A Sweet Mail-Order Bride for the Distant Rancher: A Western Historical Romance Book Read online

  She swallowed nervously. Her father was a jovial man, as long as things were going his way.

  “We are in the middle of a meal,” he said, his voice stern. Jane squirmed in her seat. She wanted to just let this go. She was sure that Kate was just trying to stir the pot. It was what her sister did best.

  “It will only take a moment,” she said.

  “Whatever you have to say to me you can say at the table,” her father stated.

  Kate snickered into her water glass, and Jane swallowed. She wished that she had some ale right now. She had heard from some of the young men in the markets that ale and fire water calmed a person’s nerves and lit a fire in their belly. She could use such a thing now.

  “It has come to my attention that you mean to make a match between me and one of your colleagues,” Jane said the words so quickly that she wasn’t sure if her father even understood them. She knew that if she did not get them out then she wouldn’t be able to speak them. Then, you’ll end up some old man’s wife praying that he kicks the bucket before you are too old to be an unwanted widow. Jane felt terrible for even thinking such a thing.

  Her father dropped his fork. It hit his plate with a loud clang, which echoed through the dining room and made Jane jump. The fact that he had stopped eating let her know that this was serious. If it hadn’t been, he would have brushed her worries aside and continued on with his meal.

  “And who did you hear this from?” he asked, cutting a look toward Kate. It angered Jane to know that her sister knew more about her future than she did. It’s not fair, she thought with an internal huff. Her father had never been unkind to her. He’d raised her as if she were his own, and she idolized him as such. She’d always remember the way her mother smiled at him with such happiness, and the way that he had stayed at her bedside even as she grew sicker and sicker. But she despised how he treated Kate as an equal and her as a porcelain ornament. Too much knowledge would break her. At least that was what he thought.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Jane said. She knew from the look on Kate’s face that she would pay for spilling the beans. Kate loved getting other people in her father’s crosshairs but loathed being here herself.

  “No?”

  Jane shook her head and squared her shoulders. “I would like to know why you are negotiating matches on my behalf without my input.”

  It was the wrong thing to say. Jane knew it the moment the words passed from her lips. Her father’s face became dark in anger, and she knew that he took umbrage at her telling him what to do. In many ways, her father was easygoing. He expected his daughters to be virtuous and help run his household, but he mostly allowed them to pursue their own interests. He’d never pushed the idea of marriage upon either one of them. Until now.

  “I’m sorry, but I just ...”

  “You are questioning that I know what is best for you,” her father said bluntly.

  Jane opened her mouth, but the look on her father’s face caused her to snap it shut. His look made it clear that he did not want to hear anything more that she had to say.

  If you remain quiet, you’ll end up married, she reminded herself. It gave her the strength to continue approaching the subject. “I do question it,” she said.

  Kate looked shocked, as did her father. Jane was a bit shocked herself. She rarely spoke out of turn, and she especially never challenged her father.

  “Excuse me?” he asked, his voice dangerously low. He had stopped eating completely and dropped his fork. This time he dropped it on the table causing a ring of grease to seep into the white linen tablecloth. Jane cringed. It was going to be difficult to get that stain out.

  “I don’t want to marry,” Jane said. That was the truth of it. She had always thought that she would stay on the ranch and take care of her family. Kate was adamant that she wanted a grand house of her own, and she wasn’t going to settle for anything less. Jane did not have such ambitions. She was content where she was.

  “You don’t get a say in that,” her father snapped at her.

  “It’s my life!” she exclaimed, completely flabbergasted over the fact that her father seemed to think that she should not have a say in whether or not she married, or even who she married.

  “You’ll do as I say!” her father thundered. He stood up and banged his fists on the table which caused both Jane and Kate to jump in their chairs.

  Jane felt her lips start to tremble and tears well up in her eyes. She wasn’t just hurt by her father yelling at her during dinner, but her feelings smarted over the fact that he did not trust her to make decisions for herself.

  “I need to be excused,” Jane said, her voice breaking. She did not want to cry in front of her father, and she especially did not care to cry in front of her sister. Kate was loving this, of that Jane had no doubt. She was going to be thrown to whatever friend her father had decided on, while Kate, as per usual, would be free to do whatever she liked.

  “You will sit here and finish your meal,” he said.

  Jane wasn’t listening. She threw her napkin down and ran toward her bedroom. It wasn’t far from the dining room. The rancher was one floor and sometimes it felt like they were all squished together. Today, Jane was grateful for that. She passed the kitchen, nearly stumbling on the kitchen table as she rushed through the room. The table reminded her of her mother and tears sprang to her eyes. Her mother never would have allowed any of this to happen.

  Storming into her room, she slammed the door as hard as she could, feeling satisfied hearing the bang echo through the entire house. She knew that they could hear the sound of it in the dining room. It was her own form of rebellion.

