by Zina Abbott
“I’d like having a chair for my sit-down work. If the table’s big enough, we can put the chairs on each end and get benches made for the sides.”
“Maybe we should look at a rocking chair for you. I hear women like having a rocking chair, especially once the babies start coming.”
Etta turned to her husband and smiled. “You know, you get a baby on me right away, folks will know we didn’t wait no month to share a bed.”
Eddie Joe grinned. “I’m counting on it.” He dropped his smile, and worry lines creased the spot between his eyebrows. “You all right with having a baby right away, Etta? If you want me to let you alone to give you more time, I will.”
“Too late to worry about leaving me alone, Eddie Joe. I already invited you to join me last night. Besides, at twenty years old, it’s past time I had me a baby.”
Eddie Joe’s grin returned. “Good. I liked that we started working on one last night. If it’s agreeable, I plan to work on it with you again tonight. Let me show you something.” Eddie Joe kept his arm around her waist as he guided her towards the door in the side wall. He opened the door to reveal the bedroom.
Etta hardly heard his promise about picking out a chest of drawers and a dressing table when they went back to Jubilee Springs as she stared at the thick mattress on the iron bedstead. She stepped over and ran her hand across the top of the mattress. “This is a right fine bed, Eddie Joe.” She giggled. “Sure is bigger than the one we shared last night.”
Eddie Joe squeezed her to him as he kissed her neck where it joined her shoulder. “I liked sharing that small bed with you. Just because this one is bigger doesn’t mean I intend to let you get away from me.”
With a smile, Etta turned her head and rubbed her cheek against his face. “I don’t want to get away from you, Eddie Joe.”
Eddie Joe spun Etta around to face him while he held her tight in his arms. “Do you like the house all right, Mrs. Hampton? Do you still think living on the Jacobson ranch is going to be like heaven like you wrote to me in your letter?”
Etta reached up and kissed her husband full on the lips. “I like everything about this house just fine, Eddie Joe. I think living with you is going to be like heaven for me.”
~o0o0o~
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Thank you for reading
Evasive Eddie Joe!
Each book in the
Sweethearts of Jubilee Springs
series is a Clean, Sweet Western Historical Romance. You may find all the books in this series as they are published by searching for
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SWEETHEARTS OF JUBILEE SPRINGS BOOKS BY
SWEET AMERICANA SWEETHEARTS
AUTHORS:
1. Perfectly Mismatched by Linda Carroll-Bradd
Shame over her father’s arrest sends socialite Aurelia Northcliffe running for a new home and a new name. After she makes sure her younger sister is secure, she travels west to become a mail-order bride in Jubilee Springs, CO. Not only is she shocked at the size of the tiny mining town, the men she’s matched with make her second guess her decision. One potential groom is much too unsophisticated and the other much too discerning--even if he’s the one who makes her feel safe.
Mine Manager Declan MacNeill prides himself on following rules to the letter. Initially resistant to the upcoming bride event, he remembers his short marriage in Ireland and realizes what he’s been missing. His first sight of his potential bride sets his protective instincts on high alert. Everything about her behavior indicates she’s keeping secrets. And Declan is determined on finding out why.
2. Ellen’s Lesson by Patricia PacJac Carroll
She's a blond, blue-eyed beauty. (Well, not exactly.) He's a handsome, prosperous gentleman from a good family. (Yeah, not so much.) With their letters at odds, what will Tyler and Ellen do when they meet and discover the truth? It's a mail order bride mess.
Ellen Barker feared her life was destined for the lonely outcome of a spinster school teacher. An advertisement in the paper asking for women to go to Colorado as mail order brides caught her attention. A few letters later, she was betrothed to Tyler Fletcher. A handsome upstanding citizen of Jubilee Springs.
Tyler Fletcher needed to be married before he was twenty-eight. That's what his pappy had told him. That the mine owners sent off for some mail order brides for the miners was perfect timing. He got hold of one. The perfect lady for him. Pretty, blond and blue-eyed. A woman of high society.
At least that is what his partner, Nels, told him. Once Tyler had some time, he was going to have to learn to read and write.
From the moment Ellen met Tyler, she knew she'd disappointed him, and it wasn't as if he'd been the prize she was expecting either. He didn't want her. She would be left alone again. Maybe ...
3. Aaron’s Annulment Bride by Zina Abbott
Aaron Brinks, son of the Jubilee Springs mercantile owners, has been living in a small room above his parents’ store even though he is employed at the Prosperity Mine. When the mine owners announce they have contacted a mail order bride agency, and will allot company houses to the first ten miners who choose a bride and pay her way, he decides it is time for a house of his own.
Shy Andrea Draper must escape her father’s ranch. Her father has discouraged all potential suitors because he does not want to lose his unpaid housekeeper, laundress, and the cook for him and his men. Then there is the problem of Lloyd McCreary, her father’s foreman.
