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BRIDES OF SERENDIPITY COLLECTION
I'm a big fan of American history, and a trip to Fallon,
Nevada inspired these books. Along side the highway is a sign designating the
town of Ragtown a historical site—now a ghost town. Once a thriving trading
post where the wagon trains stopped to rest after an arduous journey across the
Forty Mile desert, Ragtown found its place in the history books.
I hope you enjoy these three novellas about three ladies
who found love and purpose in a place called Ragtown.
Sarah Richmond
Excerpt from ‘Courtin’ Dory’
Harley leaned closer. He did have amazing eyes that showed
kindness. "Would it be all right if I kissed you?"
Dory's heart beat wildly and she drew in a quick breath. She'd
no experience with the rightness or wrongness of letting him kiss her. She only
knew she wanted him to.
She closed her eyes and tilted her head upwards. His rough
hand rested on her cheek bones.
"You smell so good," he said. "Sweet, like
spring water."
She opened one eye. "Are you gonna kiss me or talk?"
Excerpt from
‘Barrett’s Law’
Before he could take off, Lena leaned over and grabbed the
bridle of his horse. The mare stepped back but Lena held on firmly. All her
life she played the hand she was dealt. But not this time.
Henry Barrett was going to listen.
"I'm not a wrangler and I'm not accustomed to sitting a
horse but I'm capable, you said so yourself. I'm a hard worker and did a fair
job patching you up. Seems to me out here where the land needs taming and the
law's neglectful, a woman like myself would be useful."
She let his horse go having said her piece. What she'd told
him struck at the core of the matter. He could depend on her.
"Lena," he said, using her given name for the
first time. "You're the peskiest woman I ever did come across."
She knew he spoke honestly and from the heart. Her eyes
stung with tears. It was the nicest compliment she'd ever received.
He smiled, by Lord in Heaven, he did. She was smiling too.
"I suppose if I don't let you come along," he
said, "you'll just follow me anyway."
"I'm glad we're beginning to understand each other."
His mouth twitched. His blue eyes held her like an embrace.
Lena liked what she saw.
Excerpt from ‘Rosy’
"Let me introduce you," Rosamund said. "Matthew
Kincaid, this is Aunt Hester Sherry."
Hester examined Matthew Kincaid as an interloper but she
remembered her manners.
"Sheriff," Hester said, extending her gloved hand.
"Ma'am," he said with rakish charm.
Auntie's gaze cut him with razor sharp precision. He hadn't
won her over.
Sheriff Kincaid looked about as out of place on a veranda as
a man could be. He took Aunt Hester's hand and shook it vigorously.
Hester retrieved her hand from his grasp.
"Aunt Hester has traveled all the way from Richmond,"
Rosamund explained.
His gaze shifted to Rosamund. She saw a hint of a smile.
His gaze shifted to Rosamund. She saw a hint of a smile.
"I hope your journey was agreeable," he said with
positively touching good manners.
Aunt Hester recoiled as if she'd come in contact with a hot
iron. "You're a Yankee," she said, responding to his flat Northern
accent.
"Yes, ma'am."
Hester looked at him in horror.
"Let's go along to my house," Rosamund said,
taking Hester's arm before there was a confrontation. Hester could be a formidable
in an altercation. "Jason will bring your cases."
"Rosamund, how can this be? A Yankee sheriff taking
Jake’s place?"
"I will explain when we are at the house."
Their sheriff put two fingers to the brim of his hat. Hester
ignored him.
"Luckily the house isn't far," Rosamund said,
steering her aunt in that direction.
"Yes, I could use a proper cup of tea." The fan
came out.
"Make no mistake, that's a handsome woman just arrived
on my stage."
Aunt Hester stiffened.
Rosamund shot a look of disapproval over her shoulder. The
stagecoach driver rubbed his grizzled face as he watched them walk away.
Matthew looked like he was about to burst out laughing. Instead, he winked at
Rosamund.
"And Rosy is pretty too," Matthew said.
