Bella Devereaux dreamed of being a restaurateur, not a thief. But life had other plans. Forced to compromise her principles to survive, Bella alwaysgives half of her ill-gotten gains to the French émigrés in New Orleans and saves the other half to fulfill her lifelong goal of opening her own French café. A priceless cache of jewels was supposed to be her last job, but the police are on to her, … her, and so is another criminal—Jack Pasquin. He’s more than a thief, he’s a murderer, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to force Bella’s hand—including kill her. Taking the jewels and fleeing to Oregon City as a mail-order bride seems to be her only hope.
Marshal Robert McCauley never forgave himself for being on the job when his first wife passed away. Guilt has kept him from falling in love again, but a mail-order bride seems to be the perfect answer. When Bella arrives, not only is she beautiful and intelligent, but her mysterious ways intrigue him more than he cares to admit. Neither of them wants to admit they have fallen in love, but when Bella’s past catches up to them, Robert will have to choose—once more—between the woman he loves and the duty he serves.
Can Bella save the husband she’d fallen in love with? Or will she become a widow before she becomes a real wife?
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Heartwarming story.
Bella is a mail order bride story with a twist. Bella becomes a Mail Order Bride so she can leave behind her unsavory life but, her past is about to catch up with her. Will the Marshal be able to save her or will he lose another woman that he loves?
Love this story, It is heartwarming, exciting, suspenseful, emotional and so much more. She has to be a thief to survive but now another thief is after her and wants to kill her because she stole a bunch of jewels. The law wants her too. The only way to get out of there is to be a mail order bride. So she takes her baggage with her. The one she marries has a
Good story.
A mail-order bride that is my the usual run of the mill story
A quick read. Ok for beach/ vacation read.
Nice easy read, not anything special.
Great series.
Bella, a former New Orleans criminal, becomes a proxy mail order bride to escape her criminal lifestyle. Only once she arrives in Oregon, she learns her groom is the town marshall. An action packed tale of deceit, mystery. suspense, with a bad guy or two and a happily ever after. Clear your calendar, grab your copy and go back in time to the old west.
Bella is a thief who becomes a wife by proxy to a man in Oregon in order to evade the police in New Orleans and have a place to lay low until she can continue on to San Francisco. Robert is marshal in the town of Oregon City and Bella’s husband by proxy. Upon meeting, both are surprised by the attraction that develops between them, but Robert swears that he can never love Bella and Bella really wants to open a restaurant in San Francisco. Once most of Bella’s grubstake is stolen, she resigns herself to staying in Oregon City and gives into her growing feelings for Robert. When two policemen from New Orleans show up to find the thief, Bella must come clean to Robert and confide in him the fact that part of her stash was stolen by the man who tried to break in to their home shortly after her arrival. Robert and Bella must then help the police arrest the man while keeping Bella out of it only things do not turn out that cleanly. I encourage you to read the book and find out if Robert and Bella can find their HEA and also if justice is served to those who deserve it.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I love the twists Cynthia Woolf puts in this story. You will want to set aside enough time to just sit and read because you want to see what is going to happen next. I totally enjoyed this book.
I received a complimentary copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
Bella is the third book in Cynthia Woolf’s “Brides of the Oregon Trail” series. I am greatly enjoying this series because there are very few Romance Westerns that take place on this famous trail.
Bella, the heroine in this book, begins the book as a cat burglar. She is climbing into the homes of the English people stealing jewelry and money. Like Robin Hood, she gives most of her “ill-gotten gains” to the French émigrés. The rest she keeps for herself so she can fulfill her life-long dream to open a French restaurant in San Francisco.
Unfortunately, someone sees her and begins to shoot at her. Now, Bella is afraid she will get caught, so she decides to leave New Orleans. She decides to become a proxy mail order bride. This means that Bella will marry her groom-to-be, Robert McCauley, by proxy. After she marries him, she travels by wagon train to Oregon City where she will meet her new husband.
Even though Bella realizes she likes Robert, she still hopes to fulfill her dream and move to San Francisco where she can build her French restaurant. Of course, that makes it difficult for Bella who is basically a thief. However, this is first and foremost the love story between Bella and Robert who is the marshal of the city they live in.
Nonetheless, a good part of this novel is filled with suspense as Bella and Robert attempt to catch a villain who has followed her to Oregon City on the same wagon train. This man knows who Bella is, and plans to steal her money and turn her in.
There are also two policemen visiting from New Orleans looking for the person who stole large amounts of money and jewelry. They want to take the thief back to Orleans to face charges.
