title: Collateral Bride
author: Hemmingway, Reaona
description: Virginia King’s hand in marriage is promised as collateral on a loan her father makes with Nicholas Grant in order to bury her mother in something better than a pine box. When Joseph King defaults on the loan, Virginia refuses to make love with her husband until she knows whether or not she loves Nicholas. In her quest for love, she suffers through pneumonia, cattle thieves, and the question as to whether Nicholas is her younger brother Simon's real father.