Welcome back to Romance Sweet Reads. Today we're going to continue with our feature of a new series of sweet/inspirational, western historical romances. The series, RESCUE ME (Mail-Order Brides) consists of twenty-five books, releasing once per week, every Monday. So, sit back and enjoy!
The twenty-third book in the Rescue Me (Mail Order Brides) series, is Wanda, by Author Nancy Fraser.
Along the way, she meets a woman who runs a matrimonial service and she submits her application using her mother’s maiden name rather than her family name. She leaves for Bakersfield, California and marriage to the owner of a lemon orchard. While she’s uncertain, she knows that she can’t keep running forever. With any luck, changing her name and hiding away on a farm will thwart the men following her.
Caleb Hornsby is the owner of the largest Meyer lemon grove in the mid-state area. It’s taken him nearly two years to rebuild his late uncle’s failing business. Working night and day has left him little time for courting. And, given the area isn’t exactly teaming with would-be brides, he follows his best friend’s advice and sends for a mail-order bride.
It isn’t until strange men show up in town looking for a supposed runaway wife and mother. When they relay facts about the woman, Caleb starts to worry. Has he married a woman on the run? Or, a criminal? More importantly, someone he can no longer trust.
Lemon Drop Farms
Just Outside Bakersfield, California
Early May, 1901
Caleb Hornsby shifted behind the huge, low-slung, wooden
desk, bumping his knees on the center drawer. “Dang it, all,” he grumbled.
Rolling the heavy chair backward, the lopsided casters tipped the foul thing
precariously to the right, threatening to spill him on the floor at any moment.
A stronger curse word came to mind, but he tamped it down.
“You still fighting with inanimate objects, boss?”
Caleb looked up to see his farm manager, Trip Elliott,
standing in the doorway.
“You might say that. I really need to replace this old desk
and chair. Unfortunately, my money’s tied up in those new saplings and
repairing the water lines.”
“Your late uncle had that desk specially made, and the chair
came all the way from Saint Louis.”
“Where it should have stayed.” Shifting again until the
chair righted itself fully, Caleb added, “My dearly departed uncle was
five-foot-three, not six-one. Not to mention, on the far side of three-hundred
pounds. He wore out this chair long before I got here to take over.”
“We could probably put a couple of two-by-fours under the
desk legs to at least lift it out of your lap,” Trip suggested. “I got nothing
that’ll help that chair, though.”
“You need some help around the house, that’s for sure. Have
you given any thought to mine and Lacy’s suggestion?”
Narrowing his gaze, Caleb shot his friend a sour look. “A wife. Just exactly when do you think
I’d have time to court a decent woman, much less find one in this remote area.”
“There’s always church,” Trip suggested. “A good,
God-fearing woman would put this place to rights in no time.”
“Near as I can remember, there were five women at services
last Sunday, and your lovely wife was the only one under the age of fifty.”
“True enough. Lacy and I were discussing the lack of young
women just the other day. She’s determined to find you a wife.”
“I’m so pleased your bride has taken an interest in my love
life, or lack thereof.”
“According to Lacy, you need a calming influence, or you’re
going to drive yourself into the ground with all the nervous bouncing around
you do from one project to the next.”
“And your answer to calming me down is finding me a wife? If
my proposed marriage turned out to be anything like my ma and pa’s, calm wouldn’t be a word I’d use to
describe it.”
As if he’d not even spoken, Trip kept going with his
assessment. “A gentle, pleasant woman would put you to rights, too. If you know
what I mean.”
“Yes, I know what you mean,” Caleb groused. “So, do you and
Lacy have anyone in mind?”
“Well, not a specific person, but rather a matching
service.”
Caleb shook his head. Adamantly. “Nope. No way am I sending
for some mail-order bride and agreeing to marry her sight unseen, and without
so much as a courtship.”
“Don’t forget, she’d be taking the same risk as you. I’d
say, if a woman’s daring enough to put her future in a man, sight unseen, she
should be able to handle anything... even a grumpy, jumpy, ball of nerves like
you.”
She's also the granddaughter of a Methodist minister known for his fire-and-brimstone approach to his faith. Nancy has brought some of his spirit into her Christian romances. And, her own off-beat sense of humor to her clean & wholesome books.
When not writing (which is almost never), Nancy dotes on her five wonderful grandchildren and looks forward to traveling and reading when time permits. Nancy lives in Atlantic Canada where she enjoys the relaxed pace and colorful people.
