A young woman who's lost everything. A rancher with a tragic past. A chance to find love in the unforgiving west.No nineteen-year old should have to spend her birthday like Catherine Lamott, burying her entire family after a devastating illness took their lives. After her father's debtors left her almost penniless and her fiancé broke their engagement, Catherine considers it fate when she learns about the mail order bride program from a stranger.Catherine corresponds with Samuel Cardwell, a businessman looking for a wife and partner to help manage his mercantile in booming Texarkana. Having decided it the perfect match for a St. Louis born and bred, educated young woman, she catches the train to meet her suitor. But she does not bargain for the man waiting at the end of her long journey.Jackson Trimble is content on his ranch, raising cattle and working hard from sun up to sun down to help him forget the tragedy of his past. When he hires a young innocent woman who is down on her luck to be his cook and housekeeper, he does not anticipate that his feelings for her would go beyond a purely business proposition.When his actions put her life and safety at risk, and unable to cope with the tragic memories of his past, Jackson tells Catherine he is sending her home, a decision she has no choice but to accept despite her growing feelings for the introspective rancher with the secretive past.Catherine's story is a clean short read western historical romance in the "Courageous Orphan Brides" series. Each story is a complete standalone story.