“When you wrote and said you were an orphan,” Nora said, “I thought you might like to have a family.”
Yes, she wanted a family. She’d wished and hoped and prayed for a family of her own for years until finally, she’d given up. It had never occurred to her that she’d be walking into a ready-made family when she’d agreed to marry Cooper Thompson.
“Do you have the fare for me to get back to Chicago?” Josie asked.
A flush crept into Nora’s cheeks. “I’m sorry. I spent all my savings to pay your fare here.”
Josie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She had a few dollars, but not nearly enough to get home. Not that she had a home to go back to anyway, she reminded herself.
She spun around, searching for the stagecoach. It was gone. “When’s the next stage?”
A flush crept into Nora’s cheeks. “It comes through here once a week.”
“What am I supposed to do in the meantime? I don’t have the money to get back to Chicago and I don’t have enough money to stay in a hotel until the stage comes back.”
Nora lowered her head, avoiding Josie’s gaze. “I didn’t think … I really am sorry.”
The woman sounded as if she was going to burst into tears at any moment, and for some reason Josie didn’t understand herself, some of her anger washed away.
She knew how easy it was to impulsively make a decision without taking the time to really consider the consequences. Hadn’t she done exactly the same thing by agreeing to marry a man she’d never seen, in a town hundreds of miles from everything she’d ever known?
She couldn’t really find fault with Nora’s actions. She’d had a good reason for what she’d done, and it showed she loved her family very much.
But Josie was still left with a situation she had no way to deal with.
Her gaze scanned the street. Was there somewhere here in this town where she might earn a living besides the saloon? How could she lower herself to--?
“You can stay with us at the ranch.” Nora’s voice interrupted Josie’s thoughts. “The house is plenty big enough and I know once I explain to Cooper that it’s my fault you’re here and why I sent for you, he’ll see marrying you is the right thing to do. You’re much prettier than I expected and I’m sure he’ll think so, too. He won’t turn you down.”
“And if he does?”
Nora got to her feet. “Let’s worry about that if it happens.”
When it happens, Josie muttered under her breath.
Nora glanced around. “Where are your trunks?”
“I only have one,” Josie replied.
“Then let’s get it loaded into the wagon and we’ll head back to the ranch.”
Josie wanted to refuse, but she couldn’t see she had any other choice but to go with this woman and hope her brother wanted a wife. If he didn’t … No, she wouldn’t think about that until she had to.
A few minutes later, her trunk was stowed in the bed of the wagon and Josie was sitting beside Nora on the seat.
“The ranch isn’t far,” Nora commented, flicking the reins. The wagon began to move and soon they’d left Coldwater Creek behind. Josie couldn’t help thinking about the man she was going to, a man who had no idea his life was about to be turned upside down.
Chapter 2
Cooper Thompson stood on the roof and smiled as his gaze swept the pastures around the farmhouse.
In the distance, the foothills rose in purple and green to the majestic mountains reaching into the sky. Even now, with the summer sun shining in the cloudless blue sky, there were still patches of snow on the highest peaks.
The mountains never ceased to amaze him, and he was thankful every day that he’d bought this piece of land four years before.
The ranch wasn’t the biggest in the territory by any means, but it was plenty big enough for him and his family. It provided a good living for them all, and he even had some money put away to add on to the house if he ever wanted to.
There was no reason to ever add rooms to the house, though. Why would he? He had no intention of ever marrying. He’d seen over and over again how loving a woman left a man either miserable or heartbroken. Men who fell in love were fools. That was all there was to it. And he was no fool.
He could use the money to expand the ranch, he supposed. But again, why? He was happy with what he had. He didn’t need more money.
He and Drew took care of the ranch work and made sure Nora wanted for nothing. She, in turn, took care of the house and Andy during the day until Drew was finished the day’s work.
He’d offered to hire a housekeeper to make Nora’s life easier, but she’d refused. She always said nobody could look after the house and her family the way she could. She was probably right.
Lately, though, she’d been keeping company with Lewis Grimsby, and one of these days, he might want to marry her. Cooper didn’t know what they’d do then, but he’d worry about it when the time came.
Right now, life was good.
He hadn’t planned on spending the better part of the day fixing the leak in the barn roof that had sprung during the storm the night before, though. He’d have to fix the roof on the henhouse, too, one of these days. Still, when it came to hardships, this wasn’t so bad.
The afternoon sun beat down. He took off his hat, wiped his brow with the sleeve of his shirt and set his hat back on his head. He lowered himself to his knees and set a nail in the new shingle. He was about to hammer it into place when movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention.
He watched as a cloud of dust in the distance moved along the trail that ran along the river’s edge. Must be Nora coming back, he mused, turning back to his task.
When he looked up again, the wagon had already left the trail and was passing by a stand of cedars near the border of his land. He squinted into the sun. Nora was driving, but she wasn’t alone. A woman dressed in dark brown or black was sitting beside her.
He dropped the nails he’d been holding back into the paper sack and set the hammer down, then climbed down the ladder and waited until the wagon drew to a stop in front of him.
