Shotgun Groom

In Sandra Chastain’s deliciously spirited western romance, a headstrong Tennessee belle has her sights aimed at capturing the heart of a rugged Texas rancher. Lily Towns is determined to marry Matt Logan, even if she has to use her shotgun to get him to the altar. She’d been a skinny little girl when she first boldly proposed. Matt had laughed and refused, telling Lily to ask him again when she grew up. So when Lily’s guardian receives a letter from Matt in Texas requesting a mail-order bride, Lily boards a stagecoach to bring him one—special delivery. After his brother writes away for a wife and forges his signature, Matt knows that his days as a proud bachelor are numbered—and his troubles are only beginning. True, Lily may have filled out in all the right places, but one look at her tells Matt that she’s too delicate to survive for long on the frontier. It also tells him that resisting the sweet seductions of this wily beauty will be the hardest thing he’s ever done. But what Matt can’t yet see is that Lily’s devoted enough to fight for him with all the love in her heart.

PROPOSITION: BABY Beth Trahan was thirty-five, single…and in desperate need of the most perfect male to father her perfect baby. And she even knew exactly the right man—but did she have the nerve to enlist his help? Jack Kincaid had been her best friend —her hero—ever since he rescued her from a school bully. But Jack was a carefree bachelor who would never go for her crazy plan. Really, marrying her tall, handsome, blue-eyed buddy to spend long, passionate nights together to create a baby? What an utterly wacky—utterly…wonderful—thought!

April Edwards, a young widow, is content to manage a farm with her fourteen-year-old brother and a one-year-old daughter. Nothing, after all, could be worse than being married to her deceased husband. Nothing, that is, until her unscrupulous brother-in-law decides to marry her. With no other recourse, April and her brother concoct a plan--one that involves the unsuspecting doctor's assistant, Joel Larson.Joel Larson doesn't want to be married. In fact, he's perfectly happy with things the way they are, but when he's sent to check on April's sick child, things take an unexpected turn for the worse. In one instant, he finds a gun and a mandate to marry April staring him in the face. Can a marriage that begins with a shotgun be just the thing Joel needs or has April just confined herself to another miserable marriage?

"April Edwards, a young widow, is content to manage a farm with her fourteen-year-old brother and a one-year-old daughter. Nothing, after all, could be worse than being married to her deceased husband. Nothing, that is, until her unscrupulous brother-in-law decides to marry her. With no other recourse, April and her brother concoct a plan--one that involves the unsuspecting doctor's assistant, Joel Larson. Joel Larson doesn't want to be married. In fact, he's perfectly happy with things the way they are, but when he's sent to check on April's sick child, things take an unexpected turn for the worse. In one instant, he finds a gun and a mandate to marry April staring him in the face. Can a marriage that begins with a shotgun be just the thing Joel needs or has April just confined herself to another miserable marriage? *This historical western romance is rated R."--

Shotgun Grooms by Susan Mallery\Maureen Child released on Aug 24, 2001 is available now for purchase.

Anthony (Tony) Larson and his twin brother, Mark, have been asked to marry one of the two unfortunate women who are in need of a husband. One woman is Velma Murdoch and the other is Natalie Harper. Tony falls in love with Velma as soon as he meets her, and he’s excited when Mark tells him she’s chosen him to marry. What he doesn’t realize until he marries Velma is that she thought she was marrying Mark. But Mark tricked both of them into marrying each other so he could be with Natalie. While he’s upset with Mark for deceiving him, he’s even more upset to find out Velma had wanted to marry Mark instead of him. Velma is just as upset with Mark as Tony is. A marriage to Tony isn’t going to work out well at all. He’s a farmer who lives in a sod house, and she doesn’t know the first thing about housework or cooking. She was much more suited for Mark who owned a business. Just how are two people who are a bad match going to find common ground? She can’t cook anything right, she's scared of bugs and snakes, and there’s no way she can make clothes. She was brought up to help her future husband entertain guests at dinner parties, not help out on a farm. Can a man who feels rejected and a woman who doesn’t feel competent on a farm find something as wonderful as love?

When Joe Otto accepted the job to lead a wagon train to California, the last thing he expected was to be asked to marry Mr. Heller’s daughter. Still pining over the one that got away, he’s not sure he has it in him to open his heart to another woman. Mr. Heller assures him the arrangement will only be temporary. Once Joe delivers her to her aunt and uncle in California, he can annul the marriage. Joe can use the money, and besides, it’s only a temporary arrangement. She won’t be his wife for the rest of his life. Reassured by this logic, he agrees to the marriage contract. Michelle Heller knows the only way she’s going on the wagon train is if she has a husband, so she readily accepts the deal her father makes with Joe. What she doesn’t expect, however, is that her new husband is the most attractive young man she’s ever seen. Over and over, she has to remind herself their marriage isn’t real. It’s only borne of necessity. But as the days pass on the trail, it’s harder to remember their marriage is only on paper, and it seems the two are at odds as to what they want this marriage to be. After Joe watched the woman of his dreams start a life with someone else, he vowed he would never open himself up to being hurt again. Can Michelle break through his wall, or will she have to annul the marriage once she reaches California?

Olivia Montgomery is on the run for her life. Her stepfather, having control of her fortune, has plans to do away with her before her twenty first birthday so that he can have it all. Olivia, having no plans on being his next victim, flees in the night from her mansion in New York. She heads out west, where they say a man can get lost for years, without ever being missed. She is hoping to hide long enough to avenge her mother's death. Mac Kincaid, bounty hunter turned rancher, has one last job to complete before he can retire and raise his young ward on the land he owns. When Olivia's stepfather offers him a fortune to track the girl down, Mac jumps at the chance to get ahead for once in his life. What he hadn't counted on, was running headlong into a fiery Olivia, and everything he thought he knew about the job, changing before his very eyes. One shotgun, a stormy night, a crazy scheme, and some hasty I do's, make for one heck of an adventure as the reluctant newly wed Mac, and his strong willed bride Olivia, seek refuge on his ranch. As the pair stumble blindly onto the path of unknown danger, will they find their journey leads to true love? Or will evil triumph before they have a chance to recognize what is right in front of their noses?