Learning her friend intends to go to Jubilee Springs as a mail order bride, going with her seems Andrea’s only option for escape. She agrees to marry Aaron even though she knows she is not worthy to be any man’s wife. While trying to convince him to be married in name only until he gains title to his house, at which time they can annul the marriage, Andrea’s father shows up to drag her home against her will.
Learning what he is up against, Aaron must decide if it is just the house he wants, or if he wants Andrea.
4. The Sheriff and the Miner’s Daughter by P. A. Estelle
Jim Hawkins, sheriff of Jubilee Springs, watches as six ladies get off the train, ready to meet and hopefully marry men from the Prosperity Mine. He watches as one of the women leave the group and heads his way.
She is there to find somebody. Sheriff Hawkins is more than happy to help her until he finds out the person is Amos Lehman. He is a crusty old miner who has worked his mine before the town was even a town. His cabin is old and hardly enough room for one, let alone a female.
When Jim suggests she get back on the train and go back where she came from, he gets a small taste of the stubbornness in the beautiful young woman standing in front of him. Charlene Lehman had come way to far to do that and didn’t appreciate the sheriff’s interference. Blue eyes scan him from boots to hat before dismissing him and walking away.
The Sheriff’s interest is piqued. Who is this girl? Why is she looking for some old miner? There is more to this story and Jim Hawkins intends to find the answers.
5. Minding Benji by Sandra E Sinclair
Prudence Fairchild went from riches to rags. The world she knew was swept from under her with the death of her parents. Destined to a life of servitude, she realizes the struggles of being poor comes with the risk of being taken advantage of.
She uses everything in her, to ward off the advances of her
employer. His threats to have her on his return from a business trip drives Prudence into action. She must get away and protect her virtue at any cost. It’s all she has left. As a last resort, she answers an advertisement to be a mail order bride.
Austin Alwin is not happy about the condition placed on him in his uncle’s will. If he is to keep the only home he’s ever known, he must find a wife within a few weeks or lose it all. As time is of the essence, he forgoes all the usual protocols in obtaining a mail order bride and will only have a few short days to make up his mind once he meets her.
6. Cat’s Meow by Zina Abbott
Catherine “Cat” Everett has lost everything. She finds and adopts an abandoned, half-grown kitten. Unbeknownst to Harold Calloway, the man she has been writing to in Jubilee Springs with the intent of marriage, and enduring the disapproval of the railroads who do not allow pets to travel in the passenger areas, she decides to bring the kitten with her.
When she arrives in Jubilee Springs, Catherine immediately falls in love with tall, lanky miner, Harold. She wants to marry him, but there is one “meowly” little problem.
7. Bargain Bessie by Zina Abbott
After years of caring for her parents, Bessie Carlson considers herself well past marriageable age. After she is left alone and destitute, she moves in with her aunt and uncle, the owners of Brinks Mercantile in Jubilee Springs. To some of the single men in town who are looking for wives, she is more than eligible. She quickly gains the moniker of “Bargain Bessie” because she is already in town. They won’t have to pay the bridal agency fee, travel money or railroad tickets to get her there.
Zeb Jacobson lives on a remote ranch in nearby Monarch Bend. He takes advantage of the relatively mild weather of the region to run his cattle on government land in the mountains. After his foreman badgers him to start looking for a wife, Zeb considers the possibility of marriage. However, since he is in his late thirties, he has no desire to meet young women just out of the schoolroom.
On a trip to Jubilee Springs for supplies, Zeb meets Bessie. He’s confused by her claim she is not free to marry. When he hears about the Bargain Bessie moniker, he knows he must come up with a plan to convince Bessie she isn’t a bargain of last resort, but a priceless treasure.
8. A Good Man Comes Around by Heather Blanton
Oliver Martin is a shiftless, mischievous no-account. But he wasn’t always. Jilted at the altar almost a year ago, he takes nothing serious anymore. His most important daily goal is determining where to get his next drink or how to start some trouble. John Fowler, his friend and partner in a gold claim, promised Oliver’s father to watch over his boy. Having gotten the young man out of trouble one time too many, Fowler decides it’s time for someone else to give it a go. Fowler’s convinced a wife would settle Oliver and applies for a mail order bride without the man’s knowledge.
Abigail Holt spent ten years married to a belligerent drunk. A widow now for a year, she’s tired of struggling to make ends meet and taking care of her boys on her own. She has decided to become a mail order bride—in her estimation, the perfect way to pick a husband—with pure logic and a rational mind. Marrying for love the first time turned into a train wreck. She wants only to find a good man who is qualified to raise her sons.
She comes to Jubilee Springs ready to wed Oliver Martin—who has never heard of her. Worse, he clearly doesn’t meet her standards. It’s up to Oliver’s partner Fowler to soothe some seriously ruffled feathers and play matchmaker. But men have been the bane of Abigail’s existence for too long and this mail order fiasco ends her desire to ever be a bride again, especially to a shirker like Oliver. And that’s just fine with Oliver who has no intention of getting his heart broken again. Will these two be able to get past their own hurts to see no risk is too great if it will lead to true love?
