A Bride for Gideon, a Western Historical Romance from Caroline Clemmons

Please help us welcome Caroline Clemmons to the Tours and Treats blog today. Caroline is here to share her western historical romance, A Bride for Gideon with us today. Caroline has also brought a treat, a $10 Gift Card for one lucky reader. Welcome, Caroline! We are all excited to hear more about A Bride for Gideon.

About A Bride for Gideon:

Keira desperately wants to belong somewhere Gideon is haunted by a secret too horrible to share Fate conspires against them…

Keira Cameron came to Boston from Scotland after the death of her parents. She wanted a job, a husband, and eventually a family. She feels rejected because at almost six feet she’s too tall, Her Scottish burr makes her appear too foreign. She is too pretty for any wife to want Keira working near the woman’s husband. Were her expectations unreasonable? Her cousin convinces her to enter a proxy marriage to his friend, Gideon Ross, who lives in Montana Territory. Out of options, she agrees and hopes her goals will be realized.

Gideon Ross is a large man at five inches over six feet. His business is a smithy and gun repair shop. The war left him with a terrible scar on his face. He wears a beard to try to conceal the scar but still hears people whisper he’s a monster and a giant. Do they think he has no feelings? He’s haunted by the war and has terrible nightmares. Reluctantly, he agrees to wed Keira by proxy.

Outside forces work against the couple. Keira and Gideon must find the key to the attack on their lives. Can they defeat the enemy before they’re too late?

Genre: – western historical romance

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Excerpt from A Bride for Gideon:

“Oh, look, we’re coming into town.”

Keira raised the shade on the window beside her. The buildings appeared like those in many of the towns she’d been through on this trip, especially the final part. The trip was over at last and soon she’d meet her husband.

Her stomach clenched and a vise tightened around her chest. She struggled for breath as the stage stopped. What if she thought he was too frightening? What if he didn’t approve of her?

The door flung open and the men exited, then Mrs. Thompson. Keira forced herself to move, to step out onto the ground. She searched those standing by for her… husband.

Picking him out wasn’t hard. He was a giant compared to others nearby. She stood patiently while her trunk and satchel were unloaded.

She looked into the solemn face of the man she supposed to be her husband. The scar marring his face looked to have been a terrible wound but she didn’t find it fearsome. The rest of him was less satisfactory.

He had on what appeared to be a new shirt but his britches were filthy and his boots unpolished. His hair was far too long and unkempt and his beard needed trimming. She wondered if he’d allow her to trim both.

Hmph, other than his clean shirt, he hadn’t bothered to tidy himself for their meeting. He couldn’t be too poor to have another set of pants or he wouldn’t have sent the train and stage fare. He’d even included a generous amount for meals, though she ate sparingly and had part of the money left in her purse.

Well, after her long trip, she didn’t look her best. Her gray traveling suit was grimy and her white shawl less than pristine. She didn’t have a hat to match the suit so she’d draped her shawl over her head. She carried her winter coat over her arm so she wouldn’t have to waste space in her trunk. Besides, she’d used the coat at night as cover during her travels with her shawl folded as a pillow.

The tall man approached slowly. Perhaps he was as nervous as she was. “Keira Cameron… Ross?”

Shyness struck her but she managed, “I’m Keira, are you Gideon Ross?”

A look of relief passed across his face. “That I am. Show me your luggage and I’ll carry it to our home.” Had he expected her to flee after traveling so far?

She gestured toward her things that had been tossed onto the dirt. “I’ll take the satchel if you’ll get the trunk and my large case. Are we walking then?”

He gave a jerk of his head. “Aye, the house is just a wee stretch of the legs.” He picked up the trunk as if it weighed no more than her satchel and grabbed the suitcase.

The sky was a magnificent blue with only a few cottony clouds. From here, she saw the forest and mountains beyond the town. Where was the promised creek? Even without the water, the vista was beautiful. After Boston, Haverhill was quiet.

She kept step with him but didn’t know what to say. Theirs was an odd situation so he probably didn’t either. They rounded the corner to a block of residences and the vise constricting her chest released slightly.

If he’d known, Alec hadn’t mentioned living conditions. On the train she’d heard tales of people living for years in sod houses and tents. She’d feared the Wild West might be too wild for her but these were all normal houses.

Her husband—didn’t that term make her think twice?—opened a gate and waited for her to enter. She scanned the surroundings. The wrought iron picket fence made a nice boundary, but flowers were needed to brighten the yard.

The house looked grand after her fears. Looking as if coated in sunshine, walls were pale yellow trimmed in white. A stand of trees rose high so they could offer shade in the heat of summer.

Two rocking chairs sat on the front porch. From them, a person would be able to look at the mountains. The house appeared larger than her home in Scotland or Alec’s in Boston. Relief engulfed her.

She couldn’t keep from smiling as she walked up onto the wide porch. She pictured the two of them sitting there and talking on summer evenings. “This is a grand place.”

About Caroline Clemmons:

Through a crazy twist of fate, Caroline Clemmons was not born on a Texas ranch. To compensate for this illogical error, she writes about handsome cowboys, feisty ranch women, and scheming villains in a tiny office her family calls her pink cave. She and her Hero live in North Central Texas cowboy country where they ride herd on their three rescued indoor cats as well as providing nourishment outdoors for squirrels, birds, and other critters.

The books she creates in her pink cave have made her an Amazon bestselling author and won several awards. She writes sweet to sensual romances about the West, both historical and contemporary as well as time travel and mystery. Her series include the Kincaids, McClintocks, Stone Mountain Texas, Bride Brigade, Texas Time Travel, Texas Caprock Tales, Pearson Grove, and Loving A Rancher as well as numerous single titles and contributions to multi-author sets. When she’s not writing, she loves spending time with her family, reading her friends’ books, lunching with friends, browsing antique malls, checking Facebook, and taking the occasional nap.

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