Book picks similar to
Dance on the Wind by Brenda Jernigan


romance
mail-order-bride
historical-romance
wagon-train

Believing In Dreams


Cathryn Chandler - 2016
    Ian’s sure she’s perfect for him and is determined to win her. But as danger quietly moves closer, can he also keep her safe?Spirited and outspoken Maggie O’Hearn is deserted by her family and left to fend for herself in the young and rowdy town of San Francisco.She finds work in one of the grand houses springing up on a fashionable hill overlooking the sparkling bay. But the house residents have secrets. Secrets that can be fatal when Maggie becomes their target.Ian Dolan is following his dream and building a new life out west when Maggie walks into it. She’s perfect for him, but reluctant to give in to her heart. He soon becomes her protector, as well as her suitor, when a deadly menace moves steadily closer and Maggie doesn’t seem to know it. As her attraction for the tall, courageous man grows, even Maggie’s spunk and Ian’s strong arms may not be enough to keep her safe. Believing in Dreams is the first book in the Circle of Friends Series. It is a stand-alone novella of romance and suspense set in 1850 San Francisco. Come meet Maggie, Ian and all the unusual, bold and engaging people around them, who band together and form an unbreakable Circle of Friends.Readers Note: This novella does have some spice and heat.

Ella's Choice


Ruby Merritt - 2014
    Ten years later the white man returns. Their soldiers storm her tribe’s village and bring reminders of a world she’d almost forgotten. Suddenly, she is confronted by the question: To which world does she now belong? Her only hope in discovering who she really is lies with the enigmatic army scout, Beech Richoux. Son of a French trapper and Lakota mother, Beech Richoux was raised in a white man’s world after his mother’s death. Acting as an army scout to raise money for his horse ranch, he’s unaware of the Army’s true intent to annihilate his mother’s people until it’s too late. And the white woman he finds living among the Lakota only adds to his desperation to save his people. Now the narrow path he has created to balance himself between these two worlds is tipped by the mysterious white woman known to the Lakota as Little Brave. Can two people robbed of their own childhood learn to live together in such differing worlds? Can Little Brave and Beech forge a new path into a life where they both are finally set free?

Chase the Wind


Cindy Holby - 2002
    For a poor Scottish immigrant with a gift of talking to horses, it all began with love.A Daring EscapeFrom the moment he set eyes on his beautiful Faith, Ian Duncan knew she was the only girl for him. But her unbreakable betrothal to his employer's vicious son forced him to steal his love away on the very eve of her marriage.A Secret WeddingRunning for their lives, Faith and Ian were married clandestinely, their only posessions a magnificent horse, a family Bible, a wedding-ring quilt and their unshakable belief in each other.A Double BirthWhile their homestead waited to be carved out of the Iowa wilderness, Faith presented Ian with the most precious gift of all: a son and a daughter, born of the winter snows into the spring of their lives. The golden years were still ahead, their dream was coming true, but that was just the beginning.

Love's Bounty


Rosanne Bittner - 2000
    With Love's Bounty, she continues to delight readers with the passionate tale of a proud woman and the reckless bounty hunter who steals her heart. Life hasn’t been easy on young Callie Hobbs. After her father’s sudden death and her mother’s murder, there isn’t much left for her on the outskirts of Rawlins. Alone with a ranch to run, Callie could sell it all, cut her losses, and find a suitor in town. But Callie knows only one thing will bring her peace: Seeing her mother’s killers hung. To find them, she turns to the most ruthless bounty hunter on this side of the country: Christian Mercy. Distant and brooding, Christian Mercy is far from the ideal travel companion. But as their journey unfolds, Callie finds herself falling for those blue eyes that flicker with something deeper than she could have ever anticipated. He wants redemption. She wants revenge. And as they close in on their targets, Callie and Chris bite back a fear worse than death. Could their love for one another douse the burning rage that keeps them going?

Shotgun Groom


Ruth Ann Nordin - 2011
    Nothing, after all, could be worse than being married to her deceased husband. Nothing, that is, until her unscrupulous brother-in-law decides to marry her. With no other recourse, April and her brother concoct a plan--one that involves the unsuspecting doctor’s assistant, Joel Larson.Joel Larson doesn't want to be married. In fact, he’s perfectly happy with things the way they are, but when he’s sent to check on April’s sick child, things take an unexpected turn for the worse. In one instant, he finds a gun and a mandate to marry April staring him in the face. Can a marriage that begins with a shotgun be just the thing Joel needs or has April just confined herself to another miserable marriage?Books in the Nebraska Historical Romance SeriesBook 1: Her Heart's DesireBook 2: A Bride for Tom (novella)Book 3: A Husband for Margaret (novella)Book 4: Eye of the BeholderBook 5: The Wrong HusbandBook 6: The Shotgun GroomBook 7: To Have and To HoldBook 8: His Redeeming BrideBook 9: Isaac's Decision

Worth the Wait (A Kansas Mail Order Bride Story)


Annie Boone - 2016
    From the inside of the orphanage, she's certain she'll never have what she saw her parents share. She's trying to figure out where to go and how to get there. She'll be forced to leave the orphanage soon and she's happy about that. She's got to have a place to go when the time comes. She's daydreamed about adventure and the ability to make her own decisions. Living life on her own terms is just a fantasy. For now, anyway. She agrees to marry Jackson Brodie, a cattle rancher in Kansas, when she gets into an argument with the headmistress in the orphanage. She's sure she's got no other options. She's sad and angry, but decides to enlist his agreement that they'll have a marriage of convenience. He agrees, and all seems to be well, At least on the surface. What could go wrong when two people fall for each other when neither of them wants to be in love? Find out how this young couple figures out the way to true adventure.

