His Unexpected Mail-Order Bride (Historical Sapphire Springs Book 1)

by Angie Campbell

  Tobias looked up, finding the man doing all the talking only slightly familiar. He gave him an evil sneer, then tipped the bottle, filling his shot glass. He tossed the whiskey back quickly, not giving himself time to think twice about his actions and doing his best to ignore the burn.

  The man chortled, and shook his head. “Well, look here. I think Townsend has finally decided to be a man.”

  He wasn’t sure what came over him. Without thinking, he poured himself another shot, and threw it back, knowing already, he was going to regret this the following day. He also missed, after the first shot, the bartender walking over to a door behind the bar and sticking his head in for a few seconds. Even if he had noticed, he wouldn’t have known he had told the teenage boy that helped clean up after most of the patrons had left, or gone upstairs with one of the girls for the night, to run out to the Townsend place and get one of the other Townsend boys to come and get their brother before he knocked himself out cold with whiskey.

  By the time the man had finally gotten bored with harassing him, and had wandered off, he had drunk two more shots, and was feeling a little light headed. He was far gone enough, he wasn’t even noticing it burning on the way down, anymore.

  He was left alone for a little while, but eventually another one of the regular patrons walked over and managed to goad him into taking a couple more shots. If he kept this up, he was going to pass out, and slam his face into the table. His world was spinning out of control, and he wasn’t sure he could make it across the room if he got up to leave. At this point, he was feeling fairly certain he would never make it up into the saddle.

  He groaned, leaning his head against the wall behind him. He figured he was going to be spending the night right where he was.

  He wasn’t sure, because he could have been passed out for all he really knew, but he didn’t feel like he’d had his eyes closed for very long, when someone else walked up. The sound of swishing silk was his only warning before someone plopped themselves down in his lap.

  His left eye popped open and he glared at the woman sitting on him. “What do you want, Irene?”

  She giggled, leaning into him, nearly smothering him with her cleavage, and whispered in an attempt at a sultry voice, “Well, I was wondering, since you decided to try the whiskey tonight, if you were feeling man enough to try other things, as well.”

  He pushed her back, and growled. “Get off me. You know I don’t want your services.”

  “The way you act, one wonders if you even have working equipment,” she snorted loudly.

  “I’m a married man. I just don’t need your services,” he growled, shoving her off his lap, or trying to, at least. The table was in the way, and assisted her in staying right where she was. If he hadn’t been so drunk, she wouldn’t have been so lucky.

  Irene snorted again. “I would be very surprised to find you had ever even touched that wife of yours once. After all, she hasn’t run off yet.”

  “Get off me,” he growled, shoving the table back and standing up, dumping her in the floor at his feet.

  She landed with a thump, causing a large number of the drunken patrons to laugh and point. She stood to her feet and glared up a him. “How dare you?” she hissed.

  “You’re the one that walked up and sat down in my lap without an invitation. Maybe next time you’ll wait till your asked,” he smirked.

  “Don’t worry, I won’t be offering again,” she glared.

  “That suits me just fine,” he grinned, swaying on his feet. “Like I said before, I don’t want your services.”

  She pulled herself up to her full five-feet four-inch height with a huff and turned to stomp off. He glared down at the table, trying to decide if he wanted to sit back down, or try to make it to the swinging doors. He was still standing there, trying to decide when he heard a very irritated voice coming from somewhere to the right of him. A voice he knew quite well. Even as drunk as he obviously was.

  He glanced over, and grinned. “Hey, Brother. What are you doing here?”

  “Henry sent a rider out to the ranch to tell me you were drinking your whiskey for some reason, instead of letting everyone else have it,” he growled.

  “Henry? Whose Henry?” he asked, nearly falling back into his chair and belching, breathing the fumes in Cade’s face.

  “Seriously? You don’t even know the bartender’s name?” he asked, giving his brother a dirty look. “After all the nights you’ve spent here in the last few weeks, I find that very surprising, even as drunk as you are.”

