Marriage of Convenience by Paty Jager

I've never been a romance reader who had to have certain tropes in the romance books I read. One of my least favorite is marriage of convenience.

Yet, that was the trope I used in my very first book in the Letters of Fate series historical western romance series. Davis, the book,  starts out with Davis Weston riding on an Army freight wagon headed to his wedding to a woman he's never met.

The premise of my Letters of Fate series deals with men receiving letters that change their lives and helps them find their wives.

In the case of Davis, he has lost a wife and child and wishes to leave the area where his neighbors look at him as if he didn't do enough to save them. His sister, who is friends with the woman he is marrying, suggested he come west and help out her friend who has two children and a cattle ranch.

Here is a scene from the wedding:

Davis knew the man who walked through the door must be the Justice of the Peace. On the ride from Roaring Springs Ranch to J.P.’s ranch, his brother-in-law had told Davis the man was meeting them here.

Mariella wasn’t unpleasant to look at. She had light brown, curly hair. He knew it was curly because of the wisps curling around her face, otherwise it was pulled up in a bun. The smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks gave her a youthful appearance. Talking with Mariella, her hazel eyes changed with her mood. His first sight of her had pleased him. She was nothing like his dainty Sarah. There was no comparison to his late wife. The dress Mariella wore showed off her wide child-baring hips, ample breasts, small waist, and broad shoulders. And her height. She stood a good two inches taller than his five-ten.

What did concern him was her riding and working cattle like a man. Granted she was as big as many men and no doubt strong, but a mother should care for the children.

“Davis, this is Mr. Cline, the Justice of the Peace, I was telling you about,” J.P. said, leading the man over to Davis.

Davis stood, shook hands with the man, and wondered if he should go through with this.

After they shook hands, Mr. Cline turned to Mariella. “Mrs. Swanson, are you sure you’re ready to remarry?”

Mariella shook her head. “I’m not sure. But Peter French has given me no choice.”

The venom as she said the other rancher’s name, caught Davis’s attention. He felt there was more to the feud than she was telling. Her indecision about marrying after meeting him was a bit of a blow to his ego. He hadn’t expected her eyes to light up with interest when they met, but her having second thoughts after talking with him didn’t give him hope of an easy marriage.

Ernestine moved to put an arm around Mariella’s waist. “Mr. Cline, I’m sure you’ve heard how Mr. French is pushing squatters and homesteaders out of Blitzen Valley. He’s now trying to take Blitzen Canyon. That is Mariella and her children’s home. She needs a husband to keep her land. My brother needed a change in his life. This is a good thing.”

Davis stared at his sister. She didn’t need to tell a stranger his problems. This matter was between him and Mariella. He held out a hand to Mariella. “We need to talk alone.”

Mariella ignored his outstretched hand, but headed for the door of the house. He followed, tossing over his shoulder. “We’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Outside, standing in the warm May sunshine, Davis walked over to where Mariella stood stroking a harnessed horse’s neck.

“Mariella, I understand this marriage is being forced on you. That you’d rather deal with it on your own but can’t. I didn’t want to remarry. Ever. It’s too painful to lose someone you love. You know this, having lost your husband brutally.”

She nodded and wiped at her tears with her fingers.

“What we have to decide isn’t if we will ever love one another, but can we get along. Do you think we can work together to keep your ranch?” Davis leaned against the wagon wheel behind the horse she pet.

Mariella cleared her throat. “I don’t know about getting along. You seem a bit citified to help on the ranch, but if you can help me keep this ranch, I’m willing to give it a try. I’m running out of choices.”

“All I can tell you is I will do my best to help you keep the ranch. My goal in coming here was to change my life and leave memories behind. Helping you may just be my only salvation.” Davis didn’t know why, but since seeing the woman, he wanted to help her keep a ranch he’d never seen.

“You seem to be a reasonable man and with some intelligence. I’d be a fool to turn down someone willing to help.” Mariella held out her hand.

Davis felt stung a bit by the ‘man of some intelligence’ comment but he understood her desperation. He clasped her hand and they shook.

“Come on. Let’s make this legal so you can explain all the problems on the way to the ranch.”

Mariella smiled. The first one he’d witnessed since meeting her. Her eyes turned a golden brown and her face glowed with youthfulness. That smile took his breath away.

He motioned for her to precede him into the house so they could get the legalities of this out of the way.

Mr. Cline read the official wedding narrative, had them sign a paper, and they all sat down to a delicious dinner prepared by Ernestine.

Davis was pleased to see that his new bride didn’t eat huge helpings like a man, but she also didn’t pick and push her food around.

After the meal, they hugged Ernestine, and Davis shook hands with J.P. and Mr. Cline.

“Come see me soon!” Ernestine called as Mariella drove the horses and wagon out of the Mulligan’s yard and out to the road he and J.P. had taken to get to the homestead from Roaring Springs.

“How far is the ranch from here?” Davis asked as the horses settled into a lengthened walk.

“About an hour. Depending on how many times we get stopped.”

The venom he’d heard in her voice earlier when mentioning Mr. French stung her words.

“What do you mean by stopped?” He wasn’t understanding a lot of things this woman said.

“We have to cross land Mr. French uses for his cattle. He has riders who stop anyone crossing his land.” Mariella glanced at him. “He’s fenced in land he doesn’t own. His cattle graze it, and he keeps everyone else off.”

“How can he fence land he doesn’t own?”

“I don’t know, but he has, and he’s keeping people from their land because of it.”

Davis had never heard of this. “Have you talked to a law official about the legality of his fencing?”

“The closest one is Canyon City. That’s four days from here. I can’t spare the time to ride up there.” Mariella sighed. “I couldn’t really spare the time to meet and marry you.” She glanced over. “I’m sorry. That didn’t sound like I appreciate a complete stranger marrying me to help me save the ranch. I do appreciate you coming all this way to help me. Ernestine and I have been good friends since they arrived in the Blitzen Valley. When she said she’d asked you to come out here and marry me…I was mad at her. She’d aired my troubles to a complete stranger.” Mariella turned her gaze on him. The golden brown of her eyes had turned to a sobering brown. “I couldn’t believe when you’d accepted her offer.” Her cheeks reddened. “To be honest, I didn’t expect—” she waved her hand up and down, “—this.”

Davis smiled. Probably the first genuine smile in over a year. “You aren’t what I expected either.”

This book is available alone on in a box set that just released.

Letters of Fate Trilogy

Three historical western novels filled with steamy romance and the rawness of a growing country.

Davis

Davis Weston receives a letter from his sister asking him to marry a friend. Widowed with two small children and a ranch to run, Mariella Swanson knows she needs help, but isn’t sure her heart, or neighbors, will accept her marrying a stranger. Can the two compromise or will fate once again leave them alone?

Brody

After receiving a letter, Brody Yates finds himself escorted across the country to work on a ranch rather than entering prison. However, a revenge driven criminal, the Oregon high desert, and his grandfather’s beautiful ward may prove more dangerous than anything he’d faced on the New York docks.

Isaac

The last thing Isaac Corum needs or wants is a snooty woman. Dang it all, the woman doesn’t do a single blasted thing she’s told, and Isaac can’t just sit back and let her go traipsing off into the mountains alone…

Universal buy link: https://books2read.com/u/47zp6R

Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 40 novels, 8 novellas, and numerous anthologies of murder mystery and western romance. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Paty and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

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