Millie Marries a Marshal

by Linda K. Hubalek

  Cora Captures a Cowboy (Cora and Dagmar)

  Sarah Snares a Soldier (Sarah and Marcus)

  Cate Corrals a Cattleman (Cate and Isaac)

  Darcie Desires a Drover (Darcie and Reuben)

  Tina Tracks a Trail Boss (Tina and Leif)

  Brides with Grit Series

  Rania Ropes a Rancher

  A Historical Western Romance

  Brides with Grit Series: Book 1

  Rania Hamner and her family emigrated from Sweden fourteen years ago to work on a Texas ranch, working cattle and herding them up the Chisholm Trail. Something in her life on the trail caused her to doubt her worth, and her ability to trust a man enough to become his wife. Once the family buys a homestead in Kansas, she meets a rancher who begins to make her believe she can trust and fall in love after all.

  Rancher Jacob Wilerson noticed Rania last year when she rode drag behind a herd of longhorns—right down Main Street of Ellsworth, Kansas. He’s been waiting for her family to return this spring with another Texas herd to the booming cowtown, because he hopes to rope her into staying permanently on his ranch—the way she had already roped his heart.

  When Rania’s past attacks with new danger, she decides to fight for all she’s worth because she realizes she wants to be with Jacob forever.

  When Jacob realizes Rania is in danger, he rushes to save her, whether or not she still loves him, hoping to rope Rania—his heart—once more, as she has roped his.

  Millie Marries a Marshal

  A Historical Western Romance

  Brides with Grit Series, Book 2

  Mail-order bride Millie Donovan was looking forward to meeting Sam Larson, a Kansas homesteader, who she is sure, from reading his heartfelt letters, will provide her with the love and safety she wants and needs. Millie arrives on the train, not realizing that her husband-to-be was killed in an accident, until Clear Creek’s town marshal informs her of the situation.

  Town Marshal Adam Wilerson never plans to marry due to his dangerous job. After reading letters found at his friend’s home following his untimely death which were sent from his friend’s mail-order bride, he can’t help thinking of the woman, and believes he may be in love with her himself. But instead of sending Millie on the train back to her former home, he finds himself welcoming her—and her two-year-old charge—into his house, and into his heart.

  When danger threatens, Millie faces it head–on to protect the people she loves, including the town marshal.

  Can Adam keep the peace in town—and his house—or will the man following Millie cause an uproar that will endanger them both, and ruin their chance of a life together?

  Hilda Hogties a Horseman

  A Historical Western Romance

  Brides with Grit Series, Book 3

  Ranch woman Hilda Hamner spent her youth traveling with her Swedish immigrant family as they drove cattle from Texas up to Kansas cow towns in the 1870s. Hilda decided to get off the cattle trail and bought an abandoned homestead in Kansas with her horse race winnings. She plans on raising horses—and finding a husband that doesn’t mind her tall, lanky body that’s usually dressed in men’s clothing.

  Noah Wilerson planned to bring his intended bride from Illinois back to the Kansas homestead he started for them, but found out his fiancée had already married someone else when arriving at her father’s doorstep. After traveling back home, Noah finds a woman has taken over his claim, leaving him homeless and jobless.

  Hilda realizes she needs help to make her horse ranch successful, and decides that Noah is the right man—to promote from horseman to husband on her ranch—if he’ll treat her as a special woman, and not just a ranching partner.

  Noah wants his homestead back, and the woman who has transformed the simple soddie into a family home. Between family dramas, outlaw danger, and butting heads, which one will hogtie the other to get to the church altar first?

  Enjoy reading the beginning of Hilda Hogties a Horseman

  Chapter 1

  June 1873, near Clear Creek, Kansas

  This was the second time Noah Wilerson had seen that thick blonde braid. He was positive it was the same one. Surely there couldn’t be two identical women with matching braids.