  “Oh, yeah. That’s who Henry is. I knew that,” he grumbled, taking a stumbling step forward.

  “Whatever,” Cade sighed. “Let’s just get out of here, and go home.”

  Cade followed behind him, barely resisting the temptation to kick him through the swinging doors.

  Tobias stumbled outside, tripping off the boardwalk, to land sprawled out in the dirt, where he found himself staring at a dirty pair of boots. He rolled to his back, looking up a pair of very long legs, to finally stare into the eyes of another one of his brothers. “Hey, ‘Zekiel. You came, too? What are you two doing in town this late at night?”

  Ezekiel shook his head, frowning down at his oldest brother. “I could ask you the same thing? What got into your head, that you actually drunk the whiskey?”

  Cade crossed his arms over his chest. “When I got in there, Irene was sitting in his lap. Thankfully, he dumped her out in the floor on his own, but this situation needs to be resolved, soon. Real soon. Do you catch my meaning?”

  Ezekiel frowned, nodding his head. “Come on. Let’s get him back to the ranch. Do you think he can stay in the saddle, as drunk as he is?”

  Cade nodded his head. “He’ll be alright. He could sleep in the saddle on that horse.”

  *******

  Tobias slid off his horse, falling to the barn floor. He groaned, rolling to his back, and tried to sit up. His head was still swimming too much, and he only made it about halfway before he fell back to the floor with a grunt.

  “What do you think we should do with him? Dunk his head in the horse’s water trough?” Ezekiel asked, eyeing his brother like he was a pile of cow dung.

  Cade snorted. “I don’t really want to do that to the horses.”

  “Well,” Ezekiel sighed. “I guess we better take him in and give him coffee. Maybe we could dump a bucket of cold water over his head.”

  Cade grumbled under his breath, reaching down to yank his brother to his feet. “Come on. Get up, Toby. Mom would be devastated to see you like this.”

  Tobias stood to his feet, still a little wobbly, and gave his brother a dirty look. “That is not nice,” he grumbled, referring to his brother’s use of a nickname only his mother had ever used.

  Cade smirked, knowing exactly what his brother was talking about. “What’s not nice?”

  Tobias shook his head, then groaned when his head started to pound. He closed his eyes, grabbing the front of Cade’s shirt. “You know what I mean.”

  “Maybe I do, but you need to stop and really think about what you are doing, before you let it go any farther.”

  Tobias growled, giving him another dirty look, making sure not to shake his head this time. “There’s nothing wrong with what I am doing.”

  Ezekiel snorted. “You have got to be kidding. You know darn well you are acting like a complete fool.”

  “No, I’m not,” he said, forgetting not to shake his head. “Oh, no. I think I’m going to be sick.” He stumbled toward the open door of the barn, just managing to reach the outside before he threw up what was mostly whiskey.

  He was still bent over, waiting for his head to stop spinning when his brothers followed him. “This is not something you would have ever done before,” Cade said, stepping away, so he wasn’t breathing in the smell of vomit. “Why are you doing this, now?”

  “You know why.” he grumbled, finally standing back up straight, finding that emptying his stomach had made him feel a lot better. Hi
s head had finally stopped swimming and he didn’t feel so nauseated. He made his way back into the barn, and headed for his bedroll, and stall with fresh hay. He tossed his bedroll down, doing his best to ignore the other two behind him.

  “You know, you have a much more comfortable bed inside,” Ezekiel sighed, shaking his head. “You also have a very beautiful, and sweet wife in there who can’t figure out why you don’t even seem to like her. Why are you doing this?”

  He grumbled once again. “You know why.”

  “No, we don’t,” Cade said, throwing his hands in the air. “Why won’t you at least give her a chance? You could at least take the time to get to know her.”

  Tobias shook his head, finding this time that it only made things a little blurry. “I am not going to let myself become attached to her, only to have her leave me the second she realizes she can’t stand my touch, or to look at me. Or that she’s afraid of me.”

