Forging America Series by Melissa Maygrove

The way to a man’s heart is through his ego.The way to a woman’s heart is through her child.Debutante Magdalene Rose Meriwether’s fall from grace and banishment from Indianapolis society left her shocked and heartbroken—and hellbent on salvaging what was left of her life. Her problems can be solved if she finds a husband in time. But, most important of all, her unborn child won’t suffer the life of a bastard... moreThe way to a man’s heart is through his ego.The way to a woman’s heart is through her child.Debutante Magdalene Rose Meriwether’s fall from grace and banishment from Indianapolis society left her shocked and heartbroken—and hellbent on salvaging what was left of her life. Her problems can be solved if she finds a husband in time. But, most important of all, her unborn child won’t suffer the life of a bastard.Railroad construction worker Edgar Grimes spent his formative years raising his brother and holding a crumbling family together. He lost his mother to abuse, lost the only woman who’d ever favored him to another man, and lost his simple-minded brother to a life of crime. The same booze that washed his father into ruin is Edgar’s means of coping with a life not much worth living—until he finds a well-dressed woman marching through the woods.Edgar poses as Maggie’s husband while she searches for a real one. Will she play him for the fool his father always told him he was, or will Edgar be the champion Maggie needs? less

Passion knows no prejudice.Eva McCabe may have been raised in the genteel tea rooms of North Carolina, but she isn’t one to surrender. Even after finding her husband’s scalped and mutilated body in the field of their Oregon Territory land grant, she refuses to leave. But tenacity won’t be enough. If she can’t meet the grant’s conditions of cultivation, she’ll forfeit her independence and all 640 acres.Hatchoq is a man of mixed blood and clashing heritage... morePassion knows no prejudice.Eva McCabe may have been raised in the genteel tea rooms of North Carolina, but she isn’t one to surrender. Even after finding her husband’s scalped and mutilated body in the field of their Oregon Territory land grant, she refuses to leave. But tenacity won’t be enough. If she can’t meet the grant’s conditions of cultivation, she’ll forfeit her independence and all 640 acres.Hatchoq is a man of mixed blood and clashing heritage. His father’s people tolerate him, and his mother’s people want him dead. When he kills a rogue member of his clan to save a white, he’s doomed to wander brutal lands alone.Hatchoq camps on Eva’s land and secretly lends the struggling widow some aid. Once his presence is discovered, Eva is torn between bitterness and need. Reluctantly, they work side by side, farming her land and navigating a burning attraction neither one wants. Love grows as stubborn walls of hurt and anger crumble, but can it survive? If Hatchoq stays, he must deny his Mojave identity or risk both their lives.Note about Battered Pride is an enemies-to-lovers romance that contains violence, adult themes, and descriptions of physical intimacy. It also contains period-correct language. less