A Fearless Bride for a Wounded Rancher

by Ember Pierce

  A Fearless Bride For A Wounded Rancher

  A Clean Western Historical Romance Novel

  Ember Pierce

  Contents

  Copyright

  FREE Exclusive Gift

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Epilogue

  A Thank You To My Reader

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2020 by Ember Pierce

  All Rights Reserved.

  * * *

  This book may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the publisher.

  * * *

  In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher.

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  1

  It had been wet for days. The sky was gray, the rain had come down in sheets, and it was chilly. Much too cold for April. And dark. Mae hated it. She wanted to get to the schoolhouse soon.

  * * *

  Once there, she’d stoke up the fire in the heating stove and add some coal. The room would be warm and toasty by the time the children arrived for their lessons.

  * * *

  The horse picked its way through the leaves, twigs, and stones strewn all along the road. It was too slick to ask the filly to go any faster and they’d already had to detour twice. One incident was because of a giant puddle in the middle of the path and another because a tree had come down and blocked the way.

  * * *

  Mae was glad she’d left the house with time to spare. Despite the obstacles she’d encountered, she expected to arrive at the school with plenty of opportunity to do what needed to be done before the students came in.

  * * *

  Her mind was empty as she rode. She wiggled her fingers. Her hands were very cold. It was quiet on the wooded trail. The wet air was fresh and brisk and she took a few big deep breaths of it. The rain had slowed to a drizzle. A good sign, but it would be days before the area that Mae lived in would be dry.

  * * *

  The hill behind the schoolhouse was up ahead. The footing seemed better here and Mae urged the horse to move a little faster.

  * * *

  “Come on, girl. That’s it. I’ll give you an apple if you hurry.”

  * * *

  The horse, seeming to understand every word Mae said, bobbed her head and whinnied. The animal did, indeed, begin to move faster.

  * * *

  “Good girl.”

  * * *

  The hill was just ahead. It wasn’t steep, it was more of an easy incline, nothing like the high ridges all around. The low hill was easy to traverse when dry, a bit tricky when wet, but once over it, the school would be waiting, as always, at the bottom.

  * * *

  The pony moved up the rise of the slope to crest it. Just as they reached the summit, two men on horseback stepped out of the woods from either side. Mae’s horse, startled, hopped up, stopped and pawed at the wet earth with her hoof. She raised her head up and down, eyes rolling with agitation.

  * * *

  “Well if it isn’t Mae Andrews. Good morning, Mae.”

  * * *

  With a face of stone, she looked at the speaker. It was an effort to keep from saying something nasty. Would Bill Masters never accept the fact that she didn’t return his feelings?

  * * *

  He’d been interested in her for years, she knew, but in the last year he’d considerably upped his efforts to gain her regard. His desire for her attention seemed to be almost obsessive. Mae didn’t want to be bothered by Bill, on her way to school, or anywhere else for that matter.

  * * *

  “What’s the matter with you, Bill Masters? You’ve spooked my horse. Don’t you have anything better to do?”

  * * *

  It wasn’t as if Bill wasn't a nice enough man. Or smart enough. He just wasn’t the type of man Mae was interested in. None of the men in Havenshire were. The only thing those men cared about was what a woman looked like. And how well she could cook. Fundamental traits, which Mae had in abundance. Since childhood, she’d been quite a competent cook. She’d also been gifted with an almost unearthly beauty.

  * * *

  Everyone she’d ever met had commented on her extraordinary looks. Long, honey blonde hair fell to her waist, though few knew it because it was always pinned up. And her large almond-shaped green eyes were hypnotic to most.

  * * *

  Her creamy skin glowed and her figure was the kind other women wished they had. She, herself, never saw anything special in her appearance. She recognized that she was pretty, but she had so much more to offer. Since she was a little girl, she’d felt invisible.

  * * *

  No one saw her. Who she truly was. They responded only to how she looked. She hated it. Mae wanted to be valued for herself.

  * * *

  Bill chuckled good naturally. “You’re not even going to wish me a good morning?”

  * * *

  “Good morning, Bill,” she said, instead of the flurry of cuss words that flew about inside her head. She nodded to Bill’s brother, Andrew. Mae hoped the Masters would make this little chat quick. She was anxious to get to the school house.

