Promised by Post
‘California Rancher Seeks Agreeable Woman for Purposes of Matrimony… ’Anna O’Malley is desperate to put her impoverished past behind her. Posing as a respectable lady, she becomes a mail-order bride, hoping to find security by marrying a wealthy ranch-owner.When her stagecoach is held up Anna shoots one of the bandits. But the man she wounds is none other than her fiancé! His brother – sinfully attractive Daniel Werner – must conceal that fact by any means necessary… but how long can Daniel keep up the façade when he craves Anna himself?Wild West Weddings: Mail-order brides for three hard-working, hard-living men!
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He hesitated. He hadnât the right to hold her. She was his brotherâs intended. But she trembled.
She drew him like a lost calf would. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her against him.
âItâs all right. Youâre safe now,â he murmured. That much was true, and the reassurance came out so much easier than the lies.
âAre we getting married tonight?â
He jerked back. âNo!â
She stared at him, going even paler, and her green eyes were wide. He had the ridiculous notion to kiss her freckled nose. What was wrong with freckles anyway?
Her eyes narrowed as color flooded back into her cheeks. âWhen, then?â
Hellâs bells, she thought he was Rafael.
âIâm Daniel. Iâm going to be your brother.
Rafaelââ
He stared at her as the color drained from her face again. Her mouth flattened and her eyes shot shards of bottle glass in his direction.
Then she shoved him away.
Katy Madison invites you to her
Mail-order brides for three hard-working, hard-living men!
Three penniless East Coast ladies are prepared to give up everything they know for the lure of the West. Will they find new beginnings, new families and eventual happiness as mail-order brides?
Their advertisements answered, three rugged frontiersmen await their new bridesâwith eagerness and not a little trepidation!
What have they all let themselves in for?
Read Oliviaâs story in
Bride by Mail already available
and
Annaâs story in
Promised by Post
Look for Selinaâs story,
coming soon!
Award-winning KATY MADISON loves stories. At the age of eight Katy went to her mother and begged for a new book to read. Her frustrated mother handed her a romance novel and Katy fell in love with the genre. Now she gets to live the glamorous life of a romance writer, which mostly means she stays in her pyjamas all day and never uses an alarm clock. Visit her at www.katymadison.com
Books by Katy Madison
Mills & Boon>® Historical Romance
Wild West Weddings
Bride by Mail Promised by Post
Visit the author profile page at millsandboon.co.uk
Contents
California rancher, in good health, age 26, dark hair and eyes, seeks agreeable woman for purposes of matrimony. Interested parties send photograph.
San Joaquin Valley, California, August 1862
Today was the day. Anna OâMalley slid her damp palm over the silk of her skirt and darted a furtive glance at her good friend Selinaâs pinched face. They would meet their future husbands in just hours, perhaps be married by nightfall.
The stagecoach rolled over a rut, and all the passengers swayed. âAre you nervous?â Anna whispered.
Selina pressed her lips together, looked at the other occupants of the coach, all men, and then gave a quick nod.
After traveling with the others night and day for twenty-one days straight on this last leg of their journey, they all knew as much about each other as they were willing to share. Across from Anna sat a California miner returning from a trip back east to settle his recently deceased motherâs affairs. Opposite Selina was a one-armed soldier, mustered out of the army and hoping for a better life out west. Seated beside the soldier, a slender man wearing a threadbare suit cradled a case of paint jars and assorted brushes.
On the far side of Selina, a preacher dressed soberly in black bent over his worn Bible and mouthed the scriptures as they rumbled along. He was headed to a new flock in San Francisco. Three farm boys from Illinois riding on the backseat preferred California over getting conscripted. The youngest brother looked as if he should still be in school instead of worrying about fighting in Mr. Lincolnâs war.
Anna and Selina had reluctantly shared with the other passengers that theyâd worked in a mill until the cotton shipments dried up over a year ago. The lack of work had forced them and their roommate, Olivia, to answer advertisements for brides. Knowing all they wanted to know about each other, the passengersâ conversations had descended into banalities about the ever-changing landscape, the weather and the monotonous beans and bread offered at the eating stations.
Most of the trip Anna had been concerned that Selinaâs secret would be found out. But Anna could scarcely contain her own worries anymore. With each passing mile, her misrepresentations to her future husband had grown into massive cankers. She leaned close and cupped her hand around Selinaâs ear. âI didnât tell Rafael that I worked in a mill.â
Selinaâs gaze flicked to hers. âWhy? You had nothing to hide.â
Who would want to marry a dirty Irish immigrant? Anna whispered, âI told him my family was well-to-do.â