  Sitting heavily on her bed, Jane felt her anger starting to seep out of her. It wasn’t completely gone, but she couldn’t stop part of it from being replaced with grief. Her father did not care a lick what she wanted. Kate had told her that her father was going to marry her off to one of his old business partners, Brandon. Jane had met that man once, and he was not anyone who she would ever consider as a marriage partner.

  “I’m absolutely not marrying him,” she said to herself.

  Jane moved toward the small desk she had in her room. She didn’t use it much now, but when she was a girl, she had sat at it for many hours reading. Now, she spent a great deal of time taking care of the home. She almost never had time for herself.

  Jane sighed and picked up the paper that was on her desk. It was an ad for a mail-order bride. Kate had given it to her in jest when she told Jane about their father’s plans for her. Her sister had enjoyed rubbing in the fact that Jane would soon be forced to marry. The ad was meant to mock her.

  At the time, Jane had crumbled up the ad and threw it on the table. She never thought she’d marry, but now, it seemed that marriage was the only thing that might save her.

  I might have to marry, Jane thought defiantly as she read through the ad, but that doesn’t mean that I have to marry the man my father chose for me.

  Chapter Two

  The laughter around Milton was driving him to madness. It wasn’t that he did not like fun, but he didn’t understand why some people had such grating laughter that was louder than even the concertina and harmonica that the band was playing.

  He sighed as he looked at the colorful ribbons that someone had placed on the barn. The strips of deep indigo and warm orange fluttered in the wind, obnoxiously cheerful. Milton felt as if he was being mocked by the happy scene before him.

  “Don’t look so sour,” Milton’s best friend, Matthew Wiley, said. He sat next to Milton who had taken a seat away from the middle of the festivities. He still could not figure out why he agreed to accompany Matthew to the town’s summer festival in the first place.

  Denver was a fairly large city, so they didn’t necessarily have festivals very often. The end of summer was the biggest. Many people had come from out east hoping to make their fortunes in gold or from ranching. It wasn’t uncommon not to know your neighbors, so people gravitated towards festivals lik
e these as a way to build community ties.

  Milton wasn’t interested in meeting his neighbors. He knew all those he needed to.

  “I’m not sour,” Milton told Matthew. “I’m irritated.”

  Matthew laughed. His dark hair was slicked back with pomade, and Milton thought he looked ridiculously formal in his suit and cravat. Matthew had known Milton for most of his life. They had grown up together, and despite their very different takes on life, they had remained thick as thieves even as grown men.

  “You are the only person I know who could be irritated by a party,” Matthew said. He was bopping his leg up and down to the rhythm of the music. Matthew was only in town for a few days visiting his sister for her wedding, and he’d used his brief time to convince Milton to join him.

  “I have a great deal of work to do,” Milton said. It was true. Milton owned one of the largest ranches in the area, which meant that he was always extremely busy. He’d left things in the hands of his foreman, Hank, but Milton didn’t trust anyone with his ranch, not fully.

  “You can take a break to spend some time with an old friend,” Matthew urged. It was the same excuse he had used to cajole Milton into joining him for the evening. Parties were not Milton’s thing. He preferred to keep to himself, and despite having lived in the town his entire life, he barely knew any of the people who were dancing around him.

  “I’m here, aren’t I?” Milton asked.

  “Then stop glowering and come with me to get an ale.”

  This time Milton did laugh. Matthew was more gregarious than he was. He viewed this festival as a way to enjoy his last evening in Colorado. Soon, he’d be heading home to New Mexico, and Milton wasn’t sure when he’d see his friend again. Matthew was a lawyer, but he did not make enough to come home often. This was the first time Milton had seen him in the last seven years.

  “I’m going to need more than ale to get through the rest of this evening,” Milton muttered as they passed by a young woman who batted her kohl-lined eyes at them. That was one of the reasons that Milton tended to stay away from large town gatherings—the ladies. As one of the more well-to-do and younger men in town, Milton was considered a good catch, and plenty of the ladies of the town would love to snare him. It was too bad that he wasn’t interested.

  “You are the only man I know who would be upset because pretty ladies are fawning over themselves to get your attention,” Matthew said with a laugh.

  “It’s not me that they are fawning all over,” Milton said. “They are fawning over the possibility of wealth.”

  Matthew tilted his head a bit. “That’s a very cynical view,” he remarked.

  Milton shrugged. He hadn’t managed to come so far by sitting on his laurels and taking the world at face value.

  They were now near the ale, and Milton was grateful. The sound of the bones was starting to make his headache. He longed to return to the comfort of his home, but he knew that Matthew would not allow him to slip out unnoticed, and Milton wouldn’t forgive himself for passing the opportunity by to be with his friend.

