“Just sign here, and you can be on your way.”
Maddie took the fountain pen mindlessly from the clerk’s hand and grazed over the short document in front of her. Was this what her life had been reduced to? Marrying a complete stranger for a place to stay? She knew how few coins she had left in her reticule, and it was not enough to cover the train fare back home, let alone room and board.
But where was home for her anyway?
She’d lived with her uncle on her mother’s side since her mother’s passing four years ago, and she’d been considered a burden the entire time. This trip had been a source of hope to start a new life for herself away from the control of her uncle, and out from the shadow of her overbearing cousin.
Since she was ready to be out on her own and settle down, she was too eager to travel to Tombstone, thinking what better way to start off a new life than with a little nest egg, and the shares in the silver mine had mesmerized her attention away from reality.
Now, it seemed, she would have to relinquish control of that to a strange husband, and trust that he would not waste it on immoral means.
She no more wanted to find a husband in haste than she relished the idea of wiring her uncle and begging for passage back to Texas Territory.
Maddie had snatched up the notice without thinking it through. The moment she heard it from her friend, Willa Mae, whose father was the post master and owner of the General Store, Maddie thought it was her destiny.
“I thought you would want to know about owning your own silver mine shares since your wedding with Carver is off,” Willa Mae had said that day. “I didn’t want that fancy-pants cousin of yours to get her hands on it. This is your ticket out of here.”
“That wedding was never on. Besides, Abby isn’t so bad,” Maddie said, more to convince herself than Willa Mae.
To wit; Willa Mae promptly reminded her that Abby had stolen her beau, Carver Jennings. In the end, he’d left Abby for another woman soon after they’d begun dating, so Maddie had let the matter drop, having been grateful that her cousin, for once, had done her a kindness through her horrid behavior.
Now, it seemed she had to stomach another choice made against her will, and hoped it, too, would come out in her favor.
Maddie blew out a discouraging sigh and let go of her pride long enough to accept the voucher for the hotel as she reluctantly signed her name, agreeing to the terms of the offer.
CHAPTER 2
Hoss Tucker ambled across the boardwalk in front of the hotel, looking to see if his mail order bride had arrived on today’s stage. But how would he even know which one she was?
What had his brother and sister-in-law been thinking when they’d written to some poor, unsuspecting woman pretending to be Hoss? How could they have done such a thing to him? He’d told his brother time and again he wanted to marry for love. He’d told him several times that he wanted no part in sending away for a bride. After all, he was still young and mighty handsome according to their ma, and he wasn’t about to settle for a loveless marriage to a stranger. Call him a romantic, but he wanted all that falling in love would give him. He’d never been in love before, but he’d heard plenty from his brother while he was courting Emily, and it put a mighty appealing desire in his heart for the same.
Surely his brother understood that Hoss wanted the same thing he’d been lucky enough to find with Emily. Only thing was, he didn’t want a mail order bride, Hoss wanted to do his own choosing.
It didn’t matter now.
Thanks to his brother’s meddling, he was stuck in a legally-binding contract with a stranger. He hoped she would let him out of the contract once he explained to her what had happened. He prayed she would not want to enter into a marriage with him after she discovered it hadn’t been him that had written the letters to her. He’d even offer to pay her passage back to wherever she’d traveled from.
He was that desperate to get out of it.
Maddie strolled sadly across the boardwalk in front of the General Store, wishing it was Willa Mae’s family store back in Texas she was in front of instead of the reality that now slammed around in her mind. Clenching the hotel voucher in her fist, she wondered if she could sneak away on tomorrow’s stage and get away without consequence for putting her signature to that contract at the silver mining office. The long walk back to the hotel had given her time enough to think that she should not have been so hasty in signing—even though it had meant a roof over her head for the night.
But what else could she do? She didn’t have enough money to get herself home.
What had she been thinking?
Was she so desperate to escape Texas Territory that she would sign her life away this easily? Perhaps if she’d thought more about it, she would have saved enough to get herself back home, in case it was necessary. If only she’d known about the details of the contract before she’d set off on such a half-thought-out adventure, she would have willingly accepted it was her destiny to stay in Texas and become a spinster in her uncle’s home.
Maddie stiffened her lips that quivered with fear, and threatened to let a cry escape them if she should continue to wonder if she’d done the right thing. If there was one thing her ma had taught her, it was that life could sometimes present you with some really exciting surprises when you least expect them.
Determined to see what good God could bring out of her hasty decision, Maddie picked up her head and walked past the General Store and toward the hotel that would be her home for the next few days—until she was wed to a stranger. Her breath caught in her dry, dusty throat as her gaze fell upon the tall, handsome man walking toward her same destination.
If that was the sort of man that would choose her at the Founder’s Day picnic, she might reconsider her woes.
The man swaggered toward the hotel entrance and paused, leaning against the wood frame of the building. He crossed one leg over the other, his spur clicking against the wooden boardwalk.
Maddie slowed her walk just to drink him in a little more. She was parched from the travel along the dusty trail to Tombstone, and she couldn’t think of a better way to quench that thirst than with that tall drink of water standing in front of the hotel aiming his gaze upon her.