  Ezekiel gave him a confused look. “Why would you think that was going to happen?”

  “I know you heard Rachel shouting she wanted an annulment right before she ran off, and broke her neck when she fell from that horse. Did I ever tell you, she left me a note explaining she had never wanted to marry me, in the first place? She said she couldn’t handle the thought of me touching her. She wanted no part of the marriage bed.” He knew that last little bit was just him adding to what she wrote, but that had to be what she had been thinking. Why else would she have run the way she did?

  Cade sighed and shook his head. “I told you at the time there was something wrong with Rachel, and you should never have married her.”

  “Sadie came here to marry you, and expecting a normal marriage,” Ezekiel added. “She isn’t going to run off on you. Well, not if you actually give this marriage a chance, anyway.”

  Tobias shook his head. “I can’t do it. I just can’t,” he grumbled, turning his back on them. “Please, just leave me be.”

  They both looked at each other, then watched as he crawled into his bedroll, and pretended they weren’t both still standing there. They weren’t giving up that easily, but they would let it go for tonight. The both figured they had browbeat him enough for the one night.

  Chapter 6

  Thursday, April 29

  “Thank you, Mr. Miller. You have a nice day, as well,” Sadie said with a smile at the older man, and left the butcher shop while Jeremiah Miller held the door open for her. She stepped down off the boardwalk and placed the package she had in her hand in the back of the wagon, where Thaddeus waited for her. She turned back to take the other packages from Jeremiah, only to find he had stepped up beside her to place them in the wagon for her.

  “Why, thank you, Mr. Miller,” she said with a friendly smile.

  “Please, call me Jeremiah, Mrs. Townsend. Mr. Miller is my father,” he said, smiling back.

  “I don’t think I should do that,” she shook her head, but softened the blow with a smile.

  “You are probably right,” he nodded, stepping back. “Your husband probably would not approve.”

  “Most likely not,” she nodded before turning back to the wagon, taking Thad’s offered hand for help up.

  Before she could manage to step up into the wagon, Tobias reined Gray Wind to a stop beside the wagon and jumped down, out of the saddle. She noticed when his hat flew off, he must have just come from the barber shop across the street. His hair had gotten long enough it was curling around his ears, but now it was trimmed nicely, and laying flat against his temples.

  He reached down to pick the cowboy hat up out of the dirt and cram it back on his head, then started around the end of the wagon. She could tell by the furious expression on his face, she wasn’t going to like what he had to say.

  He stomped around to where she stood, and grabbed her hand, dragging her back around to where his horse was on the other side of the wagon. “Why are you…” he spluttered, before continuing. “Flirting with Jeremiah Miller?” he roared loud enough to gain the attention of several people walking down the street.

  She gave him a hurt look. “I am not flirting with anyone,” she replied, trying to understand what she could have done to make him react in such a way.

  “That’s not what it looked like to me, from across the street,” he snarled, glaring back at the other man, who was now standing there, looking a little confused himself.

  “Tobias, she wasn’t flirting with Jeremiah. She was just thanking him for his help with the packages,” Thaddeus said, trying to get his brothers attention.

  “Stay out of this, Thaddeus,” he growled, barely turning his head to look at his little brother, before turning to glare back at her some more.

  “Tobias, calm down. We can talk about this at home,” she said, doing her best not to cry.

  “I will not have you flirting with every man in town,” he growled, turning to stomp back over to where Jeremiah Miller still stood with his mouth hanging open. Before he managed to say a word, she threw herself up in Gray Wind’s saddle. She sat the horse astraddle, not bothering to try to ride sidesaddle, the way his brother had taught her. Already feeling so humiliated over what her husband had said, she didn’t give one thought to how high her dress tail was riding up. She turned the big horse in the direction she needed to go, and headed back to the ranch.

  “No, Sadie,” Thaddeus cried, just missing the reins of the horse when she slapped the horse across his rump with the leather straps.