The woman sitting beside Nora looked up at him, her forehead creased in a frown. A dark blue bonnet covered her hair, but a few pale blond curls had escaped to frame her face. Wide greenish-gold eyes gazed up at him, studying him. The dress he’d thought was brown was actually dark blue and emphasized her creamy skin. All in all, she was one of the prettiest women he’d laid eyes on in quite some time.
He’d noticed a trunk in the wagon bed so he assumed whoever this woman was, she was here to stay for a while.
Nora climbed down out of the wagon. “Come with me, Cooper,” she ordered, sliding her hand beneath his elbow. “We need to have a little talk.”
“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?” he asked.
“Of course,” she said. “Cooper, this is Josephine Parker. Josie, my brother, Cooper.”
Josie held out her hand to shake Cooper’s. He reached for her hand but then drew back. “Begging your pardon, ma’am, but my hands are dirty. Don’t want to soil your gloves.”
Josie smiled, but didn’t lower her hand. “Mr. Thompson, I’m not the kind of woman who worries about a little dirt. I’m happy to meet you.”
Cooper’s lips creased in a smile. Tiny laugh lines appeared at the corners of his eyes, and he took her hand, burying it in his.
“Come on, Cooper.” Nora tugged at Cooper’s arm until he had no choice but to release Josie’s hand and follow her away from the wagon toward the barn.
Josie stayed in the wagon, her eyes on Nora and her brother, her thoughts going back to her handshake with Cooper. Even through the fabric of her gloves, the way he’d held her hand had done something to her, a feeling unlike anything she’d ever felt before. It was most pleasant, but at the same time disturbing. She didn’t like the unsettled sensation in her stomach and the warmth that seemed to radiate through her right to her toes.
She cast a
glance at Nora and Cooper, now standing beside the barn. She hadn’t noticed before how much Nora used her hands to emphasize her words, but by the way they were waving around, she assumed the woman was having a hard time getting her point across.
Josie sat as primly as possible, her hands folded in her lap. Twice Cooper slid a look in her direction, his expression stormy. She quickly averted her gaze while heat of embarrassment flushed her cheeks.
She couldn’t help noticing that even angry – which he appeared to be – he was a handsome man. Hair the color of coal, just like Nora’s, deep blue eyes, a square chin and strong jaw.
The broad shoulders and muscled arms she’d seen were the result of hard labor, but at the same time, he wasn’t built like the lumberjack she’d met once when he and his wife had come to the orphanage to visit a few years before.
Cooper looked at her again, and caught her gaze. She lowered her eyes. What must he be thinking of her?
She sneaked a peek at him, hoping he wasn’t still looking at her. He was gazing out into the fields as he raked his fingers through his hair. Nora was standing quietly beside him, waiting.
Finally, he stopped and faced his sister. Josie couldn’t tell what he was saying to Nora, but eventually he stopped talking.
Nora turned away from her brother and went up the stairs into the house, closing the door behind her.
For a few seconds, Cooper stared at Josie, then moved toward her. He stopped beside the wagon. “Seems Nora took it upon herself to find me a wife without telling me.”
Josie nodded. “It does seem that way.”
“Do you have the letters she wrote?” he asked. “I’d like to read them.”
She reached into her reticule and pulled out a wrinkled envelope. “There was only one letter,” she said, handing it to him.
He took the piece of paper out of the envelope. Josie watched his expression as he read it, his brows arching and his jaw tensing.
She felt that she needed to say something, anything, to break the silence. “I had no way of knowing you didn’t write the letter yourself, although the handwriting did seem a bit feminine for a man, especially a rancher.”
“You thought I was feminine and you still came all the way out here?”
She gave him a wry smile. “I thought the handwriting was feminine,” she repeated. “The pressure was light, and the curlicues—”
“It wasn’t mine,” he interrupted.
“I know that now.”
“So you came out here expecting to get married,” he said quietly.
She nodded. She’d expected to be greeted by a man who’d sent for her, who wanted to marry her and raise a family with her.
“I’m not looking for a wife,” he told her. “Nora had no business doing what she did.”
“I agree,” Josie said, “but it’s done. The question is, what do we do about it now? She tells me she doesn’t have enough money to send me back to Chicago.”
“I can pay your fare, if you want to go back. Do you want to?”
Josie thought for a minute, then shook her head. “I have nothing to go back to,” she said, “but if you want me to leave, I’ll go.”
“What about your family?”
“I have none. I grew up in an orphanage.”
“You don’t talk like you came from an orphanage,” he commented. “You sound like you went to one of those fancy finishing schools.”
“Mrs. Norton, the matron of the orphanage, was determined we would be educated so that we’d have a better chance in life once we left.”
“Why did you want to leave if you had nowhere else to go?”
“I didn’t want to leave, but once I reached eighteen, I wasn’t allowed to stay. I always wanted to see the mountains so when Mrs. Norton suggested becoming a mail-order bride, I agreed. She sent me to a friend of hers who runs a matrimonial agency. The letter she showed me was from Montana, and it felt like it was meant to be.”
She still felt the same way, but she didn’t think it was wise to say that.
His gaze shifted from her to the mountains. “Do the mountains live up to your expectations?”
