The Unlikely Wife. Debra Ullrick

      A woman in pants!

      The arrival of Michael Bowen’s bride, married sight unseen by proxy, sends the rancher reeling. With her trousers, cowboy hat and rifle, she looks like a female outlaw—not the genteel lady he corresponded with for months. He’s been hoodwinked into marriage with the wrong woman!

      Selina Farleigh Bowen loved Michael’s letters, even if she couldn’t read them herself. A friend read them to her, and wrote her replies—but apparently that “friend” left things out, like Michael’s dream of a wife who was nothing like her. Selina won’t change who she is, not even for the man she loves. Yet time might show Michael the true value of his unlikely wife.

      “What do we do now?” Selina asked.

      Her whisper, broken by tears, tugged at his heart. He hated seeing a woman cry, no matter how angry he was.

      What did they do now?

      He folded the letter from her—supposedly from her—that he’d been reading, stacked it on top of the rest and tied the string around them. What he wanted to do was burn them along with his marriage certificate.

      The way he saw it, they had no other choice. Vows had been spoken. The Bible made it clear about the wrongness of breaking vows. Like it or not, he and Selina were legally married. There was only one answer to that question. “I guess we head home.”

      Her gaze flew up to his and the color drained from her face.

      Michael understood exactly how she felt. But they had no other choice. He hoisted his body off the log and offered Selina a helping hand up. “We made our vows before God and we need to honor those vows. Let’s go home.”

      DEBRA ULLRICK

      is an award-winning author who is happily married to her husband of thirty-six years. For more than twenty-five years, she and her husband and their only daughter lived and worked on cattle ranches in the Colorado Mountains. The last ranch Debra lived on was also where a famous movie star and her screenwriter husband chose to purchase property. She now lives in the flatlands where she’s dealing with cultural whiplash. Debra loves animals, classic cars, mud-bog racing and monster trucks. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, drawing Western art, feeding wild birds, watching Jane Austen movies, COPS, or Castle.

      Debra loves hearing from her readers. You can contact her through her website, www.debraullrick.com.

      The Unlikely Wife

      Debra Ullrick

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      Dear Reader,

      Welcome to Love Inspired!

      2012 is a very special year for us. It marks the fifteenth anniversary of Love Inspired Books. Hard to believe that fifteen years ago, we first began publishing our warm and wonderful inspirational romances.

      Back in 1997, we offered readers three books a month. Since then we’ve expanded quite a bit! In addition to the heartwarming contemporary romances of Love Inspired, we have the exciting romantic suspenses of Love Inspired Suspense, and the adventurous historical romances of Love Inspired Historical. Whatever your reading preference, we’ve got fourteen books a month for you to choose from now!

      Throughout the year we’ll be celebrating in several different ways. Look for books by bestselling authors who’ve been writing for us since the beginning, stories by brand-new authors you won’t want to miss, special miniseries in all three lines, reissues of top authors, and much, much more.

      This is our way of thanking you for reading Love Inspired books. We know our uplifting stories of hope, faith and love touch your hearts as much as they touch ours.

      Join us in celebrating fifteen amazing years of inspirational romance!

      Blessings,

      Melissa Endlich and Tina James

      Senior Editors of Love Inspired Books

      This book is dedicated to my dear sister Marlene Baylor.

      Every time I’ve needed a friend, or a listening ear, or encouragement, or needed lifting up, you’ve been there for me. Thank you so much! You’ll never know how much that means to me. How much YOU mean to me. I luv ya high as the sky, Marlene.

      God bless you.

      * * *

      For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

      —1 Samuel 16–7

      Contents

       Chapter One

       Chapter Two

       Chapter Three

       Chapter Four

       Chapter Five

       Chapter Six

       Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten

       Chapter Eleven

       Chapter Twelve

       Chapter Thirteen

       Chapter Fourteen

       Chapter Fifteen

       Chapter Sixteen

       Chapter Seventeen

       Dear Reader

       Questions for Discussion

      Chapter One

      Paradise Haven, Idaho Territory

      1885

      This has to be a nightmare.

       Standing in front of Michael Bowen at Paradise Haven’s train station was the woman who claimed to be his wife. His eyes traveled up and down the length of her. Instead of a dress, she wore a red scarf draped around her neck, a black cowboy hat with a stampede string, black cowboy boots and brown loose-fitting trousers. In her hands she held a Long Tom black powder rifle.

       A rifle? The woman was holding a rifle. No matter how hard he tried he couldn’t pull his gaze away from the weapon that was nearly as long as she was tall.

       Michael bore down on his teeth until he thought his jaw would snap. Even with her heart-shaped face, stunning smile and beautiful brown eyes, the person standing before him looked more like a female outlaw on a wanted poster than the genteel lady he had been corresponding with for the past five months. The woman he had fallen deeply and passionately in love with. The woman he had legally