Showing results by author "Cynthia Woolf" in All Categories

Annie Markum grew up with a Bible in one hand and a disapproving father holding the other. At 22 she dared to dream of a different life and risked everything to become a mail order bride. One year later she finds herself on a friend's doorstep, penniless, pregnant, and a widow. Her husband was an honorable, churchgoing man, and she believes her father will allow her to come home. To get back to her father in New York will take money she doesn't have. She's got no choice but to accept work as a cook in a local saloon.

Ed Talbot isn't husband material. He's an outlaw, was forced into his father's gang at the age of 13, and is wanted dead or alive in more than one territory. But now his father is dead, he hates the life, the blood, and his brother's rages. When a stagecoach robbery goes awry, Ed ends up with a satchel full of charming letters from an enticing young miss. Unfortunately for Miss Lizzie Cobb, her betrothed is now dead, and Ed Talbot sees a way out.

Erin O'Toole is no stranger to violence. Growing up surrounded by one of the most powerful gangs in New York, Erin learned how to survive. But when her little brother is killed in a gang war, Erin swears she'll never be part of her father's world. Desperate to escape the pain of her loss and a future she doesn't want, she risks everything to become a mail-order bride.

Julia O'Brien is a practical woman. A nurse and midwife, she was perhaps the most surprised when she fell in love with Dr. Matthew Reynolds and agreed to be his mail order bride. She sets off for Tombstone carrying his letters and a heart full of hope.

Nellie Wallace is a young widow with two children. 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.

Amelia James grew up performing on the stage. Her stunning voice made her the darling of New York's theater district since she was 15. She's never been more than an asset to her mother, never been just a woman to the young up-and-coming men who want to use her to advance their own careers. Amelia loves to sing, but is willing to give up fame, fortune, and her future on the stage for just one thing...love. Convinced she'll never find what she needs in New York, she makes the decision to leave her life behind and travel to the other side of the country as a mail order bride.

Working long hours in a New York City bakery is not at all what Sophia Hayes had planned for her life. When her fiancé breaks their engagement to marry her thinner, blonder, more beautiful sister, Sophia knows it is time to do something drastic, something completely unexpected. All she's ever wanted is to have a husband and family of her own. Agreeing to be a mail-order bride seems the perfect answer.

When her parents died, Molly McGregor did what she needed to survive in New York City all alone. She took a job for a well-respected banker, but made a discovery that put her life in danger. Now, in 1882, she is fleeing New York for the western frontier. Molly makes the desperate decision to become a mail order bride in Tombstone, Arizona Territory. She doesn't hope for much, just that her new husband will be strong enough to protect her from the danger she fears will follow.

From the day she was born, Rita Baxter's mother encouraged her to follow her heart. Filled with innocent dreams and faith that her hard work training to be a Prima Ballerina on New York's bright stage will lead to fortune and fame, Rita is crushed when she loses her mother and must take a job dancing in a burlesque chorus line to keep a roof over her head. Witnessing a brutal murder is the last straw. The police promise to keep her safe, but Rita has learned to be a realist.

Cora Jones has a dilemma. She was engaged to be married but her fiancé Asa Woods was killed in the Civil War. She'd never been madly in love with Asa, but she did care for him deeply and grieved his loss. When she stopped grieving she decided she wanted to put everything behind her and became a mail order bride for Harry Belcher.

Catherine Evans fell in love when she was three years old, a head-over-heels, forever kind of love. The very first moment she saw 12-year-old Duncan McKenzie, she told God and her pony that she was going to marry that boy. For 13 years, she loved him with every beat of her heart. And on her 16th birthday he walked away from her father's ranch and from her. And from that day forward, Catherine Evans swore off all men. Her heart turned to stone, her will to iron, and her vow to God changed. And she would never, ever love another man as long as she lived.

Alice Carter found herself a widow, her doctor husband murdered as he left the hospital where he worked. Alice, too, is a doctor and thought she wouldn't have any trouble finding a position with the hospital where her husband had been so well regarded. She was wrong. Seems no one wanted a female doctor, especially one in mourning. Seeing no other way out, Alice becomes a mail-order bride to a doctor in Hope's Crossing in the Montana Territory. Can Alice and Jeremiah have a future when ghosts from her past still hold her heart?

Zach Anderson is a desperate man. He needs to find a killer before the man destroys Zach's entire family. He also must convince Lily Sutter, the woman he loves, that she loves him and wants to marry him. Neither task is an easy one.

All Liam Anderson wanted after the War Between the States, was a little peace. After 17 years in the army, he's tired of fighting and killing. Having lost his beloved wife to influenza, he's tired of hurting. And seeing his baby brother framed for murder, he's tired of injustice. He left everything behind to help his brothers escape, packed up his children and possessions, and took them all to a gold claim in Deadwood.

Jake Anderson killed a man defending his fiancée from a brutal attack, but lost her and his freedom in the process. Now he's on the run, tormented by the need for vengeance. Becky Finnegan will do anything to escape her drunken father's fists, including slave away at their mine. Her only hope is to strike gold and make a new life for herself somewhere far, far away from Deadwood. But then Jake arrives and does the unthinkable... forces her to feel, to hope... and to love.

Rosie Stanton climbed on a westbound train to answer his ad for a wife and mother, everything she wants to be. But Tom Harris lied. He doesn't want a wife, merely a mother for his two abandoned children and a cook and cleaner for his ranch. Betrayed once, he's vowed never to let another woman into his heart. Sexy Rosie upsets all his plans and threatens to invade his scarred heart. How will he maintain his vow to keep his hands off her as she charms his children, his cowhands, his life?

In Tame a Wild Wind, an exciting, sensual, historical Western romance, Sam Colter is running from his past as a Texas Ranger, from the pain of losing his wife and daughters, from his own broken soul. He finds peace running a ranch and minding his own business until the beautiful, widowed ranch owner, Cassie O'Malley, offers him a devil's bargain...to become her lover with no strings attached. Trouble is, once he's tasted her fiery passion, he wants it all....

Civil war devastated the country and left Rachel Sawyer stranded in a dead-end job as a seamstress with no prospects for marriage. Men are thin on the ground in Massachusetts, so Rachel and her best friend travel west, to Seattle, with the handsome Talbot brothers. Jason Talbot, the eldest brother and wealthy owner of a lumber company, is so far beyond her reach that falling in love with him is the most non-sensical thing she could do. So, of course, she does. But after one sensual midnight encounter, Jason pushes her away.

Duncan McKenzie has been promising his wife, Catherine, a honeymoon. When a mysterious letter forces Duncan to make a trip to Chicago, he decides to combine a honeymoon with the trip. He doesn’t tell Catherine about his devious plan, but he also doesn’t know that Catherine has a few secrets of her own.

Lost and alone after her stepfather is murdered on the streets of New York, Katie takes her two young siblings and claims them as her own. Pretending to be a widow, she flees to Colorado Territory as a mail-order bride and into the arms of the handsome gunsmith, Robert Wallace. The attraction is instant, but just when things are looking up for her, the past comes calling - and Katie discovers harsh truths about her stepfather that put everything at risk. Her stepfather had secrets, and they're not done with her yet.