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!

    But still, she can't help thinking that something about this strong, silent farmer could be the key to leaving her troubled past behind...and making a worthy wager with her heart.

    In post civil-war New York, the men are scarce and none want the burden of a wife with children. Her dead husband's family is wealthy, and cruel. Desperate to escape their influence, and eager for a home, a husband, and a stable life for her children, Nellie decides to make a new life in San Francisco as a mail order bride. Saloon owner Blake Malone is a bachelor and likes it that way. He worked hard for everything he has, but the San Francisco City Council won’t approve his plans to build a family emporium unless he is a family man himself. The solution? A mail order bride from New York who will bring him a ready-made family, stability, and the council's approval. Blake expects his future wife to care for his home and, other than helping him impress the city council, to stay out of his business. He expects life as usual. What he gets is an unexpected desire to win Nellie's heart, a dangerous threat to his new bride, and a rich benefactor determined to steal his new family out from under him. Blake believed his battle for success a hard one. But he will discover that the battle to win Nellie's heart and keep his family safe is going to take everything he's got.

    But then Max Woodard, an enigmatic Army colonel with a gentle heart, offered her passion and a loving partnership in a brave new world...!Though a former prisoner of war, Colonel Max Woodard vowed to deal fairly with the Southerners under his governance. He yearned to understand them, most particularly Maria Markham, a womanly mix of true grit and glory. But could she ever love a man who wore the face of an enemy?

    But she fears this stranger who burns to avenge the wrongs of treacherous men. For Caleb is as wild and unpredictable as the uncivilized land he loves. Yet, though she challenges him at every turn, the spirited southern lady knows this proud, enigmatic loner is her destiny. And no matter what peril awaits, they must face it together -- for Willow has become a fever in Caleb′s blood ... awakening a need so fierce that he would defeat the devil himself to possess her.

    She'd married young, hoping to put down roots in a safe haven, but her husband had shattered her naiveté, and made her fear for her beloved daughter's safety until the day he died.When she first met her new neighbor, Zachariah McGovern, all she saw was danger. But Zach saw much more. He saw beauty, he saw tenderness. He knew he could rescue Kate Blakely from her past - if only she would let him. What Zach couldn't know, however, was the price that had to be paid to save the woman he loved.

    But Jackson Smith quickly realizes that Ellie's presence may solve his own problems--both the rearing of his young boys and the scandal that surrounds his first marriage.When a marriage of convenience is offered, Ellie is initially humiliated. Though she is past the age most women marry, she has more pride than to agree to his outlandish suggestion. Yet what options does she have? To marry would mean a home and stability. So despite the rumors circling Jackson and his first wife, Ellie accepts this unlikely proposal...

    Instead she learned that she has been duped again by the cowboy who made her his mail-order bride. He died, leaving her with no money, nowhere to go, and no resources but her own ingenuity. Then she learned about the Lodestar Ranch and its owner, Tyler Hollins.Besides a lifetime of painful memories, Tyler had his hands full with immediate problems. Half his cattle were lost during the worst winter on record and his cowhands were about to quit if he couldn’t find a decent cook. Libby Ross fit the bill. She had never seen a man so attractive with such a sour disposition. But she sensed desire behind the wall Ty erected to keep everyone at a distance . . . a wanting so fierce it nearly broke her heart.They locked horns from the outset, but they could fight each other, or fight together to see their dreams come true . . .

    Ramsey Stonechurch himself. But the mine owner has enemies, and after several threats on his life, mines, and family, Quill decides to hire someone to help guard the boss’s daughter. Only problem is the uncontrollable attraction he feels toward the fiery-haired woman who takes the job. …but she’s a piece of work. Calico Nash has more knowledge of scouting and shooting than cross-stitching, but she agrees to pose as Ann’s private tutor while protecting her. But between her growing attraction to Quill and the escalating threats against the Stonechurches, Calico will soon have a choice to make—hang on to her hard-won independence or put her faith in Quill to create the kind of happy ending she never imagined…

    Left with three children, he's desperate to find a mother for them. Ten year old Jenny does her best to care for two year old Ty, and fourteen year old Luke works the ranch with his father, losing himself in dime novels to ease the pain of his mother's passing. Brant's options are limited since eligible women seldom pass through Two Rivers, much less settle in the small Texas town. In desperation, he places a classified advertisement for a mail order bride. Marrying a woman he'll come to know through a newspaper advertisement scares the bejesus out of him, but at this point, he's out of options.Abigail Mary Vaughn always dreamed of having her own family, but caring for her elderly parents, as well as working as a teacher to help with finances, ended that dream. Her parents are now dead and she's faced with the reality of her lonely existence. After reading Mr. Samson's advertisement in the Philadelphia Inquirer, she garners enough courage to respond. Since she is considered an old maid at the age of thirty-eight, she'll more than likely spend the rest of her life wondering "what if" unless she does something unconventional.Sensual love scenes.

    Though she and the six-year-old Graciela get off to a rocky start, Jenny will do everything in her power to keep her promise, even with the child's cousins in hot pursuit. Then she is mysteriously drawn to the handsome cowboy Ty Sanders, and though neither know it yet, their purpose is the same.

    Though Cassie hated the slave trade, her Virginia plantation demanded the labor, and she knew this fevered man would surely die if she left him. But as his wounds healed and his muscled chest bronzed from the sun, Cassie realized Cole Braden was far more dangerous than his papers had indicated --- for he could steal her breath with a glance or lay siege to her senses with a touch.Abducted, beaten, and given a new name, Alec went from master of an English shipbuilding empire to fourteen years of indentured servitude in the American colonies. There, he was known as Cole Braden, a convicted ravisher and defiler of women. And while he longed to ravish the auburn-haired beauty who owned him, he knew his one hope of earning her love --- and his freedom --- was to prove his true identity. Only then could he turn the tables and attain his ... Sweet Release.

    Matt Slade is the orphaned son of hardscrabble Texas settlers. Sarah knows about every Civil War battle from studying newspaper accounts. Matt fought in the bloodiest of them under Generals Longstreet and Lee. If Matt and Sarah ever crossed paths, it should have been for an unremarkable moment. He would tip his hat. She would nod and pass on by. Except that as survivors of a Comanche attack, Matt and Sarah spend far more than a moment together. They come to know each other, depend on each other and love each other. Humiliated by Sarah's love for "Rebel trash," her jilted fiance extracts a revenge so vicious, he boasts that he destroyed the young lovers. Did he? Or when Matt and Sarah meet again years later, can they put their lives and their love back together?

    So he seized the chance to work Abbie Westland's land...and from the moment he first saw Abbie, he was determined to use his arms to work the farm by day and to soothe her through the nights in his strong embrace.Abbie, with her fiery determination, was different from the fragile beauties he'd known at home. In her, Grayson found an honest passion he'd never experienced before. But could their growing love survive the surprising reminder of her past that came to haunt them?

    But though her life was simple, she was always sure that someday her prince would come. J. Monroe Farley arrived with his Edison listening box to record the traditional music of the Ozarks, determined to focus all his attention on his studies. But there, in this remote mountain hamlet, he found something he never expected--the princess of his dreams...