by Barbara Goss
The Romantic Ruse
Barbara Goss
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All scripture is quoted from the King James version of the Holy Bible.
This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this book is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage system without express written permission from the author.
Copyright © 2015 Barbara Goss
All Rights Reserved
Kindle Edition
Dedicated to my beautiful granddaughter, Liliana
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter 1
Hunter’s Grove, Kansas - 1885
“You need a wife!” Reverend James Flannery said as he devoured the stew Gus had put before him.
“Why? Is something wrong with the stew?” Gus asked.
“No, it’s because you’re young, and it isn’t right; you living all alone with no one to care for you. This is a fine ranch, and any woman would be proud to marry you.”
Gus ladled more stew into the reverend’s bowl. “Not many young women out here to pick from, James. My uncle built this ranch, and when he died, I inherited it. I didn’t expect the small community. The few women here are spoken for, saloon women, or still in diapers.”
“Every time I visit Hunter’s Grove I expect to see you married. A good looking man like you…” James shook his head. “You need a wife.”
Gus studied the man who sat across from him. James looked a year or two older than himself at best, and he had a pleasant, clean-shaven face. “What about yourself? You’re not married either.”
“I could never have a family traveling as I do. Someday, when I settle down, I will try to find a good woman. I’d love to have a family someday. If I get the job as minister to your church, I’ll see about starting a family. But for now, I’m concerned about you.”
“If God wanted me to have a wife, he’d have sent me one,” Gus said.
“True enough, but sometimes you have to meet Him halfway.” James’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Hey! Maybe I can help!” He fished into his knapsack and pulled out a ragged piece of paper. “This woman! Write to her!” He handed the paper to Gus.
Gus looked at the paper, which was the return address ripped from a worn envelope. “Who is she?”
“My baby sister, Emma. Well, she isn’t a baby anymore, she’s nineteen and her fiancé broke it off with her recently. She wrote me about it, brokenhearted. She’s pretty and a good Christian woman. You could at least correspond with her and… who knows?”
Gus folded the paper and carefully placed it in his pocket. “I might write to her.” He pocketed the paper, feeling sure he would never write, but he considered James’s thoughtfulness in offering to help. He valued the compliment that Reverend James Flannery had paid by offering his sister to him—a man James saw only when he rode into town to preach. Gus had plenty of room in his large ranch house and James always stayed with him while preaching in Hunter’s Grove. Gus always made stew for James, as it was the only dish he made well enough to serve a guest.
He wondered if James could be right; maybe he did need a wife. He surely wasn’t opposed to the idea, far from it. Yet to write to a stranger wasn’t an easy task. If he ever felt lonely or brave enough, maybe he would write to her then.
St. Joseph, Missouri –2 years later
Lily Brewer waited at the foot of the curved staircase for Emma Flannery. She and John were standing up for the wedding of her best friend, Emma, and Lily’s brother, Charles. The Flannery butler, Martin, announced the pair’s arrival as Lily gazed around the Flannery home; she’d always admired its stately elegance. Emma’s father, Ian, a lawyer turned state senator, owned one of the most beautiful homes in St. Joseph, a sprawling estate, complete with large stable and riding paths.
“Here comes the lovely bride,” Lily said. She sighed as Emma marched majestically down the curved staircase, her long, ecru dress trailing several steps behind her.
John looked up and smiled. “Lovely doesn’t adequately describe her, Lily dear; I’d say she makes a breathtaking bride!”
Emma smiled and addressed John, “Be a dear and go on out to the carriage. Lily and I will join you shortly. I need to grab a handkerchief. I’ve forgotten to put one in my reticule.”
After John had left them, Emma went over to Lily, hugged her and whispered, “I need a big favor.”
Lily looked at her with anticipation.
Emma took an envelope from her reticule. “Would you post this letter for me after Charles and I leave for our wedding trip today?”
Lily took the letter and slid it into her pocket. “Sure, no problem. I’ll post it on my way home. Is it your farewell letter to August Tanner?”
“Yes,” Emma said sadly, “the hardest letter I’ve ever had to write. He is a dear and sweet man, but I never really got over Charles. It’s always been Charles.
"I also returned the train ticket Gus sent me.”
“Train ticket?” Lily asked.
“Yes. He invited me to Kansas to live with a widow friend so he could court me properly, but thankfully, Charles returned and begged my forgiveness.”
Lily smiled. “My brother had a commitment phobia, but he never stopped loving you. Missing you is what brought him back.” Lily patted the pocket that held the letter. “I’ll post the letter for you.”
After the wedding supper, Lily casually strolled the short distance from the reception to her home. Her mind battled between happiness for the couple and sadness at losing them to each other. She entered the house, a two-story Victorian, and began climbing the stairs to her room when her father’s voice beckoned her into his office. She stopped dead in her tracks, sighed, and turned toward his office at the rear of the house.
