O'rourke's Bride

Publisher Marketing: 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? Review Citations: Booklist 09/01/2006 pg. 65 (EAN 9780821780558, Mass Market Paperbound) Contributor Bio:  Dan, Barbara First published in her teens, Barbara Dan has en-joyed a variety of life experiences, including working as an professional actress, model, night club comedienne, singer/dancer, comedy writer, puppeteer, theatrical producer in Hollywood, screenwriter, publicist, fund-raiser, real estate saleswoman, hands-on builder of houses, escrow officer, co-teacher of couples' communications workshops with her family therapist husband, as well as publisher, editor, and adjunct college professor. But by far her biggest joy has been the grand adventure of being the mother of four now grown children, grandma to five grandchildren and great-grandmother of three toddlers. With family roots planted deep in New England history, Barbara is a voracious reader of history, loves quilting, gardening, oil painting, tracking genealogies, and prowling around in old graveyards and musty museums while doing research for her latest novel. She is currently a member of Women Writing the West and Western Writers of America, Inc. Her novel Silent Angel won Best Historical Novel Award in the Colorado RWA's Heart of the Rockies competition in 1992. Besides degrees in Theatre Arts and Advanced Accounting, she earned her M. A. in Humanities (emphasis: history and literature) from California State University in 1988, but feels that life experience is the most valuable tool any writer brings to his or her work. (A good sense of humor helps, too!)