9. Perfectly Unscripted by Linda Carroll-Bradd
Rilleta Northcliffe’s world has already been turned upside-down with her father’s arrest. While traveling to Colorado as a mail-order bride, she is traumatized by a gang of thieves. Only the steady green gaze of a stranger keeps her sane. Dairy farmer Wit Vanderveer wished he could have done more to prevent the blonde’s involvement with the gang. Safely in Jubilee Springs, neither can stop thinking of the other. Is the shared danger the lure between these individuals, or did Rilleta and Wit discover they have much more to offer one another?
10. Blind Affection by Sandra E Sinclair
Her sister is marrying her ex. She’s running away to marry a man she’s never met...
Lily Whitefield’s once prized debutante status, went unfulfilled, marred by a cruel, fateful accident. Now her sister is marrying the man she loves. Trapped by her imperfection, Lily decides to escape the prospect of spinsterhood by being a mail-order bride. She sneaks away, leaving her safe, cushioned existence behind and boarding a train to Colorado to marry a man she’s never met.
Uncertain if he’d ever find true love, or simply an honest woman who saw him as more than a purse, a financial wishing well, Wythe Radcliffe sought the advice and aid of a Matchmaker from a mail order bridal agency. But he already had the girl in mind. He’d been writing to her for the past two years. He just needed a little help.
Lily has her own money and flaws, she’ll make him the perfect wife. After all he wasn’t perfect either.
Broken and scarred by the tragic events in their pasts. Can Lily and Wythe heal and build a loving future together?
11. Dead-Set Delphinia By Zina Abbott
Being pressured by her father to marry his New York business associate she detests, Delphinia Blakewell, using the alias Delia Brownlee, secretly starts a correspondence with two miners in Jubilee Springs she contacted through the Colorado Bridal Agency. After her letters are discovered by her father, her mother sees to it she is confined to her room for two months. Only when she agrees to the wedding is she allowed more freedom—freedom that leads to a chance encounter with her betrothed and his mistress.
Delphinia flees to Colorado, using another alias, Sarah Brown, only to discover one miner she wrote to married another, and the other was killed in a shootout. Dead set on being married and in her own home to avoid what awaits her should her father track her down, she chooses to go to Jubilee Springs on her own. She wants to find her own miner to marry, but the owner of the bridal agency has other ideas.
Bennett Nighy makes furniture for his store in Jubilee Springs. He also makes caskets, and, by default, has assumed the job of town mortician. He enjoys his solitude. He is dead set on not complicating his life by getting married. However, he is terrible at keeping books, helping customers choose the proper furniture pieces for their homes and he could use some help preparing the town’s female decedents for burial. Still, he might have been able to muddle through life on his own if only he hadn’t attended the town’s harvest dance.
12. Gambled Pride by Sandra E Sinclair
Beg Wilson came to Jubilee Springs for a new life, where no one knows who he is nor his tainted past. The thing about trying to out run your past it has a way catching up with you, and Beg Wilson is no exception.
Matched with two lovely ladies, Beg is more than a little surprise. He has a preference for one of them, but is forced to entertain the other, until an unexpected disclosure shocks everyone concern.
Rachel Stanley, must go to Jubilee springs and marry one of two men she's never met, to fulfill a promise, not as herself, but as her sister Marybeth, recently deceased. To complicate things even further, she's not only has to convince these men she is Marybeth. She must also stay hidden from a bad man who believes he owns her.
13. Perfectly Unacceptable by Linda Carroll-Bradd
Jared Manning has been turned down twice and wants to be assured of a bride. So he commits to a correspondence courtship and anticipates the arrival of Dina Valdis, a retiring schoolteacher, in time for the Harvest Dance.
Dina loves being a schoolteacher but an incident in her hometown of Kingston, New York forces her to quit an
d her reputation is smeared. Her cousins, Aurelia and Rilleta, have found happiness with their husbands in Jubilee Springs and Dina sees no other option.
14. Captured Heart by Sandra E Sinclair
He’s haunted by his past, she doesn’t have one.
With no past and an uncertain future, Emily St. Clair leaves the monastery to become a mail order bride. Her journey is made easier when she meets a kindred spirit along the way, someone she could care for, whose troubles seem greater than hers. Deciding her future would be what she makes it, Emily embraces the idea of all the possibilities which lie ahead.
Only problem is, she’s not Emily.
Lonely and in need of female companionship Steven Kelly sends for a mail order bride, unprepared for the surprise that awaits him on her arrival. The woman who came to be his would-be-wife, was already married—to him. Although this woman looked like his wife, sounded like his wife and was wrapped in his wife’s skin, she wasn’t his Adriel. He didn’t know who she was.
The wife he thought dead, was back, but she was different.
Was this his second chance to right the wrong he’d done, or was she back to torment him? It hurt to be forgotten. Would his love alone help her to remember?
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