Hal’s Lucky Escape

Hal Culpepper had been anxious to leave the U.S. Army after his enlistment ended. However, when things do not work out for him joining the family business at home, he decides to return to Fort Keogh in Montana Territory and try to reenlist. A chance meeting with his former corporal convinces him to hire on as a guard for the Cheyenne and Black Hills Stage and Express Company. Between almost being bamboozled by a mail-order bride and barely surviving an attack by road agents, he figures he made a lucky escape. While recuperating from his injuries, Hal is asked to escort the cousin of a former Army comrade and her daughter to the man’s current location. As much as he could not wait to get out of the Missouri River mountain territory after leaving the Army, at least Hal knows the area. With fares, food, and expenses paid, he decides to accept.

Widow Marta Schmidt was ordered by her brother, who inherited the family farm once their mother died, to leave the house. With no acceptable marriage prospects and her thirteen-year-old daughter, Sophia, to support, she flees to Helena, Montana Territory. There, she joins her cousin, who owns a restaurant. She hopes he might hire her as a cook. After all, she gave him her best German cuisine recipes to help him get started. Is there a future for her and Sophia in a remote German community in the frontier West?

You also might enjoy reading two books who share some of the same characters:
Elise, Rescue Me Mail-order Brides series
Florence's Good Deed, Rejected Mail-Order Brides series