Unfortunately, besides these men, there are other complications that Ms Woolf skillfully adds to the story to make it more and more difficult for Bella to reach her dream. I cannot say more without giving out any spoilers. However, there is an interesting turn-of-events that happens close to the end of the book.
Bella has a secret when she got married to Robert, the marshal of Oregon City. She’s a thief who will hide and then leave to open a restaurant in San Francisco. But everything goes a little different when someone is after her stolen Juwelen and money. Then the adventure really starts. What will their future be?
This is a really great story, love, adventure and friendship, it has it all. Be sure to start with the first book in this series.
Another great story by Cynthia Wolfe. This has it all a Robin Hood thief, instant attraction between proxy marriage couple., Bad guys injuries and a girl with a dream. I really liked this addition to this series. I received a free advance review copy of this book and am voluntarily providing my honest review
From New Orleans, Louisiana to Oregon City, Oregon in a wagon train. The thief and the Marshall! I loved this story of two people who unexpectedly come together through a proxy marriage, with both having a past that may keep them apart in the end.
Bella was fleeing from being caught for stealing some jewels by another thief who wanted them. She fled to Oregon City and was married by proxy to Marshall Robert McCauley before she began her journey.
Robert had decided he had made a mistake and was determined to end the proxy marriage before it started. That is until he laid eyes on Bella as she entered the office. “Turning toward the door, he widened his eyes and all the breath left his lungs. In that instant he knew, without a doubt, he wouldn’t give her up after all. She was stunning.” What he didn’t know that she had plans that don’t include him!
Suspense, hidden secrets, surprises and a wonderful romance will lead you to the end of the story with a sigh. Oh yes, love Cynthia Woolf’s stories that always entertain and warm my heart!!
This is the third book in the Brides of the Oregon series and brings Bella’s tale. An Arranged marriage, a lawman and an thief brings conflict and suspense to the journey of true love. Interesting character that populate the Bride train and Oregon town/country allow the reader to escape to another time.
Ebook from Author as gift. Opinion is entirely my own freely given.
Bella is a great read. intriguing,captivating emotional and touching story and filled with action,suspense,danger,excitement and romance.well written,strong characters with great chemistry,loved it! great book to add to the series,well done Ms.Cynthia! I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book!
I loved the two previous books in this series, both main couples were kind, fun and loving characters while I’m sad to say I never felt the same connection with the hero and heroine.
First Bella is thief, that she stole to the riches to give to the poorest, I can accept but she kept a part of the money to purchase her own business. Rather wrong for me.
Then she accepts a position as a mail-bride but plans to go away as it is just a way to get closer to her goal.
Sure, she is not a bad person, she helps others and likes To pleases people with her cooking.
Then Robert, I did not understood why he decreed he would not love anymore, it was not really explained. And one bad experience in the past does not shape every one’s in life. Plus the blurb tells about a late wife and I do remember he had one ( well, she had passed away) in the previous book and here he tells he never married.
After he is a nice man, and even if he didn’t told Bella the magic words, his acts spoke for him.
Why I have mixed feeling about this one story.
It was entertaining with actions and plot twists but I did not bounded with the H and h.
3,5 stars.
The thief marries the marshal. After almost getting caught, Bella decides it is time to retire from being a theif. She wants to open a restaurant in San Francisco, but she is poor and the only way for her to get the money to do that is to steal from the rich. She also gives part of the money to other poor families. She marries a man by proxy before leaving for Oregon, where she will lay low until she can get to San Francisco. What she didn’t expect was Robert and he didn’t expect to be so attracted to Bella either. He has sworn he would never love again, but Bella makes him have doubts about that. When a man follows Bella to Oregon, Robert has to protect her. Will he keep her or let her go on to San Francisco?
I enjoyed this historical western story from beginning to end with great characters and an engaging plot with action, danger, lies, secrets, and so much more. I loved the instant attraction, undeniable chemistry and heartwarming romance between Bella Deveraux, a thief from New Orleans, who dreams of being a restauranteur in San Francisco and becomes the mail-order bride of Marshal Robert McCauley of Oregon City, Oregon Territory. Ms. Woolf has given us another winner and anyone who enjoys a well-crafted historical western romance should plan to read Bella, book three in the Brides of the Oregon Trail series. I received an advance reader copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving my honest review. I liked it so much, I purchased a copy to read again later.
This author has again written a story that grabs the reader’s interest and does not let go until the last word is read. This is the story of Bella, a former New Orleans criminal, who becomes a proxy mail order bride to escape her criminal lifestyle, and travels with a wagon train to Oregon, When she arrives in Oregon, her groom is the town marshall. The story is a tale of deceit, mystery. suspense, a bad guy or two, romance and a HEA. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.