She meandered down the side street of Thornockle, feeling the bleached warmth of the sun on her face. Curiosity also arrested her. Would the man whose name she chose to take be able to protect her from the likes of Mace Thorne? If he was a blacksmith, he’d have to have some knowledge of shooting a gun and defending himself.
A marriage of convenience would work for both of them though. Elena had seen what love had done to her mother. Lydia Somersville had cared for a man who used that emotion to gain what he wanted—her mother’s fortune to gamble at the tables.
Elena pursed her lips. No, she wanted nothing to do with love.
The closer she came to the center of town the scent of rot and decay nearly overpowered her nose. Sorrow swelled inside of her. Would Silverpines ever return to what it used to be?
Her gaze landed on a slight, trim figure and with a tiny smile, she fell in step with Hattie Richards, the local doctor. “Dr. Richards, where are you off to?”
The woman’s exotic eyes gazed at her. “One of the children ate something that’s not agreeable so I’m heading over there to see what I can do.”
Elena liked Hattie. The woman’s beauty had a kind of magnetic pull that made men stare…at least the men that were still left. For the women, they were green with envy.
“I’m sure you’ll be able to cure them soon, Dr. Richards.”
Hattie gave her a quick look. “You’ve always called me doctor.”
Elena’s eyes widened. Had she offended her in some manner? “I’m sorry if I—”
“No, Elena.” The woman squeezed her hand comfortingly. “I’m glad you do. You’re one of the few who acknowledge my skills.”
“I was convinced of your skill when you gave me the herbs to release the pains of my menses three years ago. No man could ever do anything like that!”
Hattie gave a small laugh. “A man wouldn’t understand.”
Elena joined in the laughter as they continued on. “Elena?” Hattie drew out her name.
“Dr. Richards?”
“Tell me,” Hattie paused and then started again. Elena wondered what the woman had to say. “Do my methods seem…savage to you? Too…heathenish in their approach?”
Elena’s eyebrows arched high into her forehead. “Oh no! You obviously know what you’re doing. My menses caused terrible pain. I’d rather your herbs and powders than valium any day.”
Hattie patted her hand and then broke away. “My stop is over here. Have a good day, Elena.”
“You too, Dr. Richards.”
Elena paused to watch the graceful stride of the town doctor. Hattie’s beauty from her Indian blood mixed with her white blood. Shunned and desired in the same breath. The former doctor had ridiculed Hattie’s methods but he was dead now along with many of the other men. She wondered if the townspeople would embrace her someday.
“Miss Somersville!”
The screech of Widow Wallace’s voice across the street caused her to wince. Elena made a detour to the post office.
“Good afternoon, Widow Wallace,” Elena greeted as she entered the small building.
“Good afternoon.” The woman’s eyes carried a hard gleam in them. “I’ve another package and a letter for you.”
Elena’s heart stopped for a brief moment and then sped up. “Thank you. I’ll take them now.”
“You sure seem to get a lot of mail, Miss Somersville. One wonders why?”
“Does one?” Elena wasn’t going to give in to the woman’s mean gossip. The folks of Silverpines already thought she had two suitors coming into town. No need to feed more into it. “I’ll take my packages now.”
This time, she chose not to open the package in front of the widow. With a nod of her head, she exited the post office and headed over to the smithy.
The afternoon sun filtered through the window but it barely lit the interior. Hand tools, nails, and other iron work lined the shelves of the small shop. Ledgers, books, and unfulfilled requisition orders sat on the counter where Bo used to meet with customers.
Elena set the package and the letter on Bo’s desk.
For the past several weeks since the quakes, she inspected the shop several times to ensure it remained unmolested. Con men and ne’er-do-wells had slithered into Silverpines with the intent to take advantage. Marshal Sewell, a man who had proved some men were honorable, had taken care of them. Despite his vigilance, Elena knew the forge had to be fired and soon.
The skills of a blacksmith would be a valuable asset in Silverpines. The mine had collapsed during the quake but once it opened again, a steady stream of income would be available to her mail-order groom.
She wished, not for the first time, she could have trained as a blacksmith. Her mother would have swooned at such a thing…a lady blacksmith! But her mother had been a woman of breeding and privilege, with certain expectations of such women.
Had Elena a skill, besides her limited ability as a seamstress, then she would be in a better position to earn her own wages to pay off this debt to Mace Thorne.
A debt that wasn’t even hers but she’d still have to pay.
Stale, sooty air made her nose wrinkle. The forge lay as it had since that first day after the quakes. With help from some of the women, she’d cleaned it up to make it neat but Bo’s tools remained where he’d left them.
Elena caressed the anvil, thinking of the sporadic times she’d seen Bo bent over it, striking some piece of molten metal. He’d look up at her, face grimy with sweat and smudged with coal. “Each piece brings me closer to you not having to marry him.”
All of it, lies.
With a heavy sigh, she eyed the mail from the post office. What gift had Mace sent her this time? She didn’t want to know.
Was the letter a response from a prospective groom? That she wanted to know.
Without conscious thought, she took her mail, locked the door and headed down the street. She had no clear destination in mind, she nonetheless found herself knocking on Victoria’s door. Led down the hall, she came to the sitting room and saw Victoria laying a little Indian child on the couch in the sitting room.
