Judy Hakanson

It was supposed to be simple favor for my very important boss - go to his good friend Tex Jameson's luxury ranch and provide personal medical care for his recently injured teenage son. I thought it'd be a working vacation of sorts, but everything is upside down, and absolutely nothing is as I thought it would be. For one, this patient is not a teenage boy. He's a real-life, blue-eyed, tough-as-nails, 30-something cowboy who is so darn strong he looks like he could lift a car just for the heck of it.

Matt Shannon lost his fiancé to a tragic accident. He does not want anything more to do with love and marriage. But he is now guardian to four-year-old Lindy. Desperate for a woman to mother the little girl, he arranges for a mail-order bride. The agreement is for convenience only, but Gwen’s kindness and good nature threaten his barred heart.

Mary Mae Clark has learned the hard way not to trust what a man says. Broken promises have made her wary, and now she only wants to return to Santa Fe to help her friend Sophia keep her wee son. Warren Russell has been freighting on the Trail for four years. He likes it that way. No ties. No family. No love. He doesn't deserve it after his neglect of his wife and small son resulted in their deaths. But the accidental death of his best friend on the trail leaves Warren as guardian to the man's 10-year-old niece, Polly.

A life-altering betrayal leaves Donna Grace alone, unmarried, and pregnant. She's desperate to leave St. Louis, Missouri, and return to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she grew up, and the only way back is by wagon train. The wagon master refuses to let a single woman drive a wagon without a male escort. Donna knows she can't trust men, but it seems she's going to have to partner with one if she wants to get back home. Luke Russell failed to protect his fiancee. Because of his neglect, she was murdered. When he overhears Donna Grace's predicament, he offers her a marriage of convenience.