Mail-Order Matches
Itâs a perfect planâbest friends Leah Bowen and Jake Lure will each advertise for mail-order spouses in the papers, and then Jake will help select Leahâs future husband, while Leah picks Jakeâs bride-to-be! Surely the ads will find them what they seek: a wife whoâll appreciate Jakeâs shy charm and a groom whoâll take Leah away from the Idaho Territory she detests. When the responses to the postings pour in, it seems all Leahâs and Jakeâs dreams will soon come true. But the closer they each get to the altar, the less appealing marrying a stranger becomes. Is it too late to turn backâor to turn around and find the happiness they truly seek together, at last?
âWe obviously posted ads for a spouse at the same time.â
âPlease donât say anything to my family, Jake. Promise me,â Leah said.
âOkay...but on one condition.â His gunmetal-gray eyes snagged hers.
âWhatâs that?â
âThat youâll help me pick out a wife.â He held up his own package of letters with a crooked grin.
âWhy do you need my help?â
âYouâre a great judge of character, and you know me better than anyone else. Do we have ourselves an agreement or not?â
âAgreed.â Leah smiled up at Jake and the dimples on each side of her pink lips winked. How he would love toâ Jake stopped his mind from taking him down that well-worn path to nowhere. Soon Leah would be another manâs wife.
âWell, letâs get this over with,â Leah said, her smile looking forced now.
âHave to put it that way?â
âNo, no. I just meant...â
Jake placed his fingertips on Leahâs soft lips. âItâs okayâI know what you meant.â
DEBRA ULLRICK
is an award-winning Christian romance author. In addition to multiple full-length novels, her stories have been featured in several novella collections, one of which made the New York Times bestseller list. Debra is happily married to her husband of thirty-eight years and has one daughter. For more than twenty-five years, they lived and worked on cattle ranches in the Colorado Mountains. She now lives in the Colorado flatlands. Debra loves animals, classic cars, mud-bog racing and monster trucks. When sheâs not writing, sheâs reading, drawing Western art, feeding wild birds and watching Jane Austen movies, COPS, or Castle.
Debra loves hearing from her readers. You can contact her through her website at www.DebraUllrick.com.
A manâs heart deviseth his way,
but the Lord directeth his steps.
âProverbs 16:9
To my daughter, Sharmane Wikberg.
Remember, kiddo, when you brought home
those Christian romance books from the library eons ago, and how you had to beg me to read them? Look what happened when I finally did. Who would have ever thought it, huh? Thank you, Sharmy. And thanks for being such a loving daughter. God sure blessed me when He gave me you. I love you, girl.
((MEGA HUGS))
Chapter One
Paradise Haven
Idaho Territory, 1886
Nine men had replied to her âGroom Wantedâ ad.
Leah Bowen couldnât believe sheâd received so many that quickly. Her heart skipped as she fingered the envelopes that might very well hold her future and her only avenue of escape from the nightmares that plagued her.
âYou, too, huh?â
âTwinkling stars above!â Leah gasped and whirled toward the sound of Jake Lureâs deep voice. Her nose came within an inch of jamming into the napped wool shirt covering her friendâs massive chest. Pleasant scents of springtime and sunshine floated from him.
Near the front door of Paradise Havenâs post office Jake stood, looking over her shoulder at the posts in her hand. Most people were intimidated by his massive size, but she wasnât. Underneath that outdoorsy, muscular exterior was a gentle giant.
âWhatâwhat do you mean, âyou, tooâ?â Leah glanced at the top envelope with the very noticeable masculine script and tucked them into her reticule. She tossed the end of her purple knit scarf over her shoulder and gathered the edges of the collar of her wool coat closer together.
Jake held up a packet of letters. âGot these in the mail today.â
âOh? What are they?â she asked with all the innocence she could muster.
âSame thing as that stack you just put in your purse.â
âWhat? You mean letters?â
âThose envelopes you have arenât just any ole letters.â One of Jakeâs eyebrows rose. âTheyâre answers to your advertisement.â
Advertisement? She swallowed hard. Did he know sheâd placed an ad for a husband? âWhat are you talking about?â Leah hated playacting, but she had no choice. She refused to offer Jake any information concerning her personal ad. Just because he had mentioned how he wanted to place an advertisement for a wife during one of the many times she and Abby had visited him over the past eleven months didnât mean she had to confide in him that she, too, had wanted to do that very same thing. So how did he know? Or was he only speculating?