by Ally Nelson
“I love you.” Ruth said to him. “I will never love another.”
The emotions overwhelmed her so much that tears filled her eyes. She jumped out of bed and to her feet. Wrapping a sheet around her naked body, she rushed out of the room and to the bedroom Tom had originally made for her.
“Wait, Ruth!” Tom followed her. “What is wrong? Did I do something?”
“I have to tell you something.” Ruth could not take the secrets any longer.
“Anything, tell me anything.” Tom sat her down at her bed.
“You may hate me. You may never want to speak to me again.” She cried.
“Nothing could make me hate you. Please, tell me what is wrong, love.” He held her hands as she got the courage to speak.
“There are many lies that you have been told.” She took a deep breath. “I am not rich, nor do I have a fortune to give you. My brother lied to you in his letters. I did not know about his plans, but he has many.”
“Ruth, I knew that you were not rich.” He smiled. “I sent Mary to Kansas to check out your brother’s story, she found out that part was a lie, but she also found out from everyone in town that you were a kind, caring, beautiful woman that would make a great wife. Money did not matter. I have my own, you know.”
“But my brother, he sent me here and then came to tell me that you only married me to kill me and take my fortunes. He said that you killed your first two wives and took their inheritance.” She shook her head. “I did not want to believe it, but he swore it true. My heart knows otherwise though.”
“Your brother is mistaken. My wives died naturally. Furthermore, they did not have inheritance since their parents and siblings are still alive and well.” He let go of her hands, making her feel alone and broken. “Why would believe such a thing? Why would your brother want you to believe that I am a killer?”
“Please, do not hate me.” She cried. “It gets worse.”
“How could it possibly get worse?”
“My brother wants me to kill you.” Ruth watched as Tom’s face covered in horror and disgust.
“Kill me?” Tom’s nose flared as he grew angry. “Do you want to kill me, Ruth? Are you going to kill me now?”
“No!” She stood up and went to him, but he backed away. “I could never kill you, I love you.”
“Stop.” He pushed her hands aside. “Do not touch me right now.”
“Here, follow me.” She led him back to his room and retrieved the makeup box. “My brother gave me this poison to kill you, but I did not. I am telling you to save your life. Dave plans on returning at midnight and killing you himself if I don’t do the deed.”
She opened the box, but was shocked to find the bottle of poison gone.
“It was right here.” Ruth panicked. “The bottle was in here.”
As she looked up, the box fell from her hands. A gunshot rang through the room and Tom dropped to the floor. Blood came from his chest as he lay helpless on the floor.
“Tom!” Ruth went to the floor beside him. “Oh, God no! Tom, please hang on.”
“Hang on for what?” Dave said from above her. “I told you he was a dead man.”
“Why?” She jumped up and smacked her brother. “How could you do this? You lied about everything! He is not a killer, you are!”
“Oh, relax. You are so dramatic, sister.” Dave smirked. “If it makes you feel better, you will be joining him in death as well.”
“What?” She backed away from her brother.
“With you both gone, Billy will get everything. He will inherit the ranch, the home, the money. And I will get guardianship of my dear nephew, so in turn, it will all be mine.” Her brother smugly told her. “Until I see it fit to get rid of him as well.”
“Billy!” She started to run to her son, but Dave pointed the gun at her.
“Don’t worry. I locked him safely in his room.” He shrugged. “I can’t have him seeing me here. That is the beauty of this plan, no one knows I am even in Texas. As far as very one is concerned, your dear brother is at home in Kansas packing up your old house.”
“You bastard!” She slapped him across the face. “How could you do this to me? I am your sister.”
“Money.” He laughed. “Is it ever about anything other money?”
“Love.” She told him. “For me, love meant more than the money.”
“I wish I could say the same.” Dave held up the gun and was about to pull the trigger when Tom miraculously came from behind and tackled him. The gun fell to the floor and slid across the room.
The men wrestled around on the ground, each fighting for their life as they punched and shoved the other one. Tom was getting the best of Dave, when her brother pulled a knife from his boot and stabbed the man in his chest. Wounded for a second time, Tom fell over and moaned in pain.
Dave got on top of the man and was about to stab him once more, when Ruth pulled the trigger. The bullet hit his heart and knocked him onto his back.
“Tom!” She ran to her husband. “Tom, please tell me you are okay.”
“I will be fine.” He assured her. “I will be alright.”
Ruth leaned down and kissed him and she happy to find that he kissed her back. She went over to her dying brother and looked down at him with sorrow. The brother she knew had not been a murderer, but then again, neither had she. Maybe everyone had it in them to kill, for money or love, the reasoning was lost in the moment as she sadly watched Dave take his last breaths.
“Never goodbye.” He weakly whispered to his sister.
A tear fell as she crossed her heart. And he was gone.
Hearts healed quickly, when you had love to mend the wounds. Ruth found that out with Tom as they became a family and moved on from the horrible past. She had been sent there to end his life, yet he had saved hers.
Spread Wide by the Well Endowed Cowboy
By: Emily Sharpe
Spread Wide by the Well Endowed Cowboy
©Emily Sharpe, 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.
Published: Steamyreads4u @September 2015
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
If Addie never rode another horse, it would be too soon for her. The only trouble was, she was in the wrong part of the world to be making that resolution. Big sky country. Wrong. She had no idea how Lewis and Clark made their way some seventy years before but if they could do it, she could do it.
At least she hoped and prayed she could. She had gotten herself in more fixes than moving half way across the universe was going to fix. But, if moving was her only option, so be it. By train, coaches and horses, Addie had to get as far away from a world of trouble as she possibly could.
When Addie’s daddy was lynched for selling the same farm twice – and the only home generations of her family had ever known – she knew she had to think fast. When the magistrate came to collect from her the amount of money that her father took from on
e of his victims (mercifully, at least one of the parties got to keep the farm so she