by K. Anderson
“You were right. This is great.” Just then Lexi jumped up and splashed her. “Why you little fish.” She dived under the water to tickle her toes and Lexi swam away as fast as she could before coming back to her father and asking him to throw her again. After two more, times, she laughed and came up.
“Throw Clara daddy. Like you used to momma.”
“I don’t think…” He started but was cut off.
“I don’t think your daddy can lift me that high.” Clara laughed.
“Is that a challenge?”
Her eyes widened at his statement. Just then his hands were around her waist. She squealed loudly when she felt herself being thrown into the air and then splashing down into the water. She came up laughing. “That was no fair. You didn’t give me a chance to run.”
“You can’t run in this family honey.” They were all laughing soon and he was taking turns throwing the both of them. Lexi continued to play in the water as Clara decided to get out. Following behind her to the blanket they had spread out Craig sat beside her. He was right. The wet underwear made her look even more beautiful.
They sat there and laughed as they watched Lexi.
“How long were you planning on staying Clara?”
She turned to look at him with a stricken look. “What do you mean?”
“I mean I know James said that you needed a place until you got back on your feet. Lexi is becoming attached to you so… I just don’t want to see her hurt is all.”
“Oh. I understand.” The smile fell from her face quickly as she listened to his words. “I guess I will leave on the next stage back home then. With the money, you have given me I can find a place to live until I find work.”
“Ok.”
“Ok.” The rest of the time was spent in silence as they were both caught up in their own thoughts.
She felt her stomach turn and do a flip-flop. Did he suddenly not want her there anymore? Why was he trying so hard to get rid of her? Was it because of what had happened last night? She didn’t know but she knew know it was time to move on. She wouldn’t stay where she wasn’t wanted. Especially with the feelings that she was developing for him.
Time went by slowly over the next few days. Clara began to slowly pack up her things. She was removing the books off the shelves and putting them in her bag when Lexi came in.
“What are you doing?”
“Well, the stage leaves the day after tomorrow.” She had assumed that Craig told Lexi she was leaving but by the look on the young girls face she knew that she was mistaken.
“You mean you’re leaving? Why? I thought you liked us? I thought you liked it here? I thought you were going to stay?”
“Honey, I can’t. I don’t fit in here. It isn’t where I belong.”
Chapter 7 – A New Momma
“You’re wrong. You do belong here. You were supposed to be my new momma. I saw you and papa kiss. I know you like each other? At least I thought you did. Why don’t you like me and papa?” There were tears streaming down her face as she looked up at her.
Lexi ran from the home and Clara went to go after her. Unknowingly tears were streaming down her own face. She came to the porch and watched Lexi run from the yard. Her eyes came up to meet Craig’s as he left the barn. Looking towards where Lexi was running away he made his way over to her. “What’s going on? What happened?”
Suddenly upset she glared at him. “You should have told her. You tell me to go and then you don’t even tell your daughter I am leaving. Shame on you Craig. Shame on you.” Turning she ran back into the cabin and slammed the bedroom door shut.
Craig quickly followed behind her and stood outside her door. His hand raised to knock but instead he stood there and listened to the muffled sounds of her cries. Shaking his head in despair he made his way back outside. He went in search of the person he could talk to and help. Lexi.
Two days had passed and Clara hadn’t spoken a word to him since that evening except what was needed. She didn’t sit on the porch at night either. After dinner she made her way into her room and shut the door for the night. Lexi didn’t come out either. She went to the loft to lie down. He listened to her cries and the first night fell asleep in the rocking chair not wanting to disturb her. He loaded the luggage onto the wagon and turned back to look at Clara. She quickly averted her gaze. Just then Lexi came out and decided she would rather sit in the back of the buggy by herself. They rode in silence until they finally reached the town limits.
“Ms. Sterling I’m sorry to tell you that the stage won’t be here for at least another day. They got caught up.”
“That is fine. I will get a room at the inn.”
“Ok ma’am. I will have one of the boys sit your stuff upstairs in your room when you get settled.”
“Thank you.”
She turned to look at Craig and stared into his eyes. She felt like her heart was breaking into a million pieces. Holding out her hand she tried to smile. “Thank you, Mr. Wilson. It was good to meet you. Where is Lexi?”
“She ran off when we got here. Thank you, Clara, for everything.”
“Thank you.” She turned around to walk away as she felt the tears well into her eyes. Just then she was ambushed by a little body.
“Thank, you, Ms. Clara. I will miss you forever. I love you.”
Bending down she hugged the little girl tight to her chest. “Oh, Lexi honey. I love you too. I will miss you greatly.”
“Will you miss Pa too?” The little girl asked in a pained voice.
