The Rejected Groom

Book excerpt: Anthony (Tony) Larson and his twin brother, Mark, have been asked to marry one of the two unfortunate women who are in need of a husband. One woman is Velma Murdoch and the other is Natalie Harper. Tony falls in love with Velma as soon as he meets her, and he’s excited when Mark tells him she’s chosen him to marry. What he doesn’t realize until he marries Velma is that she thought she was marrying Mark. But Mark tricked both of them into marrying each other so he could be with Natalie. While he’s upset with Mark for deceiving him, he’s even more upset to find out Velma had wanted to marry Mark instead of him. Velma is just as upset with Mark as Tony is. A marriage to Tony isn’t going to work out well at all. He’s a farmer who lives in a sod house, and she doesn’t know the first thing about housework or cooking. She was much more suited for Mark who owned a business. Just how are two people who are a bad match going to find common ground? She can’t cook anything right, she's scared of bugs and snakes, and there’s no way she can make clothes. She was brought up to help her future husband entertain guests at dinner parties, not help out on a farm. Can a man who feels rejected and a woman who doesn’t feel competent on a farm find something as wonderful as love?