Book picks similar to
The Unexpected Wife by Mary Burton


historical-romance
western
mail-order-bride
romance

Petals on the River


Kathleen E. Woodiwiss - 1997
    A man of secrets accused of a terrible crime ... In a place of new beginnings their destinies are joined --- in a glorious romantic new work from the incomparable storyteller KATHLEEN E. WOODWISSThe fiery and outspoken adopted daughter of one of England's most formidable women, Shemaine O'Hearn has made powerful enemies. And now her adversaries have found a way to remove the hot-blooded beauty from her life of privilege: by falsely convicting Shemaine of thievery, and sending her in shackles to America, where she is to be sold in indentured servitude to the highest bidder.In a bustling port city in the colony of Virginia, she becomes the servant of Gage Thornton --- a shipbuilder with a young child in need of a nanny. And despite whispered rumors condemning the handsome widower for the untimely death of his wife, Shemaine cannot ignore her desire for this caring, generous and enigmatic stranger who silently aches with his growing need for her --- even as grave peril reaches out from across a vast ocean to threaten their flowering love.

Cowboys & Kisses


Vanessa Vale - 2015
    For years, she's been content working on the family ranch, but lately she's wanted more. She's determined to strike out on her own and find freedom from her unorthodox family.Chance Goodman has watched Rose grow up from a spitfire little girl into a fiery woman. He's wanted her for years, waiting patiently until he could make her his. When she leaves the Lenox ranch determined to abandon her former life and to say good-bye to him, he knows now is the time he must act. Letting her go isn't an option.This book was previously published as Rose in the Wildflower Brides series.

Give Me Tonight


Lisa Kleypas - 1989
    This strong, handsome man was different from the other ranchhands on her father's vast Texas spread, as different as Addie was from the meek women around her. But Addie was from the future and could only reveal her secret in the white heat of passion!

Lawless


Nora Roberts - 1989
    Sarah Conway was something else again. She was every inch an Eastern lady, yet she was determined to make Lone Bluff her home.Jake was annoyed to find himself playing guardian angel to this tantalizing innocent--even more disgusted to find he liked it. Little did he suspect that beneath Sarah's ladylike demeanor beat the heart of a frontier woman ant that her body yearned for his hard embrace, her heart for his words of love .. . .

Emma


Ashley Merrick - 2014
    She and her group of girlfriends, who all met in the orphanage, are barely getting by, working as nannies, cooks, and live-in maids for rich families. When Emma's employer, Gerald, threatens her with losing her job if she doesn't submit to his very unwanted advances, she stumbles onto an opportunity to be a mail-order bride and decides that couldn't possibly be worse. Except that the groom in question had no idea that his brother sent for a wife. When Emma shows up, at the train station in Bozeman, MT, it's her groom's brother, Joshua that is there to greet her. As it turns out, Ethan is furious that his brother went behind his back and sent for a wife. He's still grieving from the unexpected death of his wife Allison only a year earlier, and spends all his time when he's not working, being a good dad to his only child, Emily, who is three. Montana is hugely different from Boston, and Emma is surprised that she immediately falls in love with the area. Though taken aback at first to discover that Ethan wasn't aware that she was coming, she's secretly relieved to have a little time to get to know him and her new home. She is also quite fascinated by his family. Ethan is the oldest of ten, and eight of them are brothers, and except for Joshua, all are single. Emma has an urge to play matchmaker, and in book two, her best friend, Julia comes West to meet the brothers.

Promises Linger


Sarah McCarty - 2004
    Asa dreams of a place of his own, a wife, and the respect that comes with both. Marrying Elizabeth may have started as a means to an end, but nothing in Asa's wildest dreams prepares him for the excitement of unleashing the carnal woman beneath his wife's prim and proper exterior.

