Showing results by author "Christine Sterling" in All Categories

"Miriam “Midge” Beale never imagined she’d be stealing chickens in the middle of the night just to feed her family. But when her father abandons them, leaving Midge in charge of her eight younger siblings, she will do whatever it takes to put food on the table. Until she's caught by the grumpiest man in all of Flat River. Baxter Hartman has every reason to be grumpy! He’s spent his days working on his ranch and his nights sleeping near the chicken coop trying to catch the thief who’s been stealing from his family.

June Clark's reputation was in tatters. Her marriage was a fraud. She lost everything, including her pride, in a fire started by her reprobate husband. And to make matters worse, she'd never be a mother. Desperate for a second chance, June reaches out to the local matchmaker, never dreaming that she'd be matched to a cowboy with a reputation for womanizing, drinking, and gambling!

Debutante Peyton Fuller's life consists of friends, parties, and waiting for her beau to propose to her. With little knowledge of politics and fighting, her cosseted world changes overnight as soldiers stream into Harrisburg to prepare for a war between the states. As they march past her door, she catches the eye of one soldier who makes her question everything.

Owen Chapman’s plans of starting his own horse ranch are finally coming true. With his brothers as his business partners, he knows there is no way to fail. What he didn’t expect was a southern belle to arrive and resurrect a ten-year feud that he thought was finally in the past.

Millie Reed is trying to do it all. She is a mother, the local schoolteacher, and trying to keep her husband's horse ranch going. She knows her husband is never coming home after he died in the blizzard that killed so many men. She needs help, so why is she so hesitant about the letter she mailed to a stranger? What she doesn't expect is to find a man hiding in her barn, or his outrageous story of innocence.

Forced from her home, Elizabet Garrett needs to find a husband, and fast. What she doesn’t anticipate is meeting a man who is nothing like she expects, but just might be the answer to her prayers. Disabled after a farming accident, Peter Arkin lives on his small homestead nursing his demons and a broken dream. Forced to face another harsh winter alone, he sobers up and agrees to allow a local matchmaker to find a suitable mail-order bride. But hurtful rejections for his handicap leave him reluctant to keep trying.

Welcome to Last Chance, Nebraska! When the freak blizzard of 1878 kills most of the men in a small Nebraska town, what does it mean for the surviving women and children? Realizing they need to find men of honor to help rebuild, the women place an advertisement in the Matrimonial Times. Choosing a husband is more difficult than they thought when there is an overwhelming response to the ad. Will these Blizzard Brides find the second chance at love in a town called Last Chance?

Cecily James is determined to save Last Chance, Nebraska, from another tragedy. As the drought consumes everything around her, she wonders if her prospects are drying up with it. Left alone in a destitute town, she learns of a device that can drill for water previously unreachable. She expects this could be the answer the town prayed for. What she doesn’t expect is a handsome drill operator who makes her flame up like a match to a tumbleweed.

Gracie Pickett followed her dreams of being a physician all the way to Rattlesnake Ridge. Learning the trade was the easy part, however. Convincing the small pioneer town that she’s up to the job is the tough part, especially when a rude, arrogant, oh-so-handsome widower and his three adorable boys seem to make it their mission to make her new life far more difficult than she ever anticipated.

Esther Thompson longs for a husband and a home, but nearing 30 and plain as they come, she knows her chances of having either are slim. Until the loss of her position as a governess forces her into becoming a mail-order bride. After losing his beloved wife, Jeremiah Price is left with a broken heart, five children, and a farm to take care of. Desperate for a new wife to ease his workload, and after three successive brides balk at the prospect of such a large family, he insists on a proxy marriage for his fourth.

Shay O’Donnell traveled across the Atlantic to escape the famine and poverty in Ireland. Sold into servitude by her father, she has little chance for freedom or marriage in the new land. She never expected a stolen kiss could turn her entire life upside down and give her hope for the future.

Dreamer Bethany Moore wished to have a marriage like her ma and pa, but chances in Flat River were slim. There were only a handful of bachelors left, and none of them caught her eye in the slightest. Except one. When a bad storm sweeps her down river, she doesn’t expect to be rescued by the rancher next door who has been haunting her dreams. Little does she know behind Benjamin’s tough exterior lies a tender heart yearning for love.

There was a storm coming. Not now, but soon. Not the kind that involved thunder and lightning. It was the kind that involved bullets and blood. Carrigan Briccillio could feel it in her bones. .... it really is a love story.

Penelope Chapman’s youngest sister leaves town with a traveling preacher and Penny is sure something is wrong. She goes to the only person she’s sure can help her get to the bottom of it–her twin sister, Marianne. She hopes Marianne will convince the Pinkerton Detective Agency to get involved. What she didn’t count on was the gruff bare-knuckled fighter that appeared to have more bruises than sense, who is assigned to the case.

Kathleen O'Byrne hasn't been forgetful all her life. After an accident leaves her with a brain injury, her father hired a successful matchmaker to find Katie a husband. The man she needs to marry would be patient, kind and understanding. Not at all like Ezra Simmons who made her cry within ten minutes of meeting her.

An optimistic widow longing for freedom. A roguish womanizer longing to settle down. Thrown together, they must solve a case that could split them apart forever.

Head of the Denver Pinkerton office Archie Gordon has been tasked with hiring female agents. The problem? They need to be trained by existing agents while solving cases. Alone and unchaperoned. In 1871. The solution? Have each pair marry temporarily, for the duration of the case. If Archie can convince his reluctant agents and the even more reluctant women to agree, that is.

As a former child of the system, Susan Vuichard is committed to making sure no child is forgotten in the foster system. Opening her family farm to three sisters that have nowhere else to go and a low chance of being adopted is a temporary solution.

A battered woman is the last thing Oliver Chapman expected to see when he was scouting on the range. He knew he had no choice but to take her home to his ranch to allow her to heal. But getting close to Willow is proving more difficult than the horses that run wild on the prairie.

Ingrid Aland is heartbroken when she hears Weston Chapman has decided to join a wagon train headed west. All her dreams of marriage, children, and living surrounded by family are about to die in an instant unless she steps out in faith and lets Wes know her feelings, and follows him into the great unknown.