Book picks similar to
Emma's Wish by Margery Scott
historical
historical-romance
marriage-of-convenience
western
To Bed a Montana Man
KyAnn Waters - 2012
She escaped an unwanted marriage only to find her herself seeking employment at the Dusty Rose brothel.Rancher and widower, TJ Bester isn’t interested in love. But a man has needs. When his friend, madam of the Dusty Rose asks for a favor, he takes a young whore home to help with his children. But Allison isn’t what she seems and nothing he expected.Allison found a wild and rugged cowboy…but he fires her temper as much as her passion. She should find a man with a gentle hand…but she wants TJ. Even if it means becoming his whore.Author’s Note: To Bed a Montana Man is a sensual romance with some heated love scenes. This book is not erotic.
Land of Dreams
Cheryl St. John - 1995
When Booker Hayes shows up to take his niece, a marriage of convenience suits them both. Thea’s nights are filled with dreams of the tall, dark army major, but she guards her heart. Booker’s first taste of home and hearth has him longing for more, but first he must win the trust of his niece..and the heart of the sun-kissed farmer's daughter.
Instant Prairie Family
Bonnie Navarro - 2012
Will thought Abigail Stewart would be a middle-aged matron well suited to hardscrabble prairie life. Even if his young sons are entranced by her wholesome kindness, his only option is to send Abby back east. For the sake of propriety…and his guarded heart.Answering the newspaper advertisement was Abby's chance of escape from her unhappy home. But now her employer has turned out to be a rugged widower instead of a widow. A marriage in name only will allow her to remain long enough to find another job. Or until a misunderstanding becomes the means to a second-chance family.…
The Mail Order Bride's Quilt
Leah Atwood - 2013
The memories are too much to bear, and when she sees an advertisement for mail-order brides, an idea forms in her head. The next thing she knows, she's waiting for her intended at the train station.John Thomas sent for a wife because he was lonely. There weren't many prospects in his prairie town for a good wife, and when he receives Jenny's response, he knows she's the one.Will John and Jenny find love in their marriage, and can a quilt bring them together? Find out in this sweet, clean short story.Dear Reader- Please note that this is a short story of 25 pages.
Gideon's Secondhand Bride
Kristin Holt - 2014
For the sake of his three little ones, he has no choice but to remarry. His mail order bride must agree—this marriage will be strictly business.PERMILIA IS DESPERATE TO FLEE THE BONDS OF MARRIAGE…The War Between The States cost Millie her kind, gentle husband. He came back in body, but his soul was ravaged by war. To save herself and the life of their toddler son, she leaves her abusive husband though she has nowhere to go, no money, no family. A single option surfaces—a farmer has sent for a mail order mother, housekeeper, and help-meet. It’s a marriage in name only, so she justifies disappearing into the west and keeping her secrets.…A MARRIAGE HER HUSBAND VOWED SHE'LL NEVER ESCAPE.Oliver Owens warned Permilia the only way she’d leave him would be through the undertaker. It’s only a matter of time before he catches his runaway wife.He doesn’t want a wife.She doesn’t want a husband.Marriage of convenience?Perfect.
Texas Bride
Joan Johnston - 2012
Now marriage to a stranger is her only hope of finding a home where she and her two younger brothers can escape the brutality of the Chicago orphanage where they live. With any luck, she can even start a family of her own, once the three of them are settled at Jacob Creed’s Texas ranch. But Miranda has one gigantic concern: Her husband-to-be knows nothing about the brothers she’s bringing along. What if he calls off the deal when he discovers the trick she’s played on him?Jake Creed is hanging on to his Texas ranch by his fingernails. His nemesis, Alexander Blackthorne, is determined to ruin him. Jake will never give up, but he’s in desperate trouble. His wife died six months ago in childbirth, along with their stillborn son, and his two-year-old daughter needs a mother. The advertisement Jake wrote never mentioned his daughter—or the fact that he has no intention of consummating his marriage. He’s determined never to subject another wife to the burden of pregnancy. But Jake doesn't count on finding his bride so desirable. He doesn't count on aching with need when she joins him in bed. And he never suspected his bride would have plans of her own to seduce him.
Sunset Embrace
Sandra Brown - 1985
Two passionate travelers, united by need, threatened by pasts they could not outrun ...Lydia Bryant --- voluptuous and russet-haired, fleeing from a secret shame, vowing that never again would a man, any man, overpower her ...Ross Coleman --- dark, brooding and iron-willed, with the shadow of a lawless past in his piercing eyes, sworn to resist the temptation of his wanton longings ...Fate threw them together on the same wild road, where they fought the breathtaking desire blazing between them, while the shadows of their enemies grew longer. As the wagon train rolled west, the danger to them drew ever closer, until a showdown with their pursuers was inevitable. Before it was over, Lydia and Ross would face death ... the truth about each other ... and the astonishing strength of their love ...
