Crumpets & Cowpies: (Sweet Historical Western Romance) (Baker City Brides Book 1)

by Shanna Hatfield

  Jemma’s mouth opened, but Thane clapped a hand over it before she had a chance to speak.

  “Let me warn you, I meant what I said. You have thirty minutes to decide what goes and what stays. If, at that time, you still haven’t chosen, I’ll decide for you. Am I clear?”

  Angry, she narrowed her gaze and wished she weren’t a lady so she could tell Thane Jordan what she thought of him. Brusquely nodding her head, she turned to the men Thane hired to transport the trunks to the ship in Liverpool.

  “Gentlemen, if you please, I’d like…”

  Thane stalked off in the direction of the stables, incensed that Jemma thought he’d allow her to take that many trunks. He had in mind she might have a dozen but when he discovered thirty-two trunks waiting to be loaded, he’d seen red.

  The woman was crazy. No one needed that much stuff. Once they reached his ranch, he had nowhere to put any of it. She’d find out soon enough his small cabin would barely have room for the four of them, let alone all her fripperies.

  This was why he’d avoided women all these years. They were nothing but trouble, and irritation and… soft curves and alluring fragrances.

  Infuriated with himself for the direction of his thoughts, he took several calming breaths before opening the stable door and readying the horses for transport. Rather than spend the day trapped in the coach, he planned to ride Henry’s stallion, a beautiful black horse named Shadow.

  In addition to Jemma’s mare, he wanted to take two of the other thoroughbreds along. When he ventured to England at Weston’s request, he never pictured himself returning to America with a new bride who loathed him, two orphaned children, four horses, a dog that still hadn’t decided if he was friend or foe, sixteen trunks, several traveling bags, and more money than he could possibly spend in a lifetime.

  After Jemma agreed to marry him, he sent a wire to his friend Tully, begging him to have the hired hands at the ranch add on two bedrooms to the cabin and half a dozen stalls to the barn. He hoped by the time they reached Baker City, the additions would be complete.

  If they weren’t, he didn’t think it would bode well for tranquility in his home.

  Saddling Shadow, he led him, along with the other horses to the wagons waiting in front of the house. Weston and his wife joined Jemma as she directed which trunks to keep and which to return inside the house. Jack and Lily played with Rigsly as Greenfield and Cook tried to keep the children from getting dirty.

  Thane left the horses tied to a hitching post then picked up Lily and tossed her in the air. “Did you get your dolly, honey?”

  “No, she’s in my room.” Lily wiggled for him to set her down then ran inside the house.

  Jemma followed her inside as the men carried the last of the trunks back to the parlor. Thane walked behind her and stopped as she stared at the empty room. Most of the rugs, paintings, and décor had disappeared over the course of the last few days, leaving the house barren, except for the furniture.

  “I know this is hard for you, Jemma, but it’s for the best.” Thane rested a gentle hand on her shoulder and, to his surprise, she didn’t shrug it off.

  “It’s quite difficult to say goodbye to somewhere that has been my home for so long. Part of me feels like I’m abandoning Jane and Henry and the rest of my family by leaving.” A fortifying breath didn’t bring the sense of calm she needed so Jemma turned to face her new husband. “I didn’t think it would be so hard to go.”

  A lone tear rolled down her cheek, causing Thane’s heart to soften toward his wife. The glistening drop disappeared beneath his thumb as he brushed it across her cheek. He pulled her to his chest and gave her a comforting hug. “You can take the memories with you wherever you go and that’s what counts. No matter where you are, you’ll always have those you love with you in your heart.”

  Jemma nodded against his chest and took another restorative breath. “I’d like to walk through each room before we leave, to make sure we haven’t forgotten anything.”

  Thane dropped his hands and stepped back then followed her from room to room. The chipped corner of a doorframe marked evidence of Jack tripping on the rug and hitting it with his chin when he was four. A spot on the wallpaper in the hall bore testament to where Lily spilled an inkwell she wasn’t supposed to have back in the spring.

