Brides

Raised in the Smoky Mountains of eastern Tennessee in the 1820s, sixteen-year-old Emma Simms dreams of the day she'll escape her life of poverty to start over in the big city of Knoxville. But when her mother dies, she's left with no one but her drunk, abusive stepfather, Luke Simms, and her dream abruptly becomes a nightmare. Luke plans to literally sell Emma down the river-to a notorious brothel in Knoxville. River Joe, the mysterious Cherokee-raised frontiersman, knew from the first time he set eyes on the beautiful Emma that he had to have her as his own. And one glimpse of the handsome, buckskin-clad stranger they call the "white Indian" ignites the flame of dangerous desire in Emma's heart. Their passion could consume them both, but their love may be the one thing that can save Emma from a fate worse than death.

In the second book of the award-winning author's historical romance trilogy, a schoolteacher and a half-Comanche rancher fall in love. This sprawling historical novel picks up where Tennessee Bride left off. Emma and Joe's daughter Rachael Rivers has returned to Austin to teach school after training for three years in St. Louis. In 1845, as Texas moves toward statehood, the Texas Rangers try to keep order. But one Ranger, the cruel and crooked Jason Brown, is more interested in having his way with the proper young schoolteacher. Brand Selby is a half-Comanche, half-white rancher with a small spread just north of Austin. From the moment he sees Rachael, he knows he wants nothing other than to win her heart. But hatred for the Indians runs deep in these parts where renegade Comanches as well as outlaws and unscrupulous Comancheros still run wild and lawless. When Rachael rebuffs the advances of the Texas Ranger, he vows revenge. But Rachael and Brand's love has already been sealed, and not even the prospect of Rachael being cast out from her own kind, nor the threat of violence against Brand, can extinguish the flames of desire in their hearts.

On a trail of danger, love follows no set path. Traveling west aboard a wagon train with her late husband's family, young widow Marybeth MacKender wishes only to leave behind the memories of her loveless marriage, and to protect her infant son. But the dangers of the train are endless, as are the advances of her brutish brother-in-law who is resolute in claiming Marybeth as his own. It isn't until Marybeth meets Joshua Rivers, a frontiersman both tough and tender, that her hope for the future ignites as brightly as the desire in her heart. With courage aroused by passion, Marybeth is determined to face the perils of this rugged terrain for Joshua and the love she feels as great as the odds stacked against them.

Featuring Texas Bride-this omnibus edition of the Bride Series gathers all three unforgettable historical romance novels in a single volume. Tennessee Bride: In this first novel, set in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee in the 1820s, Emma Simms falls in love with River Joe, a Cherokee-raised frontiersman who must rescue her from an abusive stepfather. Texas Bride: In 1845, as Texas moves toward statehood, Emma and Joe's daughter Rachael Rivers returns to Austin to teach school, where Brand Selby, the half-Comanche rancher who loves her, must save her from a cruel and crooked Texas Ranger. Oregon Bride: On a wagon train to Oregon in 1851, Emma and Joe's son Joshua Rivers finds himself captivated by the fiery-haired Marybeth MacKinder, a widowed young mother. But with her brutish brother-in-law intent on claiming her, their road to romance is as rough as the trail west.