Clara looked up to meet Craig’s eyes. “Yes, I will.” Looking back down, she kissed the little girl on the head. “Goodbye, honey. Remember what I told you.”
“Yes, ma’am. Be there for papa and be good. Always remember my manners and be a lady first.”
“That’s right.” Clara hugged her again and turned to walk away without looking back. Lexi made her way back over to her father.
“Why’s she leaving papa?”
“Cause I wanted her to and she wants to go back home.”
“But her home is with us, papa. I know she doesn't want to go back to Boston. She said so herself.”
He looked down at his daughter in wonder. “She did uh?”
“Yep. She said she would be glad if she never had to go back to the big city. Do you feel about her the way you did momma?”
“I care about her yes. Your momma was special.”
“She’s special too Pa.”
“Yes, she is.”
“Then what are you doing still standing there like a bump on a log? Go on up there and get her son.” He turned around to see Linnie standing there with her hands on her hips. Her eyes were angry as she looked at him. Standing beside her was a disgruntled Jones who just shook his head at him.
“Take it from me son if you are able to find a woman that makes you feel the way she does then don’t let her walk outta your life. This is your second chance son. What’re you waiting for?”
He looked down to see Lexi smiling up at him. Kissing her on the cheek he quickly made his way to the inn and the room he knew Clara was in. He knocked quickly on the door and it slowly opened. There stood a red faced Clara. Her eyes were puffy and swollen and red rimmed from the tears that steadily rolled down her cheeks.
“I’m sorry. I’m such a fool. Please come home.”
She wiped her face as he stepped closer and closer to her. “What are you talking about. I thought you said?”
“I know. Now I’m saying come home. Your home is with me and Lexi. Your place is beside me. I don’t want you to leave.”
“But I thought...”
“I thought that’s what you wanted.”
“I could never leave you and Lexi. Not of my own doing.”
“Oh. Clara, I was a fool please forgive me.”
“Tell me why you want me to go home with you Craig. Give me a reason to stay.”
“Because I love you damn it. Isn’t that reason enough?”
“You love me?”
Her eyes looked up with wonder as they met his. “Really?”
“Would I be standing here telling you if I didn’t?”
“Oh, I love you too Craig.”
“Good then marry me then.”
“Yes. Yes, I will marry you.” His lips met hers and she felt his arms wrap around her and bring her closer to him.
Behind them, they were faintly aware of the cheering from down below and one little girls voice.
“Thank goodness. I needed a momma. And I think he picked the best one. Bout time.”
Montana Bound
By: Evelyn Stone
Montana Bound
© Evelyn Stone, 2015 – All rights reserved
Published by Steamy Reads4U
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, including electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events are purely coincidental. This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only.
This book may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please return it to the seller and purchase a copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.
Warning
This book contains graphic content intended for readers 18+ years old.
If you are under 18 years old, or are not comfortable with adult content, please close this book now.
Chapter One
“May I refill that for you?”
Leila eyes the man who stood in front of her and coolly shook her head. Like all the men who approached her in parties, he was married and worse, had a pouch that strained against his shirt. Leila hated nothing more than excess body fat and the man had plenty of it. His eyes met her cold grey ones and he fled.
She sighed and returned her attention to the lawn outside, the floodlights making it appear as a green sea. She felt melancholy as she nearly always did these days. Her friends and everyone around assumed it was caused by the death of Horace. They had only been married for two years when he died in a car crash.
As usual, he was driving too fast and with too much alcohol in his system. He did not see the sharp corner that loomed ahead and he crashed right into a tree. He died instantly. It had been a year now and Leila thought she would go mad with what her life had become. If the stud farm had not been sold off to cover Horace’s debts, she would be fine, happy even.
She missed her beloved horses. She missed life on the farm, waking up at the crack of dawn to exercise the horses, showing potential buyers around and best of all, riding her mare at breathtaking speed over the grassy plains. Now, her life had become what she had always despised. A lady of leisure, with money at her disposal to ensure a comfortable life.
The only good thing that Horace ever did for her was ensuring that she would never lack. Unlike Horace to plan so far into the future, he had provided a trust fund to ensure that his wife would never lack. But something told Leila that he had done so to protect himself. He had gambling debts from every casino in California.
Still, she was grateful that despite losing her home and husband, she had managed to buy a small bungalow on Whitmore Street and that she could afford to keep up with the latest fashions. Except that she had zero interest in all of that. Leila felt as though she was living someone else’s life.
She was a farm girl at heart and was happiest keeping busy tending to ranch business. She stifled a giggle when she remembered Horace’s horror when he had found her mucking out the horse stalls, her feet covered in muddy boots.
“What the devil are you doing?” he had said.