“Isn’t he Dr. Richards’ ward?” Elena asked.
Victoria smiled a little and ran a gentle finger across the child’s forehead. “I’m not sure she would call him that but she’s taken responsibility for his wellbeing. I’m watching Kijab while she goes about her duties in town.”
Elena nodded, eyeing the dark, cherubic face of the small child. Part of her desired motherhood but she would never trap her child in a marriage like the one she grew up in.
“Lena?”
She blinked and saw the quizzical expression on her friend’s face. “What did you say?”
Victoria eyed the package and letter she still held. “Did you receive a response to your advertisement?”
“I’m not sure. I haven’t opened it yet.”
Folding her arms across her chest, Victoria strolled over to the settee and sat down. “You won’t find out if you leave the letter unopened, would you?”
Elena nodded, knowing she could not delay this any longer. Her fingers held a slight tremor as she opened the envelope. Big, bold letters met her eyes. Each stroke perfectly controlled and imparted with just enough force she could have sworn the vigor of the man’s personality leapt off the paper.
“To 45852,
I am writing to acknowledge I accept your terms to a marriage of convenience in exchange for my skills as a blacksmith. Should you choose to accept my proposal, I shall arrive to Silverpines by next week. I look forward to your response.
Yours,
Tobias Clayborne”.
“Egads,” Victoria clucked as she stood over Elena’s shoulder. “A man of few words.”
The brevity of the note surprised her. No flowery words of introduction or background. No acknowledgement of her stipulation he be a man of honor. No thoughts about being in a marriage of convenience besides his approval of it.
“It seems strange that this Mr. Clayborne
would be so ready to make his move to Silverpines so quickly.” Elena frowned. A man so eager to be at her side in less than a week! Was that a sign of an unscrupulous character?
“Perhaps not,” Victoria said pragmatically when Elena voiced her concern. “Look at the return address. It shows a boarding house in Astoria. It’s not too far from Silverpines.”
Elena made a sound in her throat. A wave of trepidation came over her. What in the name of all that was holy was she doing? There was no way she could accept a proposal from a man she’d never met before. Not to mention the fact she’d be withholding information from him until she was sure he could shoot a gun and be a man who could keep his word.
She had low expectations but they were there nonetheless. Eventually she would have to tell her husband that he’d have to go up against the gunslinger Mace Thorne.
“It’s strange he has no desire for a real marriage,” Victoria said as she took the letter from Elena’s numb fingers. “Why do you suppose that is?”
“I’m not sure.” Elena toyed with the edge of her black hair. Maybe the gentleman in question was old. Wait, that couldn’t be it. She’d requested a man between the ages of twenty and thirty-five.
“What if he’s hideous?” Victoria mused, wandering over to Kijab as he murmured in his sleep.
A picture of her fiancé entered her mind. Mace Thorne was a man many would consider handsome. In Elena’s eyes, the gunslinger was the ugliest person in the world. “If he’s ugly, I’ll welcome him with open arms.”
“Are you going to respond to him? Or are you going to wait to see if another letter comes?”
Elena stared off into the flames. Some inborn instinct inside of her said to stick with this Tobias Clayborne although nothing in his letter gave her any reassurance. After all, he could be worse than her father and brother.
But no one could be worse than Mace Thorne. At least, she hoped so.
Before she could talk herself out of it, Elena dipped the quill in the ink and began to write, ‘Thank you for responding to my advertisement…”
“Mr. Clayborne,
Thank you for responding to my advertisement. I wish to stipulate the conditions of our relationship for our mutual understanding. If you agree to these terms, I will look forward to your arrival here in Silverpines.
“As to our relationship, this marriage will be one of convenience. I am not interested in your past dalliances with members of the opposite sex. I do understand you are a man, entitled to certain needs of the flesh. I give you leave to pursue these desires with the understanding that these affairs are carried out in total discretion and away from Silverpines. I have no interest in meeting your family. Provided you have no criminal history, I ask nothing else but the protection of your name.
I await your response to these conditions.
Yours,
E. Somersville.”
Tobias read the letter three times before folding it up and placing it in his vest pocket. The note was simple and direct. E. Somersville had made it clear what she expected from the relationship and only wanted his acceptance in order for them to proceed forward.
Why did a kernel of distrust take root inside of his head? It seemed too quick. And this marriage of convenience, why was she so insistent of it? True, he had no wish to ever tie himself to any woman, much less this one but didn’t most women want to have children? Weren’t they always carrying on about babies?
He got up from the small secretary in his sparse room and went over to the window. The evening dusk had settled. He heard the miners coming back from their labors. It was a Saturday and from the snatches of conversation drifting up to his window, most of the men would head into town after washing up for an evening of drink and carousing.
He turned away from the window and fixed his gaze on the single bed with its lumpy mattress, gray threadbare blanket, and flat pillow. That part of the letter had surprised him. E. Somersville gave permission to seek physical satisfaction outside their marriage. Was he supposed to offer her the same ‘courtesy’?
