EXCERPT TOUR: Rebel Bride by Morgan Wyatt

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Morgan will be awarding a $5 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter at every stop. Click on the banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Eileen Sewell sparks plenty of gossip by spiteful matrons and their horse-faced daughters that she’d find herself alone due to her picky ways. Of course, she didn’t believe them. Then again, she also didn’t expect to be a mail order bride either. It wasn’t easy snagging a husband who hadn’t heard about her willful nature. Eileen finally gave up hope of finding love, and decided to settle for whatever she’d find out west. If that wasn’t lowering enough, she’d just witnessed the first train robbery. Unfortunately, the outlaws saw her too. Enter Marshal Colt Sheppard, who excels at extracting information from reticent witnesses. His crooked smile and broad shoulders shouldn’t charm her. She’d played this game before, only she never had a worthy adversary. Talk about bad timing.

Read an excerpt:

The annoying veil on her head fluttered against her skin, reminding her of flies crawling on her face, making further sleep impossible. Most of the passengers disembarked at Louisville, Kentucky the last large city. Only a few snorers remained in the car, along with other quietly sleeping passengers. She might as well lift the veil since no one would notice the act.

The night didn’t offer much in the way of distraction. The air drifting through a half-opened window had the scent of autumn with a nip of frost. Thank goodness, the peddler with the cigar got off at the last stop.

Her full bladder required a return trip to the necessary room. Her first experience with trying to squat over a fixed chamber pot on a moving train was memorable, in a bad way. She heard talk some men relieved themselves off the caboose, probably the real reason women weren’t allowed to go back there.

She moved cautiously up the aisle by placing a hand on the back of each seat to counteract the sway of the train and heard men’s voices calling out to one another. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one awake. They sounded close. A quick perusal of the car yielded no talkers or even any awake passengers. A horse whinnied, and another answered it.

The sounds came from outside. Was someone trying to ride along with the train? Eileen collapsed into an empty seat near an open window to get a better look, pressing bladder forgotten. A few cars ahead, two men on horseback raced beside the train, leading two saddled horses, yelling at someone on the train.

“Throw out the safe, John. We need to be gone,” the first man on horseback yelled.

A large block- shaped object flew out of the train and bounced, followed by a man, then another. They both rolled to their feet. One turned and looked at the train as they passed. Eileen felt he looked right at her and slid low in the seat, hoping the moon didn’t highlight her white face or red hair. Maybe the black hat did its job and helped her to fade into the night. Best she kept her veil down. She reached for the veil only to discover she’d lost her hat.

About the Author:

Morgan as a child had to suffer through movies with clueless heroines rescued by smart men. Her mother dutifully read her stories where princesses waited for princes to jumpstart their lives. There were no proactive female role models in the media at that time, with the exception of Wonder Woman. It is for this reason, and that it is fun, Morgan writes about strong women going after what they want.

She has a blog about dating after forty on www.datingafterfortyeight.blogspot.com
Morgan pinches pennies on her blog: http://thefrugaldivatellsall.blogspot.com/
She also reviews book for Novelspot and blogs about writing at: www.novelspot.net
You can find Morgan at www.morgankwyatt.com
On Twitter and FaceBook at: morgankwyatt