Simply Heaven


Patricia Hagan - 1995
    Determined to bring his friend's estranged daughter, Raven Ralston, back into her family fold, Steve Maddox is surprised by the half-Tonkawa girl he meets, a woman cast out of her dead mother's family who quickly falls in love with him.

Landry's Back in Town


Margery Scott - 2016
    The residents of Rocky Ridge, Colorado aren’t the forgive-and-forget type, so all he wants now is to be left alone. As a young child, Olivia Harding learned the hard way that approval only came from doing for others. Now, since she has no family of her own to love and care for, she spends her days at the town orphanage help to look after the children there. When Landry rescues Olivia from a dangerous situation, she sees a man who is lonely, a man who is hurt, a man who needs her whether he realizes it or not. As their feelings for each other grow, he starts to believe they might have a future together. Until trouble comes back to town …

Cherished


Jill Gregory - 1992
    Events had transformed her form a beautiful St. Louis belle into a hunted outlaw. she had stolen a horse and run away, escaping a forced marriage to a ruthless Denver landowner. He had retaliated by putting a price on her head. But now destiny found her in the company of Cole Rawdon.A notorious bounty hunter, he was a hard man, wickedly handsome, and deadly with a gun. Cruelly betrayed early in his life, Cole trusted no one -- especially this gloriously lovely girl. Besides, she was worth a fortune if he brought her back alive. Yet when their eyes met, Cole felt he would die to protect this special woman, and Juliana knew that the future could be theirs if they dared to truly love.

Heartbreak Trail


Shirley Kennedy - 2010
    Lucy, a pampered New Englander, is dragged by her husband and coldhearted brother-in-law on a wagon train bound for California. The first casualty of the arduous trek is her husband. Lucy longs to return home, but that would mean abandoning her little stepson. How fortunate then that rugged Clint Palance, a former trapper and Indian scout, is watching over them both! As the journey progresses, Lucy faces deprivation, heartache, hardship, and more death. Then, with California just around the bend, Lucy must part from Clint. Will she find him again? Or must she return to a dull life in Boston, forsaking forever the beautiful West she has grown to love?

Opal: A Sweet, Mail-order Bride, Historical Western Romance (Brides of the Oregon Trail Book 10)


Cynthia Woolf - 2021
    If her prospective husband finds out he won’t marry her and she must marry.Arthur “Red” Redmond wants a wife. Someone to share his life with but he has conditions he hasn’t told his mail-order bride. Will she still want to marry him if she finds them out?Can these two lonely people come together and find happiness despite their fears?

The Beginning


Cassie Hayes - 2014
    Not willing to return to her father's restrictive home — or face the arduous six-month voyage back to Boston — she hatches a plan to start her own business. She'll never have to trust her future to a man again. Jack Dalton struck it rich in the Sierra Nevada and is having a mighty fine time spending his gold at dance halls and saloons in town. He can't for the life of him figure out why so many of his drinking buddies are signing up for ads in the matchmaking paper that snooty 'Miss Priss' is starting up. The last thing he wants to do is to settle down. When an unscrupulous charlatan threatens to shatter Delilah's dream, Jack takes pity and steps in to lend a helping hand. Then he gets suckered into partnering with the very woman he desperately wants to avoid. Long hours working together force them to face their deepest fears and admit they're drawn toward one another. Can they let go of their pasts and find hope for their future or will they let their fears tear them apart?

The Matron


Kirsten Osbourne - 2015
     Cassie Morgan has to take fifteen young ladies all the way to Texas from New York, but she is unsure if it's a good idea to be driven there by a rugged cowboy. How will she keep her heart intact? When Valentino Hayes is offered the job of driving a bus full of orphans to Texas, he jumps at the chance to find his long lost brother. Now to convince the beautiful Mrs. Morgan to permit it. Will the trip to Texas be more than they expected?

Unconquerable Callie


Deann Smallwood - 2013
    She is also a dreamer. Her greatest hope is to reach a new life in South Pass City, Wyoming, where she can open a bakery and live an independent life. To be successful, she will need her greatest deception to date, a mythical fiancé who waits at the end of the line. As a woman alone, she has to prove to Seth McCallister, the wagon master, that she has the wherewithal and the stamina to survive months of drought, dust, hardships, and even the risk of death.Seth McCallister is mystified by the audacity and determination of Callie Collins. His initial distrust and concern for Callie, a woman traveling alone, opens first to admiration, then friendship, then love, a love that he is forced to hold at bay. What he doesn’t realize is that there is no fiancé. To make matters worse, Callie develops feelings for Seth McCallister, too. Yet she feels certain that once he realizes her deception, he’ll turn away, ashamed of his love and trust in her.

The Judge's Bride


Patricia PacJac Carroll - 2017
    He was taking the farm. Wasn't it enough she'd been widowed 2 years ago. Worse, good meaning townspeople wanted her to disperse her ten children to families who needed them. She had to keep her family together. The letter from the judge in Montana. Her only hope of keeping her family together was to go west to Montana as a mail order bride. Judge Solomon Taggart groaned at having to referee a dispute between the two feuding families. That even their children were at each other made him doubt the wisdom of sending that letter to the widow in Minnesota. She had children. She didn't say how many, and he hadn't asked. He grabbed his rifle and swung up in the saddle, praying there'd be no bloodshed. And then he prayed he'd been wise to send that letter.