Evasive Eddie Joe

Edmond Joseph “Eddie Joe” Hampton, foreman for the Jacobson Ranch in Monarch Bend, had his own reasons for encouraging his boss to marry and start a family. Once he signed up with the Colorado Bridal Agency while Lizett Millard was in Jubilee Springs on Independence Day, July 4th, he figured it will be easier to persuade his boss to allow him to build a separate house and live as a married foreman on the ranch if the man is enjoying his own wedded bliss. As wily as Eddie Joe can be, he has to work hard to stay ahead of his boss who has shown no interest in marriage. He knows he can pull it off—as long as his plot isn’t discovered too soon.

Etta Crabtree, an impoverished young widow of an abusive first husband, cannot stay at her widowed mother’s home. She has been corresponding with Eddie Joe, and arrives in Jubilee Springs with other brides intended for the town’s miners. The miners claim they have priority on all brides coming to Jubilee Springs until all ten men who signed up for brides and mining company housing are married.

Who will win Etta Crabtree’s hand in marriage, the cowboy or one of the miners?