  * * *

  “How are you, Mae? I was sorry to miss you at Church yesterday. I had some business out of town. Expanding the bank.” Though he got no response from Mae, Bill continued on. “You look mighty pretty today. Doesn’t Mae look pretty, Andrew?”

  * * *

  Andrew, Bill’s brother, looked Mae over as if she were a piece of livestock. Then he turned his head and spit a long stream of tobacco juice into the woods. When he turned back, he nodded. “Yep.”

  * * *

  Their attention meant nothing to Mae. Complimenting her wouldn’t make her amenable to Bill’s almost constant suggestions that he be allowed to court her. Bill’s words only served to send her farther into herself.

  * * *

  When would the Masters brothers be on their way? Would Bill never understand that she only wanted to be left alone. She was tired of fending him off.

  * * *

  “The most beautiful woman in Franklin County and still unmarried. You ask me, Andrew, it’s a crying shame. Just going to waste. How old are you now, Mae? Twenty-four? Twenty-five?”

  * * *

  “I’ll be twenty-five in August, not that it’s any business of yours.”

  * * *

  Bill laughed and slapped his thigh. He looked at his brother. “Regular spit-fire, isn’t she?”

  * * *

  “Looks that way,” Andrew croaked.

  * * *

  Mae didn’t know why the men were holding her up the way they were. She was in no mood for Bill Masters and his antics. He’d already asked to court her and she’d declined.

&nb
sp; * * *

  She couldn't count how many times he’d asked, but he just would not take no for an answer. It had gotten to the point that whenever Mae saw Bill anywhere, her stomach would sink. It took so much energy to fend him off.

  * * *

  It wasn’t as if Bill was all that bad. He was nice enough, if a bit of a bully sometimes. He was quite handsome, even Mae had to admit. And he was intelligent and a good businessman.

  * * *

  He owned the bank in town, which made him the wealthiest man in Havenshire and, consequently, quite the proverbial catch. There were quite a few women in town who would be thrilled to be in Mae’s position. Marriage to Bill would afford his bride an easy life. Much easier than the life Mae had known.

  * * *

  Mae’s father was a poor farmer. For years the family had nothing but a few acres and a couple of mules, some chickens, and a cow. But Mae had gotten the school teacher job when old Miss Wheeler had begun to have difficulty getting to the school.

  * * *

  Miss Wheeler had been 65 years old and had taught school in Havenshire for nearly half a century. Four years earlier she’d trained five women from the area, including Mae.

  * * *

  Since Mae was the only one who got a score of 100 on the test Miss Wheeler gave, she got the job. With her modest salary, for the first time in her life, she and her family could eat three meals in one day. Two years into the job, Mae had enough money to buy the horse she now rode. Things had begun to look up for the Andrews.

  * * *

  Then Bill Masters had noticed her one Sunday after Church. It was right after he’d returned from the war. He’d come home and laid eyes on Mae. And an active campaign for her hand, that increased in fervency as time went by, had been born.

  * * *

  “Think,” her father had said. “Think Mae. Think what you could do for this family if you marry Masters. Think how your own life would be improved. You’d never have to work again. You could quit teaching. Just think about saying yes the next time Bill asks to court you. I’ve given my blessing. “

  * * *

  Her father had given Bill his blessing. Without discussing it with her. She’d been livid, but because she was a good daughter, because she was a loyal woman, she took her father’s advice.

  * * *

  She’d thought about it. Again and again and over and over. It changed nothing for her. Mae didn’t love Bill Masters. And she knew that Bill Masters, like all of the men in Havenshire, was primarily interested in her for her looks. She’d recently made a pact with herself.

  * * *

  If she didn’t find a man who loved her for her and not what she looked like, then she would remain unmarried. She had the school. There was no reason why she couldn’t go on teaching for another forty or even fifty years the way Miss Wheeler had.

  * * *

  “Well if you ask me, it’s a crying shame that the most beautiful woman in town is still unmarried, don’t you Andrew? But, I could fix that for you, Mae. I could make you happy. I think you should marry me. It’s not as if you have so many choices anymore. All the other boys in town have given up. Except for me. I’ve never given up on you, Mae. Think about it. I’ll build you a big house. In town. Or in the country. I’ll build you two houses. I’d take care of your parents. Think how nice it could be. You wouldn’t have to teach at the school house anymore.”