  Tobias jerked around in time to watch his tiny wife tear off, down the street on his very large horse. “Sadie, no,” he cried, starting out on foot. He had a fleeting thought of calling the horse back, but was afraid it would startle her, and she would fall out of the saddle and break her neck, anyway.

  “Tobias,” Jeremiah called, running up beside him. “Go down to the livery stables and tell Jed you need my horse. You can ride him bareback. He was trained by an old Indian friend of my father’s. And he’s the closest you are going to be able to come to being as fast as that horse of yours.” Tobias nodded his head, and took off without another word.

  “Come on, Jeremiah,” Thaddeus hollered. “We’ll follow them in the wagon. Hopefully he’ll catch her before she gets too far.” He left the rest unspoken but, Jeremiah knew exactly what he was thinking.

  *******

  Tobias made it down the street to the livery stable in record time. When he got there, Jed was already bringing Jeremiah’s horse, Chance Lightening, out of the stalls. He had seen Sadie ride by on Gray Wind, and had come out in time to hear someone holler to him what Jeremiah had said. He handed the reins over, not bothering with words, knowing the last thing Tobias was going to want to do was stand around and chew the fat. He stood watching as the other man climbed up on the horse bareback, and started out of town, sending up a silent prayer he managed to get to his wife before it was too late.

  Tobias tore out of town, as fast as the horse would carry him. Which ended up being fairly fast. He never second guessed his direction, knowing Gray Wind would take her toward home.

  By the time he had caught up to his wife on his horse, he was a nervous wreck. That might have accounted for the way he handled the situation. He rode up alongside Gray Wind, and reached out and yanked her out of the saddle, right onto his lap.

  He didn’t realize he had been holding his breath for the last few seconds, until he took his first deep breath. Once he knew she was safe in his arms, and could breathe again, he slowed the horse and pulled back to look her in the eyes. When he saw her take a deep breath like she planned on laying into him with a verbal sit down, he clutched her to his chest and slammed his mouth down on hers. By the time he lifted his head, she was dazed and gripping his shirt in her hands.

  He gave a sharp cry, slapping the reins against the horse’s rump, aiming him toward the ranch. He clutched her to him, speeding the rest of the way home.

  When he reined to a stop outside the house, he found Cade standing there with Gray Wind’s reins. He wore a look cros
sed between concern and puzzlement.

  When he saw them ride up, he smiled, taking a deep, relieved breath. “Thank God. I wasn’t sure what to think when I found Gray Wind out here, rider-less. I don’t think you’ve been thrown from a horse since you were about fourteen, when Dad gave you that palomino for your birthday. I don’t think he was quite as big as Gray Wind, here. I remember Dad warning you not to get cocky with that horse, or he would end up teaching you a lesson.”

  Tobias lowered Sadie down to the ground, hopping off behind her. He wrapped Chance Lightening’s reins around the porch rail, walking past his brother without a backwards glance, pulling Sadie along behind him.

  Cade gave the big horse a strange look, just then realizing whose horse it was. “Why do you have Jeremiah Miller’s horse?” he asked, following them into the house.

  Tobias ignored the enquiry, continuing down the hall to his bedroom. He dragged her through the open door, slamming it closed behind them. Remembering the last time they had been in here together, she started struggling, trying to pull free, but to no avail.

  He continued across the room, stopping at the chair in the corner. “Don’t you dare,” she screeched, yanking on her arm once again. He ignored her protest, yanking her down in his lap. When she felt him yank her skirt up over her head, she started struggling anew. “If you do this, I’ll never speak to you again.”

  “From what I’ve noticed, you don’t stop talking for long,” he chuckled a mirthless laugh. “I figure you are going to find that rather hard to do.” He proceeded by yanking her knickers down, and giving her a solid smack on one full cheek.

  “You are a brute,” she screamed, her anger growing in leaps and bounds.

  “Do not ever take off on my horse like that again,” he growled, landing another solid smack.

  She continued screaming, thrashing about, trying to get away. His grip on her hip held her firmly in place. “You have to be the meanest man I have ever met.”