The Barefoot Bride

Johnston's ( Sweetwater Seduction ) 19th-century romance is light on originality and heavy on sentimentality. Widower Seth Kendrick, a doctor in rural Montana, needs a wife to civilize his rambunctious, tomboy daughter Patricia (known as Patch), so he advertises for one. Widow Molly Gallagher needs a home for her children Whit and little Nessie and decides to accept Seth sight unseen. The couple wants to make the best of things, but the children intend to sabotage the effort. Patch opens the hostilities by pushing Molly into the Missouri River as soon as her steamboat docks; Whit retaliates by shoving Seth in after her. The youngsters' hostility doesn't prevent the newlyweds from rapidly registering their mutual attraction, although Molly is occasionally uneasy about her secretive bridegroom.pk Seth is extremely reticent about his past, seems to be the only man around who refuses to wear a gun, would rather be called a coward than stand up and fight and sometimes stays out all night, offering up an excuse that wouldn't fool his horse, let alone Molly. (Jan.)