Christmas Bride (Paperback)

Sue-Ellen Grayson spent most of her life cleaning up the messes her beautiful, effervescent -- and spoiled -- elder sister, Cassandra, left in her wake. When Cassie does the unthinkable and runs off with another man just weeks before her Christmas wedding to Major Ethan Hartley, she casually refuses to inform him and sets the whole problem in Sue-Ellen's lap. Sue-Ellen has a problem of her own -- she is secretly in love with the handsome soldier. Hoping to spare him the humiliation of arriving to marry a bride that wouldn't appear, she sets out on a dangerous journey to Fort Clark, Texas, where he's stationed. The stagecoach is set upon by robbers, Sue-Ellen nearly drowns, and she arrives at the fort penniless, without even a ticket to return home. Even worse, Ethan can't stand the sight of her since she reminds him of her sister's betrayal. It takes Sue-Ellen's patient, steadfast, caring ways to thaw Ethan's heart and restore his faith in love. Will their new-found connection last when Cassandra, tired of her fling, arrives wanting Ethan to marry her?