  The first time he saw that hair was a year ago in early May when he was at the Clear Creek depot, waiting for the train to take him to Illinois. Noah assumed a bunch of cowboys had finished the long trail drive from Texas to Ellsworth and were celebrating with a horse race in the nearby small town of Clear Creek. After getting the worked–up men and horses lined up halfway straight across Main Street, someone fired a gun into the air and the group stormed down the street, racing out of Clear Creek at a break-neck speed. The sky was a clear blue but changing to hazy gray as the dirt cloud ascended from the racers’ horses’ hooves.

  The pack of horses galloped together out to a certain point marked in the prairie, then turned to race back to the finish line, which happened to be in front of the depot, right where Noah stood on the boardwalk. A striking palomino paint mount moved out of the oncoming dust to claim the lead and finish first.

  The slender rider wore his wide–brimmed hat low and tight on his head and had a red bandana over his mouth to keep from eating dust on the run. Once the horse slowed down and the rider turned his mount around, they pranced back to the finish line and collected the $100 cash from the man in charge of holding the prize money.

  Once the money was in hand, the rider pulled down the bandana, ripped the hat off to wave in the air and gave a very feminine whooping holler. That’s when Noah—and everyone else—saw the thick, blonde, two–foot braid, with a bright pink bow tied on the end of it, flipping out of her hat and down her back.

  That caused an uproar when the other riders realized a woman had bested them out of the race money. A couple of riders jumped off their horses and tried to tear the female down off the horse but the gelding thrashed around, not letting anyone touch him or his rider. The officials decided the woman had won the race fair and square, so she loped west out of town with the money. No one bothered to follow her as she headed back to Ellsworth, because they knew the horse could outrun them if they tried. Noah had admired the woman’s spunk and horsemanship, and silently tipped his hat to her successful ride and earnings.

  Now, a year later, he was back from his unsuccessful Illinois trip, and that same female with the decorated braid had a rifle trained on his head. She looked like she could shoot about as well as she rode that palomino paint horse, too. The only trouble was that she was standing in the doorway of his house.

  Noah stared at her, hoping she’d relax her stance and lower the rifle. She was in her early twenties, a little on the skinny and tall side for a woman, probably only four to five inches shorter than his six–foot height.

  Neither the woman—dressed in men’s trousers—nor the gun wavered a quarter of an inch when she yelled, “State your business, Mister, or turn around and leave!”

  Noah stood there, dumbfounded, for a minute. He didn’t think he needed to yell, “Hello the house,” since it was his own place.

  Noah looked around, just now realizing there were changes around his homestead. He was so tired riding in he hadn’t noticed the difference. It had been a long trip from Colorado, and his brain hadn’t registered things that might not be exactly the same as they were when he left a year ago. Actually, the place should have looked like a neglected, weedy mess, but there was a large, well–maintained garden planted beside the water well; a small flock of chickens scratched around in a screened, chicken–wire pen attached to the small barn that he’d built. His sod house looked different with the blooming, wild, pink rose bushes growing on either side of the door, but it did improve the looks of the sod–block home. Why hadn’t he noticed the difference when he rode up? He hadn’t bothered planting flowers on the place before he left—although it would have been a nice gesture to welcome home his new bride.

  Now what? He was bone tired from the trip home. His plan was to put
his horse into his barn and go into his house and crawl into his own bed. That wasn’t going to happen with her rifle trained on him, though.

  The woman seemed to be alone, except for the dirty little dog by her side, which was yapping non-stop—without stopping to breathe—it seemed to Noah. No man had stepped out of the barn, nor had any children peeped out of the two windows he built into the house. Huh. The window frames had been painted white. Bet those frames almost glowed in the dark against the dark sod walls.

  She also hadn’t offered her name. Noah racked his brain, but he was sure she wasn’t a neighbor’s daughter he should know. Her ties to the area were evident from last year’s race. Her speech was a little different; like a European immigrant but with a Texas drawl—if that was even possible.

  Noah urged his chestnut quarter horse, Ace, to take step forward, but pulled back on the rein when he heard the metallic click of the gun being cocked. “Sir, this is my homestead, so don’t bother getting any closer.”