Harper's Bride
Alexis Harrington - 1997
But what is considered a practical payoff soon becomes a passionate romance, as the woman discovers a warm heart behind the prospector's cold exterior. And when the deadbeat dad returns to collect what he feels is rightfully his their lives will change forever!
The Last Renegade
Jo Goodman - 2012
With all of the good men dying at the hands of a local rancher and his three sons, Raine hires a shootist to be the town’s protector. But her handsome new employee is more than a hired hand; he’s a man who keeps his guns close and his secrets closer. BUT NOTHING COULD PROTECT HER HEART After a chance encounter on a train, Kellen Coltrane travels to the Pennyroyal to carry out a dying man’s last wish. But once he meets the hotel’s fiery-haired proprietor, Coltrane finds himself assuming the role of the shootist’s accomplice and agrees to protect Bitter Springs. And as he learns more about Raine’s own tragedy, Coltrane can’t deny his growing desire for the courageous widow, or the urge to protect her from the threat that draws near…
The Endearment
LaVyrle Spencer - 1982
to become Karl Lindstrom's mail-order bride in the beautiful, treacherous Minnesota wilderness.Karl forgave Anna for her deceptions--but there was still one shameful, burning secret that she had to hide from him, knowing its revelation would destroy the love that had become her very life!
Train Station Bride
Holly Bush - 2012
Julia strikes out on her own to gain independence, traveling to the Midwest to marry an aging shopkeeper and care for his mother. Julia finds her new home rough and uncivilized after the sophistication of a big city, while closely held secrets threaten to ruin Julia’s one chance at love. Jake Shelling was sixteen and grew up quick when his parents died from influenza on the South Dakota prairie. Left with a half-cleared farm and two young sisters, he spent little time on his own needs . .till now. At thirty-five, he figured it was high time to have some sons and a mail order bride would suit him just fine. No expectations of love, just a helpmate from sturdy stock, ready for farm life. Will fate and chance play a trick on Julia and Jake?
To Win Her Heart
Karen Witemeyer - 2011
Spencer needs a blacksmith, a trade he learned at his father's knee, and he needs a place where no one knows his past. But small towns leave little room for secrets...Eden Spencer has sworn off men, choosing instead to devote her time to the lending library she runs. When a mountain-sized stranger walks through her door and asks to borrow a book, she steels herself against the attraction he provokes. His halting speech and hesitant manner leave her doubting his intelligence. Yet as the mysteries of the town's new blacksmith unfold, Eden discovers hidden depths in him that tempt her heart.Levi's renewed commitment to his faith leads Eden to believe she's finally found a man of honor and integrity, a man worthy of her love. But when the truth about his prodigal past comes to light, can this tarnished hero find a way to win back the librarian's affections?
Beautiful Bad Man
Ellen O'Connell - 2012
For years afterward, each nursed a secret dream—that the other had grown into a special person—brave, good, kind.When Norah Hawkins and Caleb Sutton cross paths again, dreams die. She is a bitter, suicidal widow. He is a gunman with little conscience and few scruples. Alternately angry, repelled, and attracted, the two form an uneasy partnership to hold land she owns and he covets against a marauding neighbor. Their bargain never included love, or did it?
Montana Dawn
Caroline Fyffe - 2010
Instead, he stays and delivers a beautiful baby girl. Unable to leave the pretty young widow and her little son and newborn unprotected in the Montana wilderness, he brings them along on his family’s cattle drive, to the absolute delight of the other friendly cowboys. Luke, third son of Montana’s wealthy McCutcheon family, is different from his brothers. As the offspring of a Cheyenne warrior, he carries a chip on his shoulder for all to see. His flashing eyes and handsome face make Faith feel she’s stepped into some long-ago tale where men cherish their women--and keep them safe. If only she could trust him! Faith is on the run, and although she’s pampered and protected by Luke and his family, she just can’t risk the consequences of sharing the details of her past--one that’s hunting to take her back to the nightmare she’s just escaped. Happy-ever-afters are for fairytales, she reminds herself sternly as her heart feels the warm pull of his. Still, she can’t help but dream of a loving family, a home to call her own, a beautiful and bright…Montana Dawn
Adelaide
Callie Hutton - 2016
Adelaide Markham is one of four female prisoners sitting in Dodge City Jail. The sheriff offers them a choice. Either sit in jail until the circuit judge sobers up enough to hear their cases, or get on the wagon train traveling to Santa Fe as mail order brides. A recent widow who just lost her child, Adelaide prefers marriage to jail, but wants no part of motherhood. The pain is too great. Miles Ryan has been threatened by the wagon train master that he and his two recalcitrant daughters will be left behind at Fort Dodge if he doesn’t find a wife to control the girls. Miles takes one look at Adelaide and decides she’s for him. Unfortunately, it’s not until the deed is done that she learns she is a mother once again.