  Jemma ran her fingers along the banister of the stairs, lingered at the doorway to her bedroom, then fought back tears as she stood in Lily’s room, clutching the little girl’s favorite blanket to her chest.

  “Jemma, we’ve got to leave. Everything will be fine, you’ll see.” Thane grabbed Lily’s pillow off her bed and another blanket he’d seen her dragging around the house, then took his wife’s elbow and walked her to her room.

  “I’ll give you five minutes to collect yourself, and then we have to leave.” After taking the blanket from her hands, Thane left her in her room and walked down the hall. She heard his boots treading down the stairs followed by the front door opening.

  Resigned, Jemma walked into the bath down the hall, splashed her face with water, and tidied her hair before returning to her room. She slipped her arms into a light duster, buttoned it over her dress then pinned on a hat and pulled on her gloves. She picked up her reticule and traveling bag. With a final glance around the room that had been hers since she was fourteen, she stepped out and shut the door. One final check of the children’s rooms assured her everything was packed. Sedately, she walked down the stairs and into Cook’s arms.

  “No more tears, dearie. You have a grand adventure ahead, so don’t waste your time looking behind you. Greenfield and I will miss you and we promise to write. You let us know as soon as you are settled at the ranch. By then, we should have a new address to send to you.” Cook patted her back as they walked to the door where Greenfield executed a deep bow then pulled Jemma into a fatherly embrace.

  “Oh, Greenfield, how will we ever get along without you?” she cried, hugging the dear man she’d known all her life.

  “You’ll do quite well, I’m certain. Mr. Jordan will take good care of you and the children. I’m sure of it.”

  “I’ll miss you both terribly. Don’t forget to write.”

  Cook smiled through her tears. “We won’t, Jemma, dear. Now, off with you before the children see me crying again.”

  Jemma hurried to the coach where Thane stood talking to Weston. He lifted Lily inside and watched as Jack scrambled in. Weston helped his wife in then took the seat beside her.

  Thane gave Jemma his hand. “All will be well, Lady Jemma. You’ll see.”

  Blinded by her tears, Jemma nodded her head and took a seat inside, grateful she wouldn’t have to spend the day in close quarters with Thane. Jack and Lily settled on one side of her, leaning out the window and waving as the coach started down the road.

  “I shall miss this beautiful, wonderful place every single day,” she said, craning her neck to see the cottage until the coach went around a bend in the road.

  Aware she needed to put on a brave face for the children, she settled back against her seat and smiled at Jack then Lily. “Are you children excited to go to Liverpool?”

  “Yes, but I wish I could ride with Uncle Thane.” Jack looked longingly out the window to where his uncle rode Shadow beside one of the wagons and talked to the driver.

  “We’ll have a jolly good time here in the coach,” Jemma said, tickling Lily and making her giggle.

  “I say, dear, it’s a shame you had to turn back so many of your trunks. I do hope you were able to keep those you needed most.” Margaret Weston leaned across the space and patted Jemma’s hand reassuringly. “These men don’t always understand what a woman’s heart holds dear.”

  “No woman’s heart holds thirty-two trunks worth of special treasures.” Weston observed, earning a glare from both his wife and Jemma.

  “I shall make do, quite well, in fact.” Jemma smiled at Margaret then turned her gaze out the window.

  Fully anticipating Thane refusing to
take some if not most of the things she truly needed, Jemma rounded up every trunk she could find, including borrowing several from Catherine and a few from some of her other friends.

  Although she filled less than half of them, she hoped when he saw such an overwhelming number of trunks waiting to be loaded, he’d allow her to take all of those she packed, which totaled fourteen.

  Pleased with her foresight and her accurate assessment of her husband, she had everything with her she originally intended to take. Greenfield and Cook would return the empty trunks to the proper owners and Thane would be none the wiser.

  The accusation he tossed at her of being conniving wasn’t far off the mark. Smug with the success of her scheme, she smiled at Lily as the little girl clutched her doll to her chest and began telling an imaginative tale about a prince, a pony, and a magical flower.

