[Grass Valley Mail Order Brides 03] • The Reluctant Bride

Left without close family after her preacher father is killed in the Civil War, Ellie Carter accepts an offer of marriage from a man thousands of miles away. Her home here is taken by her cousin, who her father unexpectedly left the land Ellie had helped to buy. Anxious to forget this and start afresh, she travels to Grass Valley not knowing what to expect, but suspicious of the men and their attitudes. She holds the memory of her father dear, and when she meets the man she has promised to marry, she is so disappointed that she refuses, outright. With no way to get back to the East, she has to settle for a job as a shop girl. Her potential husband, Martin Black, is at first accepting of her decision, and then angry at her continued refusals. Surrounded by gossip, and struggling to come to turns with her future, Ellie has to ask herself whether she ever wants to marry at all.