She had smiled sweetly in reply. In disgust, he had turned and stormed off and in that moment Leila had realized how incompatible she and Horace were. He was a spoilt child, left with too many toys by his parents, in the form of the stud farm and plenty of cash. Horace had worked through all that and by the time of his death and amassed a lot of debt in the process.
Leila was so immersed in her thoughts that she did not hear anyone approaching her until she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned in a mixture of irritation and resignation. She was in a party after all and people were bound to speak to her.
“Sorry, did I disturb you?” her friend Susan teased.
Leila smiled with relief. She was in no mood to make small talk with another married man whose sole interest was getting into her knickers.
“I know I’m not the life of the party, forgive me,” Leila said.
“I should be the one apologizing for insisting you come, but I don’t feel sorry. You spend too much time at the animal shelter as it is,” Susan said.
Leila contemplated her friend, taller than her by almost a foot so that she had to look up when speaking to Susan. Her hair was held in a simple ponytail, with strands of her brown hair falling over her face. Leila swallowed hard as her eyes scanned further down to the protrusion that was Susan’s belly. She and her husband James were expecting their first child in less than two months.
“How’s the baby doing in there?” Leila asked.
Susan groaned. “It’s like a warzone inside my tummy, who would think that such a tiny thing had so much strength. With the kicks he unleashes, he ought to be in a boxing ring.”
Leila laughed. Susan, who had been her friend for almost five years, heard the catch in her friend’s voice. She touched Leila’s hand.
“It’ll happen to you too,” she said gently.
“Only if I do something about it,” Leila said. “I can’t stand these married men looking for a fling. I want permanence, my own man.”
“Did you meet Alan Boyd? He’s a bachelor.”
“A playboy. He reminds me too much of Horace with his talk of racing cars and other immature pursuits.” Leila said with a shudder.
Susan laughed, her tummy shaking along with her shoulders.
“Does that mean that you’re still determined to go with that mail order bride thing?”
Leila nodded. “I am though I haven’t found someone yet.”
“I don’t know Leila, you’re young and beautiful and if your patient, you’ll find someone. Mail order bride is such an outdated thing.”
“It maybe but it worked back in the day and I’m sure it will work now. Besides, both of us will go into the relationship knowing what we want. No games. Besides if it works out, that means that I’ll not be alone for Christmas.”
“You’re obsessed with the holidays. Loads of people are alone, and they manage. Plus, you have a running invitation here.”
Leila could just imagine spending the holidays with Susan and her hubby. They were both wonderful people but she hated to be a third wheel and their baby was due around that time and the last thing they needed was a guest. Leila sighed.
“Do you mind terribly if I run off?” Leila asked.
“Before dinner?” Susan said aghast.
“Yes, pretty please. I feel lousy and I’m not the greatest company,” Leila pleaded.
“Just this once but I insist that you carry something to eat. I’ll have cook pack something for you,” Susan said.
Left alone, Leila’s thoughts strayed to Christmas. Theirs had always been a magical day, with her waking up at the crack of dawn to raid her stockings. The holidays were filled with good memories mixed with painful ones. Barely a year into university, Leila had lost her parents in quick succession.
Her mother had passed on first from kidney problems while her father had lasted two months after that. Leila had known immediately that her dad had died of a broken heart. He parents had loved each other with a passion and devotion which Leila hersel
f had hoped to find with Horace. It had not taken her to know that she had made a terrible mistake. With the death of her father, Leila had jumped into a relationship with Horace and was dazzled by the night life and good times that he had offered.
Naively, she had thought that once they got married, they would both settle down into growing their own family. Horace had continued partying on as though he was a bachelor. Many nights, she slept alone, curled up into a tight ball of loneliness. Not that when he was home they spoke much. She had realized to late how little in common they had. The only thing that had kept her going in those days was the thought of the children that they would have.
She remembered the night that Horace had told her that he had no intention of having children.
“Please, just one,” Leila had pleaded, tears rolling down her cheeks at the thought of never holding her own child.
“This is not up for discussion. Let’s just enjoy our lives. You only live once you know.”
Days later he had finally admitted to her that he could not sire children and the knowledge had broken her heart into pieces. He had contracted mumps as a child and it had affected his fertility. She had thrown herself into life on the ranch and just when she thought she had come to terms with it, Horace had gone off and gotten himself killed.
This would be her second holiday since his death. Christmas reminded her of just how alone she was. Leila had no intention of spending another holiday alone, even if it took getting a husband through the mail order agency.
Chapter Two
Jack Farley scanned the profiles of available women on the mail order bridal agency website with detachment. He had only one reason for wanting a wife and that was to give him children. After Clarissa, he had no wish for emotional entanglements with any woman. The thought of Clarissa filled him with a dull ache.
