Today's snippet is taken from
Lauren
Taken from the Rescue Me (Mail-order Brides) series
Also part of Eclipsed by Love, Books 1-3
1878 Solar Eclipse Inspired Romance Vol. 1
by Zina Abbott
Orson carefully folded the earpieces of his spectacles and set them to the side before he leaned forward. “This is undercover, Jeb. I have Tip Vincents and a few others working openly. You’ll be posing as a surveying supervisor for the General Land Office checking on the surveying crews roaming southern and central Wyoming. They’re updating cartography information, as well as locating routes for future rail expansion.”
Jeb chuckled as he leaned his head back and rolled his face to the side. “I have absolutely no experience with surveying and cartography, Orson.”
“You know railroad maps. You have a transit and compass, don’t you?”
“Yes, but—”
“But nothing. You have enough of a background to talk a good fight, even around experienced surveyors. You have two weeks to become familiar with what you don’t already know well enough to pass yourself off in more than casual conversation. There’s a survey crew working western and southern Wyoming now and another one working its way up from Colorado. We’ve made contact with Malachi Hooper of the General Land Office. He will work with you and bring you up-to-date with what they’re doing. Your coded communications to and from me will go through him.”
“That’s here in Omaha, or farther west?”
“Here, but he also oversees where we’re sending you. I’ll have Mr. Hooper arrange for you to buy a horse in Rawlins—one that’s good for traveling long distances. From there, find out what you can about this latest train robbery. Use the train to move you and your horse along the line to gather information. Discover whatever you can find until you report to him the first part of August.”
“What happens the first part of August?”
“It’s what happens on July twenty-ninth. With the total solar eclipse that’s due about then, I want you close enough by the path of totality that you can pass off your presence as an amateur astronomer interested in the effect of the eclipse on the geology, flora, and fauna of the region. That’s rocks, plants, and animals, in case you didn’t know.”
Jeb smirked. “I understand geology, flora, and fauna.”
Jocelyn's Wedding Dilemma, the second book in the series, The Matchmaker and the Mother-in-Law, is now on pre-order. The ebook will be available March 5, 2024.
Florence's Good Deed, Book 6 in the Rejected Mail-Order Brides series, is now on pre-order. The ebook is scheduled for release on April 15, 2024.
Includes my own A WATCHMAN FOR WILLOW and A BRIDE FOR DEVLIN
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