Adam's Promise


Julianne MacLean - 2003
    When a gentleman from her past requests that she set sail for the New World to become his wife, she jumps at the chance to become a mail order bride and marry the man she has loved since she was a girl.Adam Coates was a mere tenant farmer when he left England for the British Colony of Nova Scotia, but now he is a prosperous and influential landowner. What Madeline doesn’t know is that her father has hoodwinked them both—for the bride Adam truly wanted was her beautiful, older sister, Diana—his first love. When Madeline steps off the ship with romantic dreams of her long-awaited happily-ever-after, she is shocked and dismayed to discover the truth. Madeline is furious with her father for his treachery, but she has sailed across an ocean to an unfamiliar land and must remain, at least temporarily, under the protection of the man she still loves—the man who still intends to wed her sister.Over the coming weeks, as their friendship deepens and grows, will Adam come to realize that he’d set his heart on the wrong sister all along? Or will it be too late to find the happiness they both desire?

Puritan Bride


Anne O'Brien - 2004
    While he doesn't believe that love lies within matrimony, he does need to secure his claim to Winteringham Priory. Marriage to the spirited Puritan Katherine Harley is the key and, given his unexpected response to her, perhaps their marriage needn't be as bleak as he fears. Because, beneath he solemn exterior, her senses a bride of surprising passion...

The Outsider


Penelope Williamson - 1996
    One day, a handsome stranger dying from a gunshot wound walks into her ranch. With simple kindness, she treats his injury and nurses him back to health. Soon Rachel finds herself drawn to this mysterious outsider with a violent past--and must put her future on the line for a last chance at happiness.

Taming the Highlander


Terri Brisbin - 2006
    Now laird of the powerful MacLerie clan and in need of a wife, Connor buys his way to a bride, one he insists not be beautiful like his first wife. He brings Jocelyn to his lair planning to keep her in his bed and out of his life...and heart.Jocelyn MacCallum saves her family and people with her marriage, but fears for her soul and her life when she becomes bride to the Beast. Against his wishes and orders, Jocelyn begins to make a place in his clan for herself and begins to learn more about the man she wed.When an old threat rises against the clan and laird, will love be powerful enough to save the woman not known for beauty and her Beast?

Cooper's Wife


Jillian Hart - 1999
    Cooper's Wife by Jillian Hart released on Sep 24, 1999 is available now for purchase.

Sixteen Brides


Stephanie Grace Whitson - 2010
    Louis respond to a series of meetings conducted by a land speculator who lures them west by promising "prime homesteads" in a "booming community." Unbeknownst to them, the speculator's true motive is to find an excuse to bring women to the fledging community of Plum Grove, Nebraska, in hopes they will accept marriage proposals shortly after their arrival!Sparks fly when these unsuspecting widows meet the men who are waiting for them. These women are going to need all the courage and faith they can muster to survive these unwanted circumstances--especially when they begin to discover that none of them is exactly who she appears to be.

Intimate Deception


Laura Landon - 2012
    In Victorian England, a woman possesses only one item of value: her virtue. Without it, Fentington will not want her—nor will any other man. But at least she will be free. Now she must find a man with whom to pass the fateful night, a man who will ask no questions, make no other demands. Because for a woman preparing to risk everything, no ordinary man will do…After losing two wives in childbirth, Vincent Germaine, Duke of Raeburn, vows never to marry again. Racked with guilt over the lives lost in his quest for an heir, he is careful now to take his pleasure only with London’s most discreet courtesans. Yet when he learns that a passionate encounter with a bewitching stranger may have put yet another life at risk, Vincent sets out to find the unsuspecting girl—and discovers a woman of incomparable courage, beauty, and strength. But can two strangers brought together by desperation find true love against all odds?

Deeply Devoted


Maggie Brendan - 2011
    As she steps off the train, Peter Andersen is glad to see that she is everything her letters showed her to be. But he is a bit perturbed by her unexpected companions. How will he support them all? And what other secrets might Catharine be keeping from him?Filled with sweet romance and vivid characters, Deeply Devoted highlights a clash of cultures as a highborn European and a simple wheat farmer learn to love one another and trust God with the past--and the future.

Reese


Lori Handeland - 2001
    Mary hires Reese, the mysterious, and reluctant, leader of a band of deadly Confederate veterans, to protect them.Reese is haunted by the war and what he did during it. The only constant in his life are the five men willing to come to his side whenever he calls them.Though Mary prides herself on managing everyone and anything, she can't manage Reese or her feelings for him. Reese doesn't believe he is worthy of loyalty and devotion; he certainly isn't worthy of love. In Rock Creek, with Mary, he learns differently.