O'Rourke's Bride — Barbara Dan

Stranded and flat broke in Virginia City, Nevada, Irish playboy-actor Peter O'Rourke decides he may need to get a "real job," at least till he can get back to civilization. Unfortunately life takes an unexpected turn when spoiled young socialite, Kate McGillacutty, just off the stagecoach from Chicago, ges in a heated argument with her father, who owns a silver mine and wants his daughter married off so he can get him a few hard-working male grandkids to leave his fortune to before he cocks up his toes. Defiantly Kate demands that she be allowed to select her future husband from the local male specimens passed out in front of the Bucket of Blood Saloon. To her horror and dismay, her father calls her bluff. imagine O'Rourke's surprise when he wakes up to find out he's Kate's chosen victim! Vowing to outsmart her father, Kate bribes O'Rourke to marry her (in name only) and then put her on the next stagecoach to San Francisco, far from parental interference. Of course, Peter does need a job and will agree to almost anything, but, as God is his witness, he's not the marrying kind! Not eager to take on this fiery redheaded spitfire, he makes a deal with her father, who is as devious and double-dealing as his daughter and even O'Rourke himself. Never were two prodigals more deserving of each other, as they head off into the Sierra Nevada mountains, O'Rourke flexing his muscles as a fledgling lumberjack, and Kate slinging hash in the cookshack and plotting revenge! As this battle of the sexes heats up, O'Rourke finds that taming his beautiful bride is no easy task. Secretly intrigued, Kate works her wiles on her husband for the pure pleasure of tormenting him. Even so, the last thing she expected from this trumped-up marriage was a quick-witted Irishman with more tricks up his sleeve than she ever imagined possible. What are the odds of this temporary "marriage of inconvenience" developing into true love? O'Rourke's a gambling man, playing his cards close to his vest -- heart, that is. So what are the odds? Will Kate become his Queen of hearts?