Bachelor Gulch THE BACHELOR: Rugged rancher and single dad Clayton Carson. This time around he was determined to marry a woman who couldn't manipulate his heartstrings. THE BRIDE: Diner owner Melody "Mel" McCully. She was danged tired of being overlooked by the local bachelors. What was she, chopped liver? All her life Melody had loved Clayton, and he'd never once looked her way. Only now, when he had a scalawag of a daughter to raise, did he come callin'. Well, roosters would lay eggs before she'd agree to his marriage of convenience. Because plain-Jane Melody was about to be made over, and would settle for nothing less than a proposal of love! Bachelor Gulch. This little town wanted women—but are these bachelors ready for marriage?

The middle chapters of this book are given over to Wilkes County genealogy and biography, with chapters on the buyers and sellers of lots and the early settlers of the county. The work as a whole is crowded with references to ministers, officials, teachers, and soldiers, so much so that an index of more than 2,000 entries was created by Mrs. Hays to encompass them.

Reed Sullivan and Ruby O'Toole meet after Reed is almost run off the road by a reckless driver, but their friendship is complicated by an abandoned infant and their growing feelings for one another.