love him back, he might throw caution—and a fifteen-year friendship with Cooper—to the wind.
One relationship grows into love and two others unravel after Leo comes clean. Furious about her brother’s interference, Georgia makes her choice clear—until Cooper disappears with an ace up his sleeve that could tear Leo from his sister’s side once and for all.
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Cooper's tone softens. “You used to talk with me about everything.”
“Everything’s changed, hasn’t it?” I ask, mocking him. “What turned you into a stuck-up old man with all this talk about my honor and reputation, when you were never like this before? And treating Leo like I haven’t known him since I was two years old.”
My brother drags his hands through his hair, making a tangled mess of it as he curses under his breath. “Georgia, you cannot possibly understand the position you’ve put me in.”
“It’s no position at all. No one saw us, and nothing happened.”
“What I saw looked like he had his hands in your hair and your back on the bed, and whether that happened or not, that’s what it looked like. You two were stupid enough to make that scene. And if I can’t stop you from behaving like a thoughtless child around a man I love and trust like a brother, how am I to assure Papa that you’ll be fine at a football match surrounded by a thousand young men? Do you want to stay on my arm every minute, everywhere you go, or would you like some measure of freedom without causing a scandal?”
“It’s nothing I wouldn’t have done with you.”
He slams a hand onto the stair railing. “Georgia, he is our friend but he is not your brother. You cannot be alone with him in your room. You cannot touch him however you like. You act on impulse when you get comfortable, and as far as it goes with Leo, that ends today.”
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“She has you to talk to now.”
Cooper doesn't look up when I laugh. “Hardly.”
“Yes, perhaps her view of you is less than brotherly.”
“If that’s the case, maybe it’s because she was blackmailed into thinking of me in a different way.” I whistle blithely at the ceiling. “Didn’t I tell you I might prove irresistible in the end?”
He jams his helmet and padded shirt into his bag and glares at me. “I was acting out of love for both of you. What you called friendship was getting out of hand. Someone needed to rein you in before you ruined her chances with any decent suitor who didn’t wish to waste time tripping over your obvious affection for her and hers for you.”
“So you legitimized it? So wise.”
“No one minds a competitive courtship. A courtship ends when someone wins. You cannot win this, and you know why. Yet you act like this is some personal spite I wish to inflict on you.
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Tagged as:
- historical 3
- sports 3
- 20th century 3
- new adult 2
- funny 2
- angst 2
- m-f romance 2
- friends to lovers 2
- sibling's best friend 2
- fake relationship 2
- football 2
- college 2
- small town 2
- independent heroine 2
- competent heroine 2
- sweet/gentle heroine 2
- virgin heroine 2
- himbo 2
- shy hero 2
- sweet/gentle hero 2
- found family 2
- Add topics
- geography
- north america 2
- north carolina 2
- Format
- dual pov 2
romance tags
The 'The Truxtons Historical Romances' series
5.00 · 6 ratings
open-door · m-f · competent heroine · 20th century · historical · north-carolina · friends to lovers · angst · north-america · dual-pov · sweet-hero · strong heroine · siblings-bff · humor · independent heroine · virgin heroine · himbo · length-medium
The Truxtons Historical Romances reading order and complete book list ❯