“Sit down, Lily,” Charles senior nodded at the chair in front of his desk. “I left the reception an hour ago. Where have you been?” He had a habit of looking at her from above his glasses, which Lily always thought felt disapproving.
“I walked slowly. I was thinking about how different things will be now that Charles is married. I also thought about how I’ll miss running to the Flannery house for girl talks with Emma.” Lily sighed
Her father dismissed her remark with a brisk wave of his hand. “Owen Matthews stopped by to see you. I told him to stop back later.”
“Oh.” Lily said. She sighed. “No…”
“He’s a good man and would make a suitable husband for you,” Charles said. “He is rich, handsome, and he adores you.”
Lily grimaced. “The feeling isn’t mutual.”
“I promised Owen that he could court you, and so he shall,” her father said firmly.
“Please, Father...” she began, but he held up his hand for silence.
“I won’t force you to marry him, that’s old-fashioned, but I will insist you at least give him a chance. I gave Owen my word I’d let him court you, and in return, he is buying all the supplies for his hotel from my store. All you have to do is let him court you, nothing more.”
“For how long?” she asked, frowning.
“For at least a month. If, by chance, it turns out you have feelings for him, and agree to marry him, I’ll throw you a wedding this town will never forget.”
Lily knew arguing with her father was a useless endeavor. Maybe she could find a way to simply discourage Owen somehow. Lily sighed. “All right. He can court me for a month.” Lily got up and walked to the door. “Am I excused?”
“Yes.” Her father smiled fondly. “Thank you, Lily.”
Lily climbed the stairs thinking about Owen Matthews. He owned the St. Joseph Hotel and would surely be a good catch, but something about him made Lily feel uneasy. She frowned and attempted to understand her reasons for such feelings, but could not.
Her father had ordered her to allow Owen to court her for a month, but she knew he expected a marriage to come out of it, and she believed Owen would make her father’s store the main place for all his hotel supplies if that happened.
No pressure at all.
Lily entered her room and closed the door behind her. She threw herself on the bed and let the tears of mixed emotions roll down her face. Though she felt happy for Emma and Charles, she knew she'd miss running to Emma’s house every time she had a problem, or something to celebrate. She glanced around the room, reminiscing over the secrets she and Emma had once shared as teenagers within these walls. Although Emma and Charles had purchased a townhouse only a few miles away, things would never be the same. With these thoughts weighing heavily on her heart and mind, Lily fell asleep.
An hour later she awoke to the sound of her father knocking on her door.
“Owen is downstairs to pay you a social visit," he said through the closed door. "You are to go down and make him feel welcome.”
“Yes, Father.” Lily said with a grimace.
After brushing her hair, she took a deep breath, and entered the parlor. Her father hadn’t arranged for a chaperone, which she thought odd, but she gave Owen her best false smile when she saw him. “Mr. Matthews,” she said with a nod.
He stood. “You look ravishing tonight, Miss Brewer, although I suppose I should call you Lily, since we are now courting.”
Lily nodded, holding back a cringe. Though he was neither ugly nor old, Owen still gave her the creeps. What was it about him that caused her uneasiness? Owen was tall and thin. His brown hair had a cowlick that drove Lily crazy, as she always wanted to grab it and plaster it down. He dressed immaculately and appeared rather a dapper and somewhat handsome man, in spite of the mustache he wore, and the fact that Lily preferred a clean-shaven man. According to her father, she should feel fortunate to have such a rich and successful man attracted to her.
“It’s a lovely evening. I’ve decided to take you on a moonlight stroll,” he said, grabbing for her arm.
“It’s cloudy and apt to rain,” Lily remarked, backing out of his reach.
“We won’t walk far. Come,” he said in a commanding voice. He took her arm firmly and led her to the front door.
Lily grimaced and thought that this would be a very long month. Taking her hand in his, Owen steered her to the nearby park. His hand felt soft and sweaty in her own.
At the park, once they were seated on a bench, Lily tried to keep her distance and inch away from him, but he pulled her closer, so close, that she could feel his heated breath on her neck.
“I think a kiss would be the perfect start to our courtship,” he said.
Before she could think of an excuse, his wet lips clamped onto hers and he slobbered them around in a manner that left Lily feeling sick to her stomach. She stood quickly.
“I think we should head back.”
“But we just got here. Sit down,” he ordered.
“No. I want to go back home; I’ve a headache.” Lily cringed inwardly at his authoritative demeanor. It finally dawned on her what she didn’t like about Owen Matthews—his imperious attitude. She knew that, as a business owner, he’d become accustomed to ordering people about, but he hadn’t earned the right to order her around.