  “Tell me more about New Mexico,” Milton said, as he grabbed a cool mug. He did not care to hear another lecture from his friend in regard to how Milton needed to learn how to enjoy life. He felt like he enjoyed life perfectly well, just in a way that differed from Matthew.

  “It’s the dessert,” Matthew said, taking a long draw from his cup. “What’s there to tell?”

  “I’m curious,” Milton said. “I’ve never been.”

  New Mexico wasn’t so far, but Matthew lived far enough that he was practically in Texas. He always spoke about his new home as though it were a completely different country, which fascinated Milton. He’d been born in a small town, but he’d been raised in Denver, and by the time he was a man, he’d had too many responsibilities to venture far away from home. It was his one regret, and the one thing he envied of Matthew.

  “It’s nice enough,” Matthew said. “I’ve got more work than I know what to do with. Lots of land disputes and arguments over cattle rights.”

  Milton laughed. As a lawyer, Matthew was constantly keeping his clients out of trouble. It was another reason that he struggled to get back to Denver very often.

  “Are you courting anyone?” Milton asked. He wasn’t sure why he decided to ask the question. It wasn’t like him to get so personal. Normally, he wouldn’t care if Matthew was courting a young woman or not. Milton didn’t have time for such frivolous conversations. But there was something about being at the festival that was making him a little whimsical, and very much uncomfortable.

  “Why? Interested?”

  Milton laughed. Matthew was one of the only people who could actually inspire mirth in him. “I’m curious. You’ve expressed interest in wanting a wife before, but here you are, unmarried.”

  Matthew was what Milton would call a romantic. It always made Milton worried. Matthew seemed to see the best in everyone, and Milton always worried that he’d marry the first girl who struck his fancy and end up heartbroken and broke.

  “I haven’t met anyone,” Matthew said, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly.

  Milton was starting to feel like there was more to this story than Matthew was letting on to him, but it wasn’t like him to pry.

  “Why aren’t you married?” Matthew asked, lobbying the question back at him.

  Milton was quiet. In truth, he was considering marriage. It was why he was so interested in Matthew’s own love life. Never had he thought that he would marry before his friend. But the time was coming for him to marry. He had made his fortune, and he needed someone to leave it to.

  “Are you considering making an offer to someone?” Matthew said.

  Milton frowned. “I hate how easily you always seem to know things,” he grumbled.

  “It’s good for my profession,” he said, knocking back the rest of his ale.

  Milton reached into his back pocket where he had several letters. He’d gone to discuss his desire for a wife with the man who ran the local marriage agency. He’d given him letters of description from three different women. Milton hadn’t looked at any of them. He’d been too concerned that he was making a rash move. It was why he decided to bring it up to Matthew.

  “I’ve inquired about taking a wife using a marriage agency,” he said. He showed Matthew the letters, sliding them across the makeshift bar.

  Matthew’s face was comically shocked. His mouth had dropped, and his eyes were wide as saucers at Milton’s words. He would have laughed had he not been so desperate for Matthew’s thoughts. Milton had very little experience with women, which was why he was even speaking about this to his friend.

  “You are ‘inquiring?’” Matthew asked incredulously.

  Milton nodded. “I’ve been very fortunate in the last few years to have expanded the ranch, and now I need to start thinking about what comes next.”

  “What comes next?”

  Milton nodded. “It would be nice to have a wife to run the household, so I can focus more of my attention on the land, but I also need to think about the future. Eventually, I’ll need a son to inherit.”

  Milton had given this a great deal of thought. He would marry because it made sense for the future. He didn’t need romantic love, but he couldn’t deny the benefits a wife would bring to him.

  “That’s not exactly romantic,” Matthew said. “Isn’t marriage supposed to be about love?”

  Milton snorted. He knew that such a belief was a myth. People married for all sorts of reasons, and Milton found that when people lied to one another and promised eternal love they ended up disappointed. His parents had. Marriage is nothing more than a transaction, he thought. He knew that Matthew wouldn’t like that response though, so he didn’t give it.

  “Maybe for some,” Milton said. “For me, it’s a little more practical.”

  Matthew said nothing, but he could tell that his friend was not pleased by his answer. “Are these the lucky ladies?” Matthew held up the letters.
Milton was glad that his friend was going to let things go. He would be leaving in the morning, and Milton did not want to argue. He didn’t know when he would see his friend again, and he wished for his advice. Matthew was the only person Milton trusted completely.

  “They are the matches that the agency sent over for me to review,” Milton said.

  Matthew raised an eyebrow at his words, but he kept his opinions to himself. “I suppose that we should go through them.”

  “You want to assist me?” Milton asked. He was grateful, but he wasn’t going to let Matthew know that. It wasn’t the way of their relationship. “What are you, a matchmaker as well as a lawyer?”

  “For your sake, you better hope so,” Matthew said.