  At noon, they stopped beneath a clump of trees near the road. The children ran off some of their energy while Jemma and Margaret spread a cloth on the grass and set out the picnic lunch.

  Thane engaged the two youngsters in a game of tag. Rigsly joined in, barking and woofing as Lily tried to catch her uncle. At one point, Jemma wasn’t sure the dog wouldn’t take a bite out of the man in his excitement, but when he barked and wagged his tail, she decided their faithful canine was starting to warm up to Thane.

  The children ran around after they’d eaten while the lunch things were packed and put away in the coach.

  Jemma turned from brushing the wrinkles out of her skirt to find her nose pressed against Thane’s chest. The children’s laughter and Rigsly’s barking drowned out his approach.

  “Gracious! I didn’t hear you.” In her haste to step away from him, she caught her heel in the hem of her skirt. Thane grabbed her arms to keep her upright then bent down and lifted her skirt just enough to free her shoe.

  Embarrassed, heat rushed into her cheeks and she tucked her head, hoping Thane wouldn’t notice.

  “No need to blush, wife,” Thane said, grinning down at her with an odd light in his eyes. “I’d like Jack to ride with me for a while and wanted to make sure you didn’t mind.”

  Surprised that he thought to seek her opinion on the matter rather than telling her what to do, Jemma gave him a pleased smile. “Jack would love that. He mentioned this morning that he wished he could ride with you instead of inside the coach.”

  “I’m glad to hear that.” Thane removed his hat and ran a hand over his cropped hair. After letting it grow long, he hadn’t yet become accustomed to the short length, or his exposed chin. Daily shaving was a bothersome nuisance he didn’t particularly enjoy, but the look of adoration and interest on Jemma’s face was worth the nick he’d suffered that morning.

  As he settled his Stetson back on his head, he glanced down at his wife and caught her staring at him.

  Flustered, her hand went to the cameo pinned at her throat, rubbing it with nervous fingers. He noticed she did that anytime something caused her concern.

  Curious as to what currently bothered her, he didn’t have time to decipher it. When he started to step away from her, she reached out a hand and gently touched his arm.

  “It looks nice.” She spoke in a low, quiet whisper.

  “What looks nice?” he whispered in return.

  “Your um… your hair and your… face.”

  Unsuccessful at subduing a smirk, Thane gave her a roguish wink and turned away, walking toward Shadow with a swagger in his step. Pleased she liked the changes in his appearance, he didn’t take time to examine why he cared.

  Hours later, they stopped in front of Weston and Margaret’s home where they’d spend the night. Jack trailed behind Jemma as she carried a sleeping Lily inside the house and up to bed. The boy rode with Thane for a few hours that afternoon until one of the horses tied to the back of a wagon began acting up. Thane settled the boy in the coach then went to take care of the horse.

  While Jemma and Jack joined Weston and Margaret for a simple meal, Thane accompanied their trunks and the horses to the dock where they’d be loaded directly on the S.S. Teutonic, one of the White Star Line’s newest steamships.

  Impressed with tales of the ship’s speed, Thane hoped the crossing to America would pass quickly. It was one reason he chose to leave so soon after the wedding. Weston received word the ship was due to sail and Thane insisted they be aboard when she left Liverpool bound for New York City.

  Satisfied the animals were well cared for and Jemma’s multitude of trunks were properly loaded, he paid the wagon drivers, giving each a generous bonus, then hailed a cab and returned to Weston’s home.

  While Thane ate his dinner, he and Weston sat in the library and went over final details.

  The majority of Henry’s holdings had been sold, although Thane kept the partnership Henry had in a shipping enterprise with their friend Charles, as well as two partnerships in mills located in Bolton.

  Everything else he’d sold, including the cottage Jemma so loved. He hated to make her leave somewhere she’d clearly established strong roots, but there was no help for it. If she wanted to be with the children, she had to go to America.

  Since she’d claimed most of the belongings in the house were hers, Thane never questioned what she’d done with them. He assumed many of the household goods were contained in her multitude of trunks.

