The Teacher's Temporary Bride (The Brides of Miss Mabel’s Registry #7)

Nathanial Craig never expected to find himself under contract for marriage. At forty-eight, he was content with his books, his quiet routines, and his solitary life in the coastal town of Gull Harbor, Maine. But when the school board insists he must take a wife before the term begins—or forfeit the post entirely—Nathanial sees no option but to comply. A wife, they argue, will anchor him to the town and lend respectability to his classroom.

At forty-five, Miss Cora Hollingsworth has long accepted that love and courtship are for other women. Sensible, independent, and well past the age of girlish dreams, she agrees to a marriage in name only—grateful for the chance to escape a lifetime of service and finally live on her own terms.

But what begins as a practical arrangement soon grows complicated. Cora finds herself drawn to the quiet strength behind Nathanial’s clipped words, while he’s undone by her steadiness, wit, and grace under pressure. Yet both carry secrets—truths they’ve withheld from the town. With the weight of a lie pressing on their hearts and the stirrings of something real beginning to take root, Nathanial and Cora must decide if honesty will cost them everything… or if, just maybe, it’s the very thing that will set them free.

Sometimes the sweetest love stories begin with a single, unexpected vow.

They ask for quiet, obedient brides. Mabel sends them the ones with fire.

Full of laugh-out-loud banter, heartfelt faith, and sweet frontier romance, The Brides of Miss Mabel’s Registry is a series of wholesome, charming love stories where opposites attract, sparks fly, and happily ever after comes with a few unexpected detours.