Lumber Baron's Daughters

With their sharp engineering minds, Laura Stiles and her two sisters have been able to deal with their mother's unfortunate choice in husband, until they discover his plans to marry each of them off to his lecherous friends. Now they must run away--far and fast--to find better matches to legally claim their portion of their father's lumber dynasty and seize control from their stepfather. When Laura befriends a mission group heading to serve the poor in California during their escape, she quickly volunteers herself and her sisters to join their efforts. Despite the settlement being in miserable condition, the sisters are excited by the opportunity to put their skills to good use. Laura also sees potential in Caleb, the local minister, to help with gaining her inheritance. But when secrets buried in Caleb's past and in the land around them come to light, it'll take all the smarts the sisters have to keep trouble at bay.

After her sister's marriage, Michelle Stiles and her younger sister Jilly are left at Two Harts Ranch, owned by Zane Hart. They've so far managed to stay one step ahead of their stepfather and his devious plans. Zane has his own problems, having discovered a gold mine on his property. How does he harvest it without kicking off a gold rush? Michelle, educated and trained to run her father's business, wants to manage all aspects of the mine. Zane thinks for a smart woman she can have some misguided ideas. Running that mine will be dangerous, and he doesn't want her exposed to what might occur out there. But danger finds Michelle anyway when a man breaks into the house and attacks her. Able to fend him off and capture him, they realize he has ties to Michelle's stepfather. If they go to the sheriff, they'll reveal her location, but if they do nothing-their troubles have only just begun.

A brilliant engineer, Jilly Stiles has been educated since childhood to help run her father's dynasty. Now with the company safe after the marriages of her two sisters, Jilly can focus on her dream of building a mountaintop railroad, and never marry. Nick Ryder came into Jilly's life when he saved her mother from her no-good stepfather, and he's prepared to protect Jilly from anything that threatens to harm her. Haunted by the pain of his own past, Nick is determined not to get his heart involved while protecting Jilly from losing her hard-won independence. But when a cruel and powerful man goes to dangerous lengths to make Jilly his own, marrying Nick may be the only way to save herself and her dreams.