  Thane felt only marginally guilty about refusing to take half of what she packed. He could have squeezed in a few more, but a man had to draw the line somewhere. He’d noticed she only brought fourteen trunks and wondered if she miscounted. Either that or she’d taken his words to heart and had pared down her selections to the most essential items. Even then, nothing he considered necessary amounted to more than one trunk, possibly two if he included all the children’s trappings. Evidently, he had much to learn about necessities from a woman’s point of view.

  Once he finished his business with Weston, the two men trudged wearily up the stairs. The solicitor showed Thane to a room down the hall from where he’d stayed on previous visits. “Sleep well, my friend, tomorrow will no doubt be a tiring day.”

  Thane accepted the hand Weston held out to him and shook it warmly. “I appreciate all you’ve done, Weston. You’ve not only been a great help and advisor, but a good friend.”

  “It was my pleasure, Thane. I must say, you managed to wrap things up much more quickly than I expected and quite profitably, too. I do hope you and Jemma will consider your marriage as more than a business venture, mutually beneficial for the children. At any rate, my good man, you’ll find your wife’s room connected to yours. Jack and Lily are across the hall. Good night.”

  Weston disappeared around the corner and Thane took a deep breath before checking on Jack and then Lily. Both children slept soundly so he shut their doors and opened his bedroom door. Drained, he removed his clothes and started to climb between the cool, crisp sheets when a noise drew his attention to the door across from his bed, granting entry to Jemma’s room.

  Briefly debating what to do as he stood at the portal, he listened to her sobbing. Unsure if he should ignore her cries or offer some form of comfort, his first inclination was to climb in bed, put a pillow over his head and give in to his exhaustion.

  The compassion that had been steadily growing in his heart for the woman dictated he see if there was anything he could do to help. He pulled on his trousers and knocked on her door before turning the knob and pushing it open.

  Curled on her side in the bed, quiet sobs wracked through his wife.

  Uncertain what to do, Thane strode across the room and scooped her from the bed into his arms before sitting down on the edge of the mattress and cuddling her as he’d done with Lily on numerous occasions.

  So overwrought with emotions, Jemma lacked the strength or the will to struggle against him and instead let herself cry, held comfortingly in his strong arms.

  Soothingly, his big hand rubbed along her back while he murmured words of comfort and gently kissed her temple.

>   “Are you injured somewhere?” He finally asked, wanting to know what could cause such heart-wrenching despair in a woman who, just hours earlier, had laughed and smiled with the children.

  “No…” Jemma stammered between sobs.

  “Are you about to die from some fatal diagnosis you failed to mention?”

  “No…”

  “Did Margaret refuse to let you have dessert? Or did Weston send you to your room for being cheeky?”

  The corners of her mouth twitched with a suppressed grin as her tears subsided. “Of course not.”

  “Then why are you sobbing like Lily during one of her tantrums? Unless you’re about to die or the world is ending and someone forgot to tell me, I can’t think of anything to cause such a storm of tears.” Thane dug a handkerchief out of his pocket and placed it in her hand.

  She dabbed at her red eyes and swiped at her nose before releasing a shaky breath. “What a sight I must make.” As she raised herself from his chest, she pushed the hair back from her face, noticing Thane wore nothing more than his trousers and they weren’t even properly fastened. Streaks of salty tears trailed down his muscled chest and she mopped at them with the soggy handkerchief.

  Thane caught her hand and held it in his, gazing at her imploringly. “What made you cry, Jemma? It’s not like you to dissolve into hysterics. Something upset you.”

  “I feel quite silly, truthfully.” Shamed he discovered her in a fit of self-pity, she hated to admit the reason behind her tears.

  “Silly or not, what caused you to be so upset?”

  “Leaving my home. I’ve never lived anywhere other than Bolton and I shall greatly miss my friends, the church, the cottage, Greenfield and Cook, even Weston and Margaret. I shall miss it all so dearly.” Her voice caught and tears stung her eyes again. To her surprise, Thane pulled her against his chest and rocked her back and forth until she had control of herself again.