Hoss looked up just in time to see the most delicate little filly he’d ever seen sauntering down the boardwalk in his direction. Her blue dress and full skirts sashayed over the boardwalk as if she was floating toward him. One dainty hand held fast to the parasol that rested on her milky shoulder, the other struggled with an oversized carpetbag that flounced against her skirts with every step she took. The delicate lace that encircled her neck and wrists fluttered in the warm breeze that seemed to carry her down the stretch of Allen Street with the sort of sweetness that Hoss admired so much, it etched a place in his heart for her.
Remembering his manners, he lifted himself from the side of the building and approached her, stretching an arm toward her bag as he tipped his Stetson with one finger and nodded.
“Let me get that bag for you, Miss.”
Maddie let the man take her bag as she mindlessly followed him into the hotel. She was too tired to worry about whether he worked for the hotel, and he was too handsome for her to resist anything he might offer her. He led her to the desk and set her bag down as she handed the hotel voucher over the counter to the proprietor.
Oh, Lord, let this sweet woman be my mail order bride.
“Are you here to check in with the rest of the mail order brides?” the man behind the counter asked.
Maddie swallowed hard against what she deemed to be a derogatory term for her.
“Yes, Sir,” she said quietly, feeling suddenly embarrassed in front of the man who’d brought in her bag. “I’m Maddie Hawkins, and the man at the silver mining office told me that voucher would get me a room free of charge.”
Hoss felt his heart clench behind his ribcage when she’d given her name. He stepped away from the counter with a tip of his hat toward her and exited the hotel, fee
ling discouraged that Maddie was not the bride he was contracted to marry.
END OF SAMPLE
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THE BRIDE RAFFLE: When Belle Calhoun steps off the stage into Tombstone Arizona in the spring of 1885, she never dreamed she'd arrive just in time to witness a hanging, get into a tussle with a saloon owner, have to borrow a dress from a saloon girl, or attend a stranger's funeral, all within her first hour in town.
When her circumstances suddenly find her without her intended mail order groom, Belle has a hard time staying out of trouble when his brother threatens to raffle her off to the highest bidder.
Dalton, who has vowed to protect her, can't do that when he gets himself into some trouble of his own with the new deputy in town.
The Bride Raffle
Book Two
CHAPTER 1
Tombstone Arizona, Spring, 1885
Belle Calhoun stepped off the stage and into the crowded streets of Tombstone. The sweltering heat of the afternoon sun added to the ruckus of the crowd that gathered around…
“Oh my!” Belle clamped a gloved hand over her mouth to cover the unexpected cry that escaped her lips.
The town-folk had gathered around the courthouse, and Belle had arrived just in time to witness a hanging.
“Jedidiah Griff,” a man called from the platform of the gallows. “Do you have any last words?”
“No!” Belle screamed barely above a whisper.
She could feel her breath catch as she ran to the front of the crowd to reach the gallows, where a man stood with his hands bound behind his back, a noose around his neck.
“Please, Sheriff,” she cried, turning the crowd’s attention onto her. “I—I came all this way! I need to talk to Jed before you—before…”
It was too horrible for her to push the words from her mouth, much less, to think about what she was about to witness.
“What business do you have with the prisoner?” Sheriff Daniels asked.
“I’m his—his mail order bride.” She said, choking back tears that caught in her throat.
The words sounded suddenly pointless, even to her.
“Justice, will you escort your brother’s bride to the platform,” he said to a man standing behind her.
The sheriff was obligated to uphold the law, but everyone in town knew he was also a fair man.
Belle felt a strained grip on her arm as she was led up the wooden steps by a man who smelled of saloon and cigars. She didn’t turn to see his face; she didn’t want to look him in the eye.
Belle shook as she stood next to the man about to be hanged.
“May I s—see his face?” she asked quietly.
Sheriff Daniels lifted the feed sack from the man’s head, while Belle held a hand over her mouth, fearful of the cry that waited in her throat.
Green eyes squinted, but didn’t look her way. His light, thick hair still bore an indentation from his Stetson that lay at his feet; his chin lifted as if in defiance.
She touched his arm lightly, unable to speak.
He turned to look at her. “You’re just as beautiful as I imagined, Belle.”
His eyes glazed over with moisture, but he clenched his jaw to keep in the tears.
“Justice,” he said, turning to his brother. “Promise me you’ll marry Belle and take care of her, and that you’ll stay out of the saloon. Give her Ma’s ring. It’s in my trunk. Please do everything you can to clear my name—even after I’m gone—to keep from shaming Ma.”
His lips quivered, but his words never faltered.
Belle wanted to protest, but she wouldn’t deny him his last wish—even if she had no intention of honoring it.
“I’ll pray for your soul,” she whispered as she lifted herself to kiss his cheek.
“The letters I wrote to you,” he whispered back. “Read them again. You’ll know who I am.”
She agreed, even though she didn’t understand what he meant.