Everything within him recoiled violently. A woman who carried his name, even in fiction, had the right to expect his troth.
He, for darned sure, expected her troth in return.
Was she ugly, perhaps? If this E. Somersville had an unseemly visage it was all the more reason to make sure their marriage didn’t go beyond the boundaries set by the statutes of convenience. He didn’t want to be in misery every time he set eye on her.
Tobias reached inside of his shirt and gripped the empty bottle of laudanum. He recalled the strong and elegant lines of E. Somersville’s handwriting. She had to be hiding something. An ache throbbed in his chest. Why did women have to be so untrustworthy? Was it really so difficult for them to be noble?
Are you? a voice in his head spoke into the chaos of his thoughts. After all, he had no intention of marrying this woman. He was only using her to get close to Mace Thorne’s wife.
But this town of Silverpines needed his skills as a blacksmith and whatever other help they could get. Would an honorable man lie to a woman who needed his help?
His fingers clenched the bottle of laudanum harder. Mace killed a man and his wife for no other reason than because she refused his attentions. The gunslinger had no morals whatsoever. He had no intention of hurting the man’s wife.
Yet, Tobias’ disgust for this unseen woman grew. When he found her, he’d ask her how she could ignore the killings perpetrated by her husband. What newspaper did she read that didn’t contain stories of his atrocities? Why would she give her body to a man that streetwalkers stayed clear from?
The enigma of this woman ballooned into a darkness. She must have the same depraved nature of her husband. They made a perfect pair. A king and queen of darkness.
Tobias shook away his fanciful thoughts. He didn’t want to think about this odd lady anymore.
He went back to the secretary. Deep in his musings as he thought of a response, he nearly jumped out of his skin when a hard knock intruded on his contemplations.
“T.D., you busy?”
“Come in.”
Luther poked his head around the door. “Did you want to go into town? A few of the men will be heading that way. If not, Mrs. Landry’s getting supper ready.”
“No, I figure I’ll stay in and answer my correspondence.
Luther’s eyes widened. “You got a response back from your letter.”
Tobias leaned back and cradled the back of his head. “I did.”
“What did she say?”
He reached into his vest and handed the letter over. “Take a look at it for yourself.”
Luther and he had struck an easy-going, if not friendly, acquaintance. Tobias had the sense the man was hiding something. Something important but he wasn’t sure what it was. Yet, Luther proved to be a nice enough fellow. Unlike women, who Tobias distrusted immediately, he was willing to give this stranger the benefit of the doubt.
“Well, this is interesting,” Luther drawled as he handed the folded piece of paper back. “Seems a bit strange to insist on a marriage of convenience but then give permission for you to go carousing.”
Luther’s eyebrows drew inward and he stared off into the distance, a fierce expression on his face. “If I were marrying her, there would be no way I’d allow any man to come between us. Forsaking all others means exactly that.”
Tobias shrugged. “This E. Somersville is just a means to an end. I’m not there to fall in love with her and to raise a family. She’s made it clear she’s not looking for the same kind of companionship. So I figure, we’ll probably stay married for a short duration. I’ll know for sure when I see her.”
“So, you’re going through with it? You’re going to become a mail-order husband?”
For an answer, Tobias leaned forward and dipped his pen in the inkwell. He felt Luther move closer and peer over his shoulder as he wrote, Miss Somersville, Thank you for your letter…”
CHAPTER FIVE
A
s the train pulled into the depot, Elena took in a deep breath and slowly let it out again. Tobias Clayborne, her soon-to-be-husband, would be coming off the train any moment.
With nervous fingers, she smoothed the bonnet on her head and then lightly touched her curls. Would he find her attractive in any way? No, she told herself, pulling the sleeve of her shirt down. This was a marriage of convenience, not a love match.
The train’s loud whistle pierced the air. Gusts of black smoke from the chute and ashes rained down from it. She jumped further back in order to keep the ashes from falling on her person and possibly igniting a fire.
Her eyes stayed fixed on the train as the conductor came out first and began to escort some of the passengers off the train.
“Good morning, Miss Somersville.”
Elena looked up, way up, into the rugged, handsome face of Marshal Sewell. “Good morning, marshal. How’s Mrs. Sewell doing?”
“Betsy’s doing just fine, thank you for asking.”
“Are you expecting anyone today, Marshal?” She took out a small feather fan and began to fan herself. The sun was just starting to climb into the sky and the intensity of the heat increased.
“Not particularly, no. There’s been a lot of riffraff making their way into our town. So, I figure I’ll show up and let would-be visitors know that no unlawful acts will be tolerated.”
Elena eyed the lawman next to her. With a powerful frame such as that, he could scare away the bravest of fools.
Would Mace be intimidated by such a man? Other lawmen had did their best to stay away from him. Those who were brave and noble enough to try to take him down were never seen again.
“I’m sure if anyone could do that with their very presence, you can, Marshal.”
He tipped his hat in acknowledgment and strolled away.
A man came into view as he waited for the elderly woman in front of him to make her way down the steps. Elena froze, all at once covered in shock as her eyes rested on the stranger. Something inside of her that she never knew existed leapt to life at the sight of the stranger who she instinctively knew wasn’t one.
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