Book picks similar to
The Reluctant Outlaw by Karen Kirst


love-inspired
love-inspired-historical
christian-fiction
romance

Want Ad Wedding


Cheryl St. John - 2016
    But Leah Swann steps off the bride train…pregnant and widowed and in need of a husband. Drawn to protect his fragile childhood friend, Daniel proposes a marriage of convenience. Seeing her onetime best friend waiting to meet the bride train is a wonderful shock for Leah. After her first rocky marriage, a practical partnership with Daniel sounds perfect—as long as her heart doesn't get involved. But when she starts to fall for her husband, will her plans of a fresh start be ruined…or is a real marriage to Daniel exactly what she needs? Cowboy Creek: Bringing mail-order brides, and new beginnings, to a Kansas boomtown.

Winning the Widow's Heart


Sherri Shackelford - 2012
    Instead, the only occupant is a heavily pregnant woman-and she's just gone in to labor. A loner uneasy with emotion, Jack helps deliver widow Elizabeth Cole's baby girl and can't get back on the trail fast enough. The robber and murderer he's after killed one of Jack's own, and he vows to catch the man. But when he returns to check on Elizabeth and her little one, he discovers that she may hold the key to his unsettled past-and his hoped-for future.

Marrying Miss Marshal


Lacy Williams - 2011
     Danna Carpenter is town marshal. And a darn good one. Even if she has to handle saloon brawls and rustlers alone. Who needs deputies anyway? All right, she’d welcome the help if any of the men in town would offer it. When a bank robbery goes bad, she has no choice but to accept the help of a city slicker... He’s on a quest for revenge. Chas O'Grady came West in search of cattle rustlers and found himself on the trail of a killer--one who took everything from him. Crossing paths with the pretty marshal was happenstance, but he can't leave her deputy-less when she’s facing such grave danger. Everything changes when Chas and Danna are stranded together in a snowstorm. The town council forces a marriage. And attraction turns to something more... Will Chas give up his quest for revenge? Or will he lose the woman he loves forever? MARRYING MISS MARSHAL is a Wild West marriage of convenience story. This book was originally published in 2011 by Harlequin's Love Inspired Historical series line. It has been re-edited and now includes an extended epilogue.

Handpicked Husband


Winnie Griggs - 2012
    But unless she marries one of the gentlemen her grandfather has sent for her inspection, she'll lose custody of her nephew. So she must persuade them—and Adam Barr, her grandfather's envoy—that she'd make a thoroughly unsuitable wife.Adam isn't convinced. Regina might be unconventional, but she has wit, spirit and warmth. His job was to make sure Regina chose from the men he escorted to Texas—not to marry her himself! Can they overcome the secrets in her past, and the shadows in his, to find a perfect future together?

Their Frontier Family


Lyn Cote - 2012
    She's a scarlet woman and an unwed mother—an outcast even in her small Quaker community. But she can't resist Noah's offer of a fresh start in a place where her scandalous past is unknown. In Sunny, the former Union soldier sees a woman whose loneliness matches his own. When they arrive in Wisconsin, he'll see that she and her baby daughter want for nothing...except the love that war burned out of him. Yet Sunny makes him hope once more—for the home they're building, and the family he never hoped to find.

Mail Order Cowboy


Laurie Kingery - 2010
    Their only hope: advertising for mail-order grooms. But aristocratic British cavalry officer Nicholas Brookfield isn't exactly Milly's idea of a cowboy--or a man she can trust. And the more Nick proves himself as a ranch hand, the more he must hide his past from the woman he longs to make his own. Now Milly and Nick will need all their courage to face hidden dangers...and believe in a love that can answer all their prayers.

Taming the Texas Rancher


Rhonda Gibson - 2013
    Leave it to him to pick a mail-order bride who insists on being courted! Yet every time Daniel wonders if Hannah Young is even suited to rugged living, the petite schoolteacher shows her gumption.What man sends away for a bride but doesn't really want to get married? Hannah came to Granite, Texas, hoping to find love and security, and she can't settle for less than a true partnership. If the brooding, handsome rancher can just learn to trust in Hannah, their future could be as filled with promise as this bountiful land..

Montana Rose


Mary Connealy - 2009
    Her free-spending husband expects nothing less. But now he has died, leaving her unprotected, heavily in debt, and pregnant. As any single woman doesn't remain so for long in Divide, Montana, Cassie wonders if marrying one of the local cowboys might be her only choice. After seeing her choices, she then wonders if joining her husband might be even better.Red Dawson has always had a soft spot in his heart for Cassie, even though most of the townspeople see her only as a silk-clad china doll. When she's left a widow, only one thing keeps him from immediately sweeping her off her feet—she's a nonbeliever.As the other cowboys lay claim to Cassie, the most powerful rancher in the area steps forward to demand what he thinks rightly belongs to him... and the property that goes with her. Red struggles with figuring out what to do, but decides he can't allow Cassie to suffer a fate worse than death and marries her himself.Will Red win over this seemingly fragile and spoiled china doll's heart... and survive her unique brand of ranch help in the meantime? Will Cassie find true love with her cowboy—and his God—when she exchanges smooth silk for coarse calico?