  “Where’s your husband, ma’am?” Noah shouted, wanting to be sure all possible claim jumpers were in sight. “I homesteaded this place last year.”

  Her gun was beaded right in the middle of his forehead now. “That might be then, but now it is my place. I bought it fair and square—with cash—at the county land office in Ellsworth.”

  “Not possible. I built this place, so I own it.”

  She didn’t even blink an eye at his statement. “It’s been sitting empty for months, so it was considered abandoned.”

  Noah hung his head in exasperation now. “I hadn’t planned to be away from home so long, but…my trip didn’t go as planned.”

  “Doesn’t matter. This place is mine now. You only filed a temporary claim on the place, and then left for months. You’ve got to live on the land to own up the claim or pay the higher fee to begin with.”

  Noah’s temper was about to blow. “The soddie is one thing, but my money and sweat built that wooden barn. This is my place!”

  “No, it’s mine. Plus I don’t know you from Adam. You could just be another stupid claim jumper thinking I don’t know my rights.”

  Gall dang this was getting annoying. “My belongings are in there, even the Bible which has my name in it! Look for Noah Wilerson written on the inside front page.”

  “Hmm,” the woman smirked. “I didn’t bother looking for any name in that book when I used its pages to start a fire in the stove.”

  The woman had good eyesight, because she smirked when she saw the horror on his face. Noah didn’t know if she was kidding just to get him riled, or if she did really burn his precious book in the stove. Even if she didn’t read, most people recognized the Bible and the importance of it.

  Now the barking mutt left the woman’s side and slowly advanced toward him. Noah guessed the dog might have been white once—when it was born—but now it looked like it had been used as a dust mop on the hard dirt floor of his home. The poor dog’s dirty long hair, which nearly covered its eyes and ears, probably weighed more than its body. The thing growled and showed its mouth of bared teeth, trying to look twice as big as its little foot–tall body.

  Ace took a step back as did his own dog, Poker. So much for the fancy German shepherd guard puppy he won in a card game. It had no instinct at all for protecting the three of them from the mop now charging toward them.

  “Holy Terror! Stop!”

  Holy Terror? The mutt stopped but kept its mouth silently moving, looking like it wanted to taste horse flesh—or a hunk of him.

  “Just as well turn around and leave, because you’re not stepping a foot on this place.”

  “All right, I’ll ride into town and bring the Clear Creek marshal out to settle this. Get your stuff packed, because you’ll be leaving when we get back!” But Noah’s shouted threat didn’t seem to ruffle the woman.

  “I have the deed to this land, so a visit from Marshal Adam Wilerson won’t make a difference, especially since he’s just a town marshal. Anyway, he’s the one who told me this place was available,” she yelled back.

  What? Why would his brother Adam say this place was abandoned? His family knew he’d come home—eventually. Of course, he’d planned to come back as a married man, but his sweetheart hadn’t waited for him.

  Noah sighed and turned his horse around. Poker was already running like a coward, away from the glare of the little dog. Noah knew he had better stop before his temper got the best of him and he got shot. The woman looked as though she had no qualms to shoot him in front between the eyes, or from behind, between his shoulder blades.

  “Wait,” the woman called.

  Noah looked over his shoulder, hopeful she’d say it was a joke his brothers Adam and Jacob had planned for his return. He had sent Adam a wire from Denver saying he was on his way home.

  “Your mother said you can bunk at her house.” Then the woman lowered her rifle and stepped back, into the front door of his sod house.

  ***

  Hilda Hamner stayed in the open doorway, watching the horse trot away from the house. So that was Cate Wilerson’s third son, Noah. He matched his brothers, Adam and Jacob, in looks from what she would tell at a distance. She should have waited to step out so she could have gotten a better look at him. Sat fairly tall and straight in the saddle, broad shoulders, shaggy brown hair and a scruff–looking beard. Bet he’ll clean up real nice when he got around to it. Yep, that was a fine looking gelding—and the man wasn’t bad either.

  She wondered if Noah would be a good life partner. If he was a good horseman and husband material, like her friend and neighbor Cate said her son would be, Hilda would consider letting him on her place, permanently.

