The Gambler (Cowboys of the Old West #2)

(A Novelette)

Jake Stonewall is a renowned gambler who earns his winnings by cheating. When he wins a mail-order-bride in a poker game, he plans on selling her to the highest bidder, until he realizes he knows her, and with one word she can land him behind bars.

Rose Walker wants to rid herself of her tarnished past and decides to start over as a mail-order bride out west. But when she arrives in the little town of Drywater to discover she's been gambled away and the winner is a man she not only knows but despises, things take a wicked turn.

Will a woman who wants desperately to change her life have to blackmail a man who has done her wrong and wants no part in changing his ways, in order to get what she's been promised?

Story is approximately 17,000 words, with excerpts included at the end.