Rocky Mountain Match


Pamela Nissen - 2010
    But then his brother hires Katie Ellickson. The strong-willed, confident teacher knows what it's like to be outcast, alone--and she won't give up on Joseph, even when he's ready to give up on himself. He thinks blindness is his most difficult obstacle, until he finds a bigger challenge--trying to reach Katie's heart. Will she let him? Katie has secrets that she's carried with her to the Rocky Mountains. And there's a darkness of her own in her past, which she can't escape for long....

Lady Outlaw


Stacy Henrie - 2012
    But Jennie Jones is desperate to save her family's ranch from foreclosure. And the risks seem worth it, until her upright new ranch hand offers a glimpse of how much is really at stake.Former bounty hunter Caleb Johnson is ready for a new, clean start. With a woman like Jennie, he could build a future there in Utah territory. But only if his gentle faith can guide her in a choice between the land she's fought so hard to save and a future by his side.

Unlawfully Wedded Bride


Noelle Marchand - 2011
    She's been married, by proxy, to a man she's never met, thanks to her young siblings' meddling! Kate offers her "groom" room and board at her farm until the annulment is granted—nothing more. After all, what else could this predicament be but a blunder that needs fixing?Nathan Rutledge arrives on Kate's doorstep, seeking a fresh start—with a family that needs his help more than Kate will admit. The shadows in both their pasts will be no match for a bright new beginning. But first, he has to convince a woman frightened of love to throw caution to the Texas wind…

From a Distance


Tamera Alexander - 2008
    and the secret you've spent a lifetime guarding is finally laid bare? Determined to become one of the country's premier newspaper photographers, Elizabeth Westbrook travels to the Colorado Territory to capture the grandeur of the mountains surrounding the remote town of Timber Ridge. She hopes, too, that the cool, dry air of Colorado, and its renowned hot springs, will cure the mysterious illness that threatens her career, and her life.Daniel Ranslett is a man shackled by his Confederate past, and he'll do anything to protect his land, and his solitude. When an outspoken Yankee photographer captures an image that appears key to solving a murder, putting herself in danger, Daniel is called upon to repay a debt. He's a man of his word, but repaying that debt could reveal secrets from his past he would prefer remain buried.Forced on a perilous journey together, Daniel and Elizabeth's lives intertwine in ways neither could have imagined when first they met from a distance.

Mail Order Mix-Up


Christine Johnson - 2016
    But the town's most dashing bachelor has caught the eye of several aspiring brides-to-be…and even Pearl is drawn to him. Though the schoolteacher has no intentions of marrying, her instant connection with Roland Decker cannot be denied. Roland doesn't know how an ad seeking a wife for his brother found its way into print. But now he has to handle the hopeful applicants—women who think he's the future groom. Not to mention the feisty, matchmaking schoolteacher who is just as determined not to marry as he is. Will this mix-up push Roland and Pearl to forget their plans of staying single and allow love into their lives? Boom Town Brides: Taking a leap of faith for love

Out of the Embers


Amanda Cabot - 2020
    The orphanage that was her refuge and later her workplace has burned to the ground, and only she and a young orphan girl have escaped. Convinced this must be related to her parents' murders, Evelyn flees with the girl to Mesquite Springs in the Texas Hill Country and finds refuge in the home of Wyatt Clark, a talented horse rancher whose plans don't include a family of his own.At first, Evelyn is a distraction. But when it becomes clear that trouble has followed her to Mesquite Springs, she becomes a full-blown disruption. Can Wyatt keep her safe from the man who wants her dead? And will his own plans become collateral damage?Suspenseful and sweetly romantic, Out of the Embers is the first in a new series that invites you to the Texas Hill Country in the 1850s, when the West was wild, the men were noble, and the women were strong.

The Unexpected Bride


Debra Ullrick - 2011
    Unfortunately, his brother has some intentions of his own, and plans to see to it that Haydon finds happiness once more. So he answers a "groom wanted" advertisement--in Haydon's name--and sends Haydon to meet his new bride at the stagecoach stop!For beautiful, cultured Rainelle Devonwood, any dangers she may face in the Idaho Territories are preferable to staying with her abusive brother. So even when Rainee learns she's a mistakenly ordered bride, she won't let Haydon drive her away. She's up to the challenge of life on the difficult, demanding frontier...and the greater challenge of opening Haydon's heart again.