  * * *

  Mae’s eyes narrowed. “Bill Masters, do you know anything about me? Anything at all?” She couldn’t believe how he dismissed the importance of her teaching job.

  * * *

  Bill laughed once more. “I don’t need to know anything about you.”

  * * *

  Mae fumed. Enough was enough.

  * * *

  “Good day, Bill. Good day, Andrew,” she said, holding on to her temper. May started over the hill but Bill and Andrew Masters blocked her way once more.

  * * *

  “Aw, don’t be like that Mae. We’re just teasing you. Don’t be mad.”

  * * *

  “I’m not mad, Bill.” And she wasn’t. Not really. Just tired and frustrated that he wouldn’t take no for an answer. “But I’m going to be late. Will you please let me pass?” She sighed.

  * * *

  The Masters were intent on making her late, it seemed. Bill always played this kind of game with her anytime he caught her alone. It never seemed to occur to him that his antics only served to alienate her from him more. She wished he would let her be.

  * * *

  There was a low branch over the wooded path. Quick as lightning, Mae reached up and pulled the branch. A loud crack filled the air as the icy-cold water that was caught on the leaves splashed down on the two men.

  * * *

  They had all they could do to keep their mounts calm. The horses had gotten spooked at the snap of the tree branch. In the ensuing melee, Mae made her escape down the hill with the sound of Bill’s voice calling after her.

  * * *

  In the school house, she lit the kerosene lamp inside the door and the other on her desk. As she prepared for the day ahead Mae chuckled. It felt good to get one over on Bill Masters once in a while. But on the other side of her self-satisfied attitude was a sort of soft despair. Would she ever meet anyone who would want more from her than her looks?

  * * *

  She was acquainted with all the young men in Havenshire. At least the ones who’d come back from the war. But none of those men were for her. They all wanted a pretty wife on their arm. It was the same with each one.

  * * *

  They would make up their minds about a woman based on her appearance. If one of them didn’t find the woman in question pretty enough she wasn’t asked to dance, or out for a buggy ride, or to go to a social. It disgusted her.

  * * *

  Why everyone focused on the physical was a mystery to Mae. If only people would see what was important about their friends and neighbors - actually and truly important. She couldn’t abide the often poor behavior she’d seen from the most beautiful of people.

  * * *

  She felt with her entire being that everyone - her parents and siblings, her students and friends - would be better off if people worried less about how they looked. If people would gravitate to what was truly important, Mae thought, her world would be a happier place.

  * * *

  As it was, her world, her life, her work were all to her liking. She had no room for the likes of Bill Masters in it. She was about to turn 25 years old. She was no longer a girl, no longer a young woman. She was rapidly approaching that place in life when a husband and children were no longer an option.

  * * *

  Not that it bothered her too much. When Jimmy had gone off with all the other boys in the county to fight, Mae had let him go without marrying him. Jimmy, like many of his friends, had wanted to go to war a married man. But Mae’s father had said no daughter of his would be married outside of the Church. The date was finally set for the leave of absence that he was granted in Christmas 1862. Mae hadn’t seen Jimmy in almost two years.

  * * *

  They’d kept up with one another through their letters, his often months after he’d written them, and hers, she never knew if or when he received them. Christmas came and went and on a drizzly cold Thursday in February, Mae was brought news of her fiancé’s death. She’d been twenty years old.

  * * *

  For the next two years she grieved and closed off her heart. She walked like a wraith around the farm doing her chores by rote, lost in her inner turmoil. She’d given up. She existed, but only half lived.

  * * *

  One day she’d been out picking berries and she’d run into the local schoolteacher. She’d begun helping at the schoolhouse once in a while and at the age of twenty took over the teaching position.

  * * *

  She realized what she was doing. She was setting up for her future. If she couldn’t marry Jimmy, she had no des
ire to marry anyone. She was content to live at her parents house, still doing farmwork and teaching Monday through Friday from nine until two o’clock.