Proxy Bride

Absence is to love what wind is to fire-it extinguishes the small, it enkindles the great. A dying wife of three children places an ad in The Matrimonial News to find her replacement. Eliza Hartzell's letter stood out from all the others as she already had experience with children, was a Christian as well as a midwife. On her deathbed, her last wish was that her husband, Wolfgang, agree to treat this woman with kindness, if not love. Unusual circumstances cause the marriage to be performed by proxy, and when the couple finally meet, Wolf still holds his first wife in his heart, and Eliza backs away from any form of physical affection since her parents had never shown her any. Will the children teach Eliza to love? Could a nasty bandit and some renegade Cheyenne bring this couple to a happily ever after?

Fighting to keep the remnant of her family alive, Mara Peterson eschews the company of most of her neighbors in the small logging town of Widow's Ridge. Instead, she prefers the safety and security of the trading post her grandfather established long before the big woods of Wisconsin were felled. But when she is pressed to marry for the sake of the Whistler family legacy, Mara accepts an unconventional solution to the problem-and finds herself knee-deep in enemy territory trying to avoid bounty hunters and government agents. Riverboat captain Zebedee Knudsen has no idea that the woman recommended to him by his uncle would bring such hope and heartache to his life. Will the protection of his name be enough to thwart the fearmongers, or will he have to give up the woman he never knew he needed?

Rosella Tihold and her family spent years as travelling musicians with Hammerman's Cultural Musicale. But when her brother is injured at Gettysburg, the young singer's priorities shift, and the lure of a place to call home settles in Rosella's heart. Longing for stability, Gier Knudsen risks everything when he sends for a mail-order bride. But the secret he is hiding will certainly be a detriment to his well-laid plans. So he requests that the marriage be performed by proxy, in hopes that by the time the truth is known, the new Mrs. Knudsen will give him a chance. But what will happen to all his schemes when his father finds out?