  But Noah had to prove himself to her first. Hilda wanted an equal partnership with her future husband. She would not be told what to do, belittled, abused, nor tolerate a drunk or anything else she’d seen in bad marriages. She remembered her parents’ rough time in Sweden, and starting over in Texas, too, but they got on the right track and worked well together now. Her parents brought up their four children to work as a team as the family rounded up wild Texas longhorns in the Hill Country and drove them to various states. They had been as far west as Denver, and east to St. Joseph, Missouri. The last several trips ended at the Kansas cowtown shipping yards of Abilene and Ellsworth.

  The cattle were starting to thin out in Texas and her parents had a family meeting. What did the family want to do; continue traveling on cattle drives, or settle permanently somewhere? All four children; Leif, Dagmar, Hilda and Rania were adults now and ready to start their own families. On their last cattle drive to Kansas, they picked up the Emigrant’s Guide to the Kansas Pacific Railroad Lands–1871, anxious to compare what was available in Kansas versus their Texas lifestyle.

  It was unanimous to settle near each other in Kansas, and they had been working on this plan for a year. Instead of buying railroad land and building, Hilda’s folks bought an existing homestead, and Hilda bought this abandoned claim.

  Hilda watched as the horse and rider trotted across the prairie to his family’s ranch. She’d love to be a fly on the horse’s neck when he got a good look at the changes in the Wilerson ranch yard. Oh, and when he got in the house, too. But Hilda wasn’t worried about listening in on the conversations; the females in the Wilerson family would give her the details later.

  Please look for this book at your favorite vendor to continue the story of Hilda Hogties a Horseman

  Cora Captures a Cowboy

  A Historical Western Romance

  Brides with Grit Series, Book 4

  Bostonian Cora Elison arrives unannounced at her family’s ranch in Kansas, after her fiancé changed her status from bride to bridesmaid—at her own wedding. But after a few months, Cora thanks her lucky stars that he did because she has found a set of loyal friends, a way of life she relishes, and a cowboy she has become to love.

  Dagmar Hamner and his family emigrated from Sweden to work on a Texas ranch, working cattle and herding th
em north over the Chisholm Trail. After his family decides to settle permanently in Kansas in 1873, he is hired for the foreman’s job at the six thousand acre Bar E Ranch.

  All goes well for the Swedish cowboy until the absentee owner’s daughter arrives, wanting to learn how to become a rancher. Time makes them best friends, until a telegram arrives saying Cora’s parents are bringing an unknown groom to Kansas for her, insisting she be married when they arrive.

  Cora asks Dagmar to marry her, but he balks at her proposal. Between confusion and interference, will Cora be able to capture her cowboy in time to haul him to the altar?

  Sarah Snares a Soldier

  A Historical Western Romance

  Brides with Grit Series, Book 5

  Rancher’s daughter Sarah Wilerson has been engaged to Ethan Paulson, a Clear Creek hotel manager, for two years. Although Ethan is a nice man, Sarah has postponed the wedding twice, unsure whether she can live and work in the family’s hotel—alongside an overbearing mother–in–law.

  West Point–trained Captain Marcus Brenner was stationed at Fort Wallace in western Kansas, and wounded in a skirmish with the Cheyenne Indians. He has been discharged from the army and recuperating at his uncle’s ranch in Ellsworth County, Kansas. There he meets Sarah, who helps him recover from his wounds and nightmares. Marcus falls in love with Sarah, but refuses to consider marrying her because of her engagement to another man. And, due to his battle injuries, he may not be able to give Sarah the houseful of children for which she yearns for either.

  Unable to bring herself to go through with her wedding on the third date set, Sarah leaves her groom at the altar and rides after Marcus, determined to convince him to marry her.

  Fate throws a challenge in their path when they suddenly become guardians of six young children. Can Sarah convince Marcus to become the father the children need, and the husband she wants?

  Historical Fiction Books by Linda K. Hubalek

  Author’s Website

  Butter in the Well Series

  Butter in the Well