Josie couldn’t prevent the smile tugging at her lips. “Oh, yes. They’re even more magnificent that I ever imagined.”
He returned her smile, a few faint lines crinkling the corners of his eyes. Mercy, that smile …
“They really are,” he said. “I can’t imagine living anyplace where I can’t look out on the mountains.”
“So you can see why I came?”
His smile faded. “I do,” he said. “And I’m really sorry Nora brought you here under false pretenses.” He paused for a few moments as if he was trying to find the right words. “She wants to get married. Did she tell you that?”
Josie nodded.
“Did she also tell you she’s not going to leave if I don’t have somebody to look after the house … and us?”
That was a surprise to Josie. “No, she didn’t,” Josie replied. “And she also didn’t tell me there was an “us” until we met this afternoon. I was under the impression I was marrying one man, not gaining an entire family.”
He chuckled then, his eyes crinkling at the corners.
The anger Josie had been trying to quell rose up inside her. “I don’t know why you think this is amusing, but I can assure you, it isn’t. I’ve travelled hundreds of miles on the most uncomfortable seats you can imagine. I’ve eaten food I wouldn’t feed to hogs, and I haven’t had a proper bath in weeks, all to come here to marry a man I thought wanted me to become his wife, only to arrive and find out every word in that letter was a lie.”
His smile faded, and a frown appeared between his eyes. “You’re right, and I apologize. It really is nothing to laugh about, but sometimes, the only way to get through something unpleasant is to try to find humor in it.”
“I have no money, no home and no way to make a living. Please enlighten me and tell me where to find the humor in this situation.”
Cooper met her gaze, his dark eyes studying her. Then he turned away and raked his fingers through his hair.
A hawk soared overhead, the screech breaking the silence that had settled over the land. Josie waited, unsure what she should do.
Finally, Cooper turned and closed the distance between them. “She’s blackmailing me,” he said. “She knows I’ll do whatever I have to do to make her happy.”
“Mr. Thompson—”
“You might as well start calling me Cooper since it looks like I have no choice but to marry you. If you’re still willing, that is.”
“Well, isn’t that the most romantic proposal ever?” she asked, unable to hide the sarcasm in her voice.
His brows arched. “You were expecting romance?”
“Not really, but I wasn’t expecting a proposal that sounded like it was only a little more appealing than a death sentence.”
“Look,” he said, jamming his hands in his pockets. “I don’t need a wife. I don’t want a wife. But I do want Nora to have a husband and children of her own. Drew and I could make do ourselves, but she’s right about Andy needing a woman to look after him. So, I’m willing to marry you to make that happen. I’m not a romantic man so if that’s the kind of man you expect, you’ll be sorely disappointed. But I will provide for you and I won’t mistreat you. That’s all I’ll promise to do. You said you have no home to go back to, so what do you say?”
Thoughts whirled frantically in Josie’s brain. He apparently cared enough about his family that he was willing to sacrifice himself for his sister’s happiness. Did that mean that as his wife, he’d do the same for her if he needed to? She hoped so, or at least that even if he didn’t ever love her, he’d care about her well-being. And that was as much as she’d expected from a mail-order marriage.
She shifted on the seat, taking in the well-kept house, the sturdy barn, the fields. He took pride in his property. That was also a point in his favor.
She’d like to tell him she’d rather sleep i
n a ditch than marry a man who didn’t want her, but common sense took over. She could do worse.
“It seems I have no other choice as well,” she said softly. “I accept.”
Cooper swung the hammer with more force than he needed to. The nail dug into the roof shingle and a moment later, the wood split. He swore.
The heat must have addled his brain, he thought. There couldn’t be any other reason why he’d offered to marry a woman he’d met less than an hour ago.
Well, that and Nora’s tears. He never could stand to see her cry, or any woman for that matter. It was the one weakness he’d admit to.
And Nora knew it. She’d used those tears more times than he could count over the years, and even though he did his best to harden himself against them, he’d never been able to.
So now, he was getting married to the woman he’d just watched climb the stairs and disappear into the house.
Not that she wasn’t a pretty little thing. She was. She’d looked exhausted, but that wasn’t surprising. He didn’t know how long it took to get from Chicago to Coldwater Creek, but he knew it wasn’t a short journey. For a man, it would be uncomfortable to be stuck in a stagecoach for days. For a woman, it would be so much worse.
Even though she wasn’t all done up like the ladies in town, there was something about her that appealed to him. Wheat-colored curls had escaped from her bonnet and framed her face, emphasizing her pale skin and brownish eyes.
But she was small, likely not strong enough to deal with the hardships of ranch life. How would she ever handle all the work that would be expected of her?
At least he had a little time to see how she’d manage. Coldwater Creek had a regular preacher but he’d gone the month before to visit with family in Texas. He’d be back in a few days. If he was lucky, his soon-to-be wife would have changed her mind about marrying him before the preacher got back.
Of course, that would still leave the problem of what to do about Nora and her plan to marry Lewis Grimsby. Lewis was a good man with a successful ranch, and since their properties joined at the east boundary, she wouldn’t be too far away.
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