The Prospector’s Only Prospect

Collins (Wedding Night with the Wrong Billionaire) puts a delightful twist on the mail order bride trope when scandalous divorcée Marigold Davis takes her sister’s place as the mail order bride of Virgil Gardner. Her old life is in shambles, so how bad could roughing it in 19th-century Denver City really be? Virgil, who runs a mining company, is less than pleased to find the wrong woman stepping out of the stage couch, but he’s desperate for a caregiver for his three young children and agrees to take Marigold on as a housekeeper, not a wife. She quickly adapts to life in the mining encampment, charming the miners with her spirit and letter-writing skills and bonding with the children. Though Virgil balks at trusting her, he can’t deny that he’s drawn to opinionated Marigold, despite being unused to a woman going toe to toe with him. Just when their mutual attraction escalates, however, an unexpected visitor threatens to derail their fragile relationship. Collins mines the setting for both danger and humor, providing the perfect backdrop to this sensuous romance. Readers won’t want to put this down. Agent: Louise Fury, Bent Agency. (Apr.)