Cooper's Wife

Cooper's Wife
Jillian Hart

Sheriff Braddock's Proposal Seemed Too Good To Be TrueA new life dawned for Anna Bauer and her daughter under the wide Montana sky. The past was finally behind them, and the future meant a home and the welcoming arms of a loving father in search of a bride. Or so Anna thought… . Cooper Braddock had too many females in his life already.He hadn't arranged this marriage - his two determined little girls had. And though half the town thought that he and Anna would make the perfect couple, Cooper wasn't convinced. How convenient would it be to be married to the most beautiful woman in town!

Praise for Jillian Hart’s previous work, Last Chance Bride (#uf14c600f-a6eb-59d0-91ce-5e8cbc670963)“You have to marry her.” (#ufe65dd46-e998-5b9b-bc13-9fa0cd5e99fd)Letter to Reader (#u6f79c6d5-65b3-5fea-90fe-203112ae65a4)Title Page (#ud6d2688f-0872-54c5-960d-7fce24ca13e9)About the Author (#u69b46cdc-38c3-5b6a-af57-11ffd484d692)Dedication (#u0bbdc3e5-9f05-5d96-95b1-e00d357d0a91)Prologue (#u30df9539-2af3-5f3c-bd02-e3eb90da15ba)Chapter One (#u7cf2840d-c7d0-5a9a-b74b-1c969872d7f5)Chapter Two (#u46aaac03-a411-5906-839b-27e4c5f48798)Chapter Three (#ufd5794ab-c720-5f4d-ae93-d24014cef7a1)Chapter Four (#u661980b2-36de-5735-b477-0485afd5209a)Chapter Five (#ud2a95a98-b4d6-509a-8c1b-4bf08aeeed6d)Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

Praise for Jillian Hart’s previous work, Last Chance Bride

“The warm and gentle humanity of Last Chance Bride is a welcome dose of sunshine after a long winter.”

—Romantic times Magazine

“The main characters are special in so many ways due to their courage, their strength and their ways of fighting for what they beheve in.... In will touc you deeply.”

—Rendezvous

“You have to marry her.”

Cooper couldn’t imagine why his daughter had gotten all worked up over being without a stepmother. Her mother had been gone a long time, nearly half Katie’s life. They’d adjusted, moved on, tried to make a family with just the three of them.

“Why?”

“Because I wrote a letter and asked Mrs. Bauer to come here.”

Cooper deposited Katie on the floor and bolted from the chair. “Let me get this straight. You wrote a letter to a perfect stranger and asked her to come here?”

“To marry us.”

“How did you find Mrs. Bauer in the first place?”

“I bought a newspaper advertisement.”

“You placed a request for a mother in a newspaper?”

Katie’s eyes still brimmed with tears. “No. I pretended to be you....”

Dear Reader,

Welcome to Harlequin Historicals—stories that will capture your heart with unforgettable characters and the timeless fantasy of falling in love!

Jillian Hart, who made her publishing debut in our 1998 March Madness Promotion with her enormously popular Last Chance Bride, returns this month with another heartwarming Western, Cooper’s Wife. The local sheriff saves a widow and her little girl when their stagecoach is robbed and learns that the woman is a mail-order bride for him—thanks to his meddling daughter. He responsibly proposes a marriage of convenience, and unexpectedly finds a lasting love.

In The Dreammaker by Judith Stacy, also a Western, two people who are swindled by the same man go into business together to recoup their losses and realize their dreams—when love, the dream of a lifetime, is right in front of them! Award-winning author Gayle Wilson returns with Lady Sarah’s Son, an emotional Regency-style tale of sweethearts, torn apart by tragedy, who come together again in a marriage of convenience and can no longer deny their enduring love.... And don’t miss The Hidden Heart, a terrific medieval novel by Sharon Schulze. Here, a beautiful noblewoman must guard her heart from the only, man she has ever loved—the Earl of Wynfield, who has returned to her keep on a dangerous secret mission.

Enjoy! And come back again next month for four more choices of the best in historical romance.

Sincerely,

Tracy Farrell, Senior Editor

P.S. We’d love to hear what you think about Harlequin Historicals! Drop us a line at:

Harlequin Histoncals

300 E. 42nd Street, 6th Floor

New York, NY 10017

Cooper’s Wife

Jillian Hart

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

JILLIAN HART grew up in rural Washington State, where she learned how to climb trees, build tree houses and ride ponies. A perfect childhood for a historical romance author. She left home and went to college and has lived in cities ever since. But the warm memories from her childhood still linger in her heart, memories she incorporates into her stories. When Jillian is not hard at work on her next novel, she enjoys reading, flower gardening, hiking with her husband and trying to train her wiggly cocker spaniel puppy to sit. And failing.

To Henry, my husband and best friend, who is all of my heart

Prologue

Montana 1864

“Candy, Mama?”

“In a minute, pumpkin.” The bank was busy and the line behind her long, but Anna Bauer smoothed the gold curls from her tiny daughter’s forehead.

“One hundred twenty-five dollars and thirty-seven cents.” The clerk counted out Anna’s life savings with crisp flicks of twenty-dollar bills.

So much money. Anna’s heart flickered as she counted to make sure of the amount. She would need nearly all of it to buy stage passages across the Ruby Range and up into the rugged Montana Rockies. What kind of man awaited her there? What kind of life?

“We’ll be sorry to see you go.” Kind and genuine, Tom Brickman had always treated her with respect, despite her illegitimate daughter. “I’ve heard you are to be married.”

“Yes, I am.” Anna’s stomach quivered with a mix of excitement and trepidation.

“Then I wish you and your daughter a safe journey and a happy future.” Tom pushed the last of the coins across the counter.

A door opened; she felt the breeze sweep through the bank. A murmur rose through those standing in line behind her. Anna folded the six twenty-dollar bills in half, then in half again. She saw Tom’s smile fade and fear shadow his eyes.

Bootsteps knelled in the silence. “Hands up where I can see them. Now.”

So dangerous and lethal, that voice. Prickles skidded down her spine. Anna tucked the folded twenties into the top of her glove. Her sleeve fell forward to hide the money from sight.

“Mama.” Mandy’s whisper came quietly, and the girl held tight to Anna’s skirts.

“Just stay with me, pumpkin.” Anna tucked her little girl behind her. Those footsteps knelled closer, ringing in the tensed silence. She could see one of the robbers. He held two gleaming revolvers, one in each unflinching hand. A hat was pulled low over his forehead and a handkerchief masked most of his face from view.

Anna swallowed, fighting fear. Sometimes innocent people waiting in line were killed in bank robberies. She heard Tom’s quick intakes of breath, saw the tensed line of his jaw. He was afraid, too. The second outlaw stepped out of sight, gun on the bank owner. The vault was in the next room and the two men disappeared.

“I’ll just take that from you.” Deep, that voice. Somehow familiar. He dropped a canvas sack on the counter. “Put your money in there, little lady.”