The Toss-Up Mail Order Bride

Sweet western novelette

Jenny Candin arrived in Rainbow Creek expecting to marry Tate Adams. When several men started fist fighting before she even stepped off the stage, she didn't know what was happening. When the Marshal opened the stage door and helped her down, he took her to the hotel dining room to tell her that Tate ran out on her. She was devastated, not having money to pay for a hotel and food. She couldn't figure out what she was going to do, because she couldn't return home. Her aunt made her take a mail order husband to get her out of the house after Jenny's uncle passed away.

Bo Parker wished that Tate would have stayed in town and told the woman who came to marry him, that he'd changed his mind. What Tate did was tell the single men in town they could do a toss-up to see who married her. With women scarce, and Thanksgiving and Christmas coming, it was causing all kinds of trouble. To make matters worse, Jenny was a pretty woman, and had no way to support herself. He secured her a room with meals at the hotel in hopes to get her a job somewhere, and the only person he knew would help her out was his ma. Since his ma ran the saloon, he wasn't sure how Jenny would feel about working there, but his ma needed a bookkeeper. It would help both of them out, but trouble was brewing, and Jenny and Bo were caught in the middle.