“I think you should know,” he said, “if things between us should go smoothly,” he winked, “your father’s store would become my main source of supplies. Perhaps tomorrow’s walk will be more agreeable?”
Lily stared at him. “Of course,” she murmured.
Once back in her room, she shuddered when she thought about his sloppy kiss, and she scrubbed her lips in the washbasin. How would she ever cope with this for a month?
She pulled her dress over her head and shook it out before laying it on the chair for her maid to take care of in the morning. The letter Emma had given her to post fell from her dress pocket and she realized she’d forgotten to post it. As she stooped to retrieve the envelope she knew exactly how she’d escape Owen. She ripped open the envelope, and read the farewell letter inside.
Lily felt sympathy for the young man to whom the letter was addressed. When she picked up the envelope to put the letter back, the train ticket fell out and onto the bed. She picked it up and smiled.
Topeka, Kansas! Her ride to freedom! Emma had confided to her she’d been corresponding with a man who knew Emma’s brother, James, who was a traveling preacher. This man, August Tanner, was expecting Emma, a good Christian woman. Could she possibly fool him—at least until she'd figured out another plan?
The biggest foreseeable problem was that while she believed in God, she wasn’t a devout believer. She had never been to church, not even once, in her life. Instinctively, she knew the world had been created too perfectly to have simply happened. She believed the sun, moon, planets and the tides, were all God’s creations, each of them with a specific purpose. In her mind, the fact that the earth happened to have everything one needed to live could not be a coincidence; it had to be God’s doing. Yet her belief never went beyond God’s existence. She wondered how she would evade questions about the Bible and God in conversations with this man. Still, she had to take this chance, even if it meant confessing right away, and repaying him for the ticket. At the very least, she'd be free to get a job somewhere and start a new life.
Very well then. It was settled. She would do it.
Chapter 2
“Any news from your Emma?” Maud asked Gus after services at Simon Morton’s place.
“As far as I know, she’ll be arriving Tuesday. I’m going to Topeka tomorrow. I want to be sure I’m there, should the train come in early.” Gus walked Maud to her buggy. “I appreciate your offering to let her stay with you.”
“I’ll enjoy the company.” Maud patted his arm. “I’m praying things work out for you two.”
“I never thought I’d have the nerve to pick up a pen and write to James’ sister, but I got so lonely one night, I sat down and started writing. I feel as if I truly know Emma. She is a good woman, from a good Christian family.” Gus smiled proudly as he helped Maud into her buggy.
“Aren’t you a bit worried about what she might look like?” Maud asked.
“I want to say ‘no,’ but I’d be lying. Of course, I hope she is comely, but as long as she isn’t a real eyesore, I think I can handle it.” He smiled. “Unless she resembles James.”
Maud laughed and picked up her reins. “I’ll expect you late on Tuesday, then.”
Gus rode home and put the finishing touches on his housecleaning. He’d swept, shined, and polished everything. He'd taken down his curtains and laundered them. He'd scrubbed floors and windows. Not that Emma would see his house right away as he had to court her properly first, but if she turned out as perfect as her letters indicated, he figured they’d be married in no time.
He had shared his interest in Emma with his church family and that’s how Maud came to voluntee
r to take her in when she arrived. He hadn’t known Maud long, but she gave the impression of being a devout and sincere lady.
Lily gazed out the window of the train as it sped past fields and meadows so quickly it became hard to focus on any one thing in her view. She bit her lower lip—something she did whenever she worried—and now her lip felt sore. What if August—Gus, what an odd name—turned out to be old, or dreadful looking?
Would he discover she wasn’t Emma before she could formulate another plan? She didn’t want to trick the man for long, merely until she could find another means of escape. Maybe she could find a job in a saloon. There weren’t many other jobs open to women, especially in rustic Kansas.
The train slowed for another whistle stop and she gazed at the scenery of endless fields, and flat barren land, rolling on and on, as far as the eye could see.
Every now and then they'd stopped at towns along the way, and it always shocked her to see how unadorned the towns were. There were no tall, brick buildings at any of them, there were few businesses, and the roads seemed barren. Most of the towns were nothing more than a few storefronts, a saloon and livery, but often not much more.
Lily felt a bit guilty about misleading August Tanner and thought about getting off the train in one of these small towns, but she knew it would be harder to start a new life without at least one person to contact, a place to stay, and someone to help her adjust to her new way of life. If Gus turned out to be as pleasant as Emma had described him, she decided that before she left, she would give him the addresses to correspond with Martha Forester or Olive Hamilton, two women she knew who were both still single and pleasant looking.
“Next stop Topeka!” the voice of the train’s porter rang out, and Lily's heart began to pound.
When the train finally screeched to a halt in Topeka, Lily peered out the window to see who might be waiting for her arrival. She saw several people; any one of them could be Gus. She just hoped it wasn’t the man with the beard.
