This is Book 2 in the Pioneer Series.
For those who read Wagon Trail Bride, this is Jesse and Laura’s story. Jesse was the man who lost his wife in childbirth, and Laura is Amanda’s friend.
Here’s the description:
Jesse Palmer headed to Omaha with his expectant wife and his mother-in-law. When his wife dies in childbirth, his mother-in-law blames him. And worse, she plans to take his son away from him. In order to keep his son, he needs to marry someone. And who better than the one who makes the offer?
Laura Rufus volunteers to marry Jesse so he can keep his son, knowing full well he’s still mourning the loss of his first wife. The last thing she plans on is falling in love with him, but day by day, his tenderness toward his son makes her wish she hadn’t been so quick to propose a marriage of convenience. Will there ever be something more between them, or will she be stuck with the marriage agreement they made?
You can find it at these retailers:
For a quick reference, here are all of the books in this series:
Groom For Hire is Joe Otto’s story, and it’ll be out in December!
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I have a special treat for everyone. During the course of the edits and beta reading, someone mentioned how much she wanted to see Laura’s mother get her happily ever after. I wrote a flash fiction story and just published it today so you can read it if you’re interested. It’s only 1,200 words, so it’s free.
This contains spoilers!
I recommend reading this after you finish The Marriage Agreement.
Right now it’s only on Smashwords because I just published it.
I expect it to be up on iBooks before the day is over. It’ll take another day or two to get up on Kobo and Barnes & Noble. I’m not sure Amazon would set this story to free, so I decided not to publish it there. I can’t see charging $0.99 for something this short.
Ruth Ann Nordin's Author Blog 
YAY!!!!! You made my day!!!!! Can’t wait to get home so I can purchase it and start reading!
Thank you, Cissy! I appreciate that a lot. 😀
Way to go on the latest book!
Thanks, Rami!
Hi! Just to say that I’m totally in love with all of your books! But I’m sad about the westerns… they are my favorite! Please don’t stop writing them… Loooooove the Larson and relatives : – ) And I have all of your books! PS: Going to read Ingrid right now!
Sorry I took so long to answer you. I got a head cold and then went on a quick vacation before school started back up for the kids.
I won’t give up on the historical westerns. I love them too much. 🙂 In fact, I’ll be working on a new historical western series featuring Sep (Joel Larson’s brother-in-law in Shotgun Groom), and this series will also have Mark and Anthony Larson (Richard and Amanda’s twin boys) in it. I am planning on that one for 2017. Sep’s book will be His Auctioned Bride. I’m not sure if I’ll get started on it after Groom For Hire or not. I just introduced two characters in it, and they might want their own books. If so I might have to extend the Pioneer Series for more than the 3 books I had originally planned. I’m currently in chapter 6 in that book, so it’s too early to tell how things will go.