A Highwayman's Mail Order Bride
When Melissa married John Carter because her family couldn't afford to feed her, she had no idea of the cruelty of the man. John beats her mercilessly and makes her life a living hell.
After seeing an ad in the paper for paid passage westward, she answers in the hopes to use the ticket to escape John.
She gets on a coach from Boston, heading west, with no money, and needing a roof over her head. Not just for herself, but for the baby she's carrying, a baby she has to save from John's cruelty. Expecting a baby has changed the stakes for Melissa. She must provide a safe and loving home for the child. Time if of the essence if she is to marry in time to convince her new husband that the baby she'll give birth to is his.
A stagecoach robbery is a deterrent she did not count on, nor need. When the robbers learn her husband is a wealthy rancher, she's taken hostage, costing her precious time in a plan that hinges on timeliness.
She hates the leader of the highwaymen. Hates him with a passion and is beyond angry that the time is ticking while he negotiates her ransom.
Jed Cunningham's a highwayman, certainly, but one with honor. And a heart, it seems. He can't stand the idea of sending the stunning feisty Melissa Carter to marry a rich rancher. She's precisely the kind of woman who needs to be loved.
But she doesn't seem to see that.
A Rancher's Pretend Mail Order Bride
Rancher Mark Furnish is in a bind. His ranch is losing money, the banks have turned him down, and his wealthy grandfather back east is refusing to fund the venture anymore unless Mark has a wife. The mail order bride that was supposed to be his has now become his foreman's wife. Time's tight and Mark doesn't have a second to waste. As if that's not bad enough, he doesn't even want to be married to begin with.
The mail order bride thing didn't work out so well for this sexy cowboy rancher. Who says the second time will be a success?
He steps into the saloon for a couple of shots of cure-all and instead discovers a saloon girl that's more like a fiery temple virgin. She refuses all the men's efforts at flirtation and offers to go upstairs for a tryst. This woman's got upper crust class and a shrew's temper.
Maybe he shouldn't have tried to help her. Maybe he wouldn't have been kicked out of the saloon and she wouldn't have been fired. Now she's his responsibility.
This new turn of events is giving his ideas. Why can't he get the words fake wife out of his mind?
A Rancher's Surprise Mail Order Bride
Rancher Ryan Belton's looking forward to his sister's nuptials. Poor Ryan has no idea that Abigail, the friend his sister's invited to the wedding, is a mail order bride. When he finds out and pushes her out of his life, she has no option but to find a position wherever she can.
When he finds her walking into the saloon, he realizes she will be a fallen woman and it's all his fault. How can he convince this hardheaded proud woman that she doesn't belong in a saloon?
A Foreman's Unplanned Bride
Foreman Lewis Sutton's been like a son to Richard Reed. Except he's not his son. So when Richard dies and Lewis has to contact his estranged daughters to come claim the ranch that Lewis loves, he's left with a bitter taste in his mouth and finds himself in an unenviable position.
Molly Reed's got a good life in Baltimore. She's just taken a position that she's been pursuing for what seems like forever. A journalist spot. Now she has to leave?