Justice nodded to his brother soberly, and then clenched Belle’s arm, pulling her back down into the crowd.
Sheriff Daniels replaced the sack over Jed’s face and nodded to the hangman in the corner of the platform.
Belle’s scream rent the air as the lever was pulled, snapping the line that held fast to Jed’s noose.
His head went limp, his feet twitched.
Then, it was over.
Her mail order groom was dead.
THE BRIDE DUEL: When two brothers send away for a mail order bride for domestic reasons, they find themselves with more trouble than they bargained for, and each will do anything they can to get out of marrying her!
Lizzie Ramsey traveled to Tombstone on her last dollar and a promise. When she arrives to find her dream is nothing more than a domestic nightmare, she sets out to teach the Bodine Brothers a lesson they won’t soon forget.
The Bride Duel
Book Three
CHAPTER 1
Tombstone Arizona, Summer, 1885
Lizzie Ramsey stepped off the stage, looking for her intended groom. But after several of the town folk passed her by without one man fitting the description of the man she’d travelled to meet, she decided it was time to look for him. The sun was high in the sky, making the heat so intense, it nearly choked her to take in a breath.
She wondered how people managed here without falling over dead from the heat.
Strolling into the General Store, her spurs clicked across the wooden floor planks, announcing her presence like a local. Hoping to find some solace from the warmth of the street, and to see if her betrothed might perhaps be waiting for her in there, she walked to the back of the store and stepped up to the counter.
“Excuse me,” Lizzie interrupted the woman behind the counter. “I’m looking for Sawyer Amos. I was supposed to meet him today when the stage came in. Do you happen to know where I might find him?”
The woman snickered and looked at Lizzie for a minute, studying her as if she was trying to decipher if she was serious or not. “I think you must mean the Bodine brothers!”
“Brothers?” Lizzie asked. “No, I’m only looking for one man—Sawyer Amos.”
“Then you’re looking for Sawyer and Amos Bodine!” the woman corrected her.
Lizzie’s eyes widened at the store owner’s remark, pausing just long enough for it to sink in.
“You mean it’s not just one man?”
The older woman planted her hands on her hips and furrowed her brow. “Now just what have them two boys done this time?”
“Two boys?” Lizzie repeated angrily. “Just how old are these two boys?”
The older woman smirked again. “Oh, they’re plenty old enough to get themselves into trouble that would involve a pretty girl like you, but not mature enough to get themselves out of it. Did they try to sell you something, Miss?”
Lizzie was growing angrier by the minute. “No, they didn’t exactly sell me something, except perhaps a future of lies!”
“I can only imagine what they said to get you to come here! What was it?”
Lizzie slapped a stack of letters on the counter that she’d had tucked under her arm. “One of them—Sawyer, I’m guessing—made me an offer to be his mail order bride!”
The older woman’s face curled up. “Sawyer is the older of the two. I might expect that from Amos, but not from Sawyer. I thought he had more sense than that.”
“Apparently he doesn’t,” Lizzie said.
She was furious by this time. Her hands rested on the six-guns strapped at her waistline, anger boiling in her. “Where can I find those two so I can straighten them out?”
A smile crossed the old woman’s lips. “Oh, they’ve got a real nice place just outside of town. You can’t miss it if you head east. It’s a big house with its own barn. Their folks didn’t lack for money, but those two had the notion they were going to come out west and be cowboys, but neither one ‘em can shoot a gun to save their lives! They have a few chickens, but even those
are disappearing because they just don’t know how to care for ‘em properly. Coyotes are getting ‘em. They don’t even do their own laundry; they bring it into town. The last time I paid them a visit to bring them a pie, the house was so filthy, I could barely walk through the place, and the dishes are piled up, though I don’t know why because they don’t cook. They take most of their meals here at the hotel restaurant.”
What had she gotten herself mixed up in?
“That still doesn’t explain why they would send away for a mail order bride by pretending to be one man.”
“I’m guessing they want someone to take care of them because I refused to do it. I’m betting that’s why they sent for you. I suppose they thought if one of them had a wife, she’d cook and clean and take care of both of them!”
“Well, if they think that I came here to take care of a couple of spoiled men who act like boys, they’ve got another thing coming to them.”
“Them two boys came out here a year ago after their ma passed away, and they’ve been nothing but trouble ever since they got here. I’m Etta Mae, and I was friends with their ma in our school days, and so I made a promise to her on her death bed that I’d look after them for her. Little did I know she’d spoiled them to the point they can’t do nothing for themselves, and they come up with one scheme after another! Well, neither of them boys are mature enough to handle themselves, much less, a wife.”
“It sounds to me as if they need to be taught a lesson!” Lizzie said. “I didn’t come all the way out here to be a caretaker for two spoiled boys. I came out here to get married to a responsible man, and I aim to get just that, even if I have to force one of them to grow up!”
Etta Mae raised an eyebrow at her. “If you get tired of trying with them two, you come see me, but I have a feeling you might be just what those two boys need!”
“It would have been proper if they’d at least met me at the stage when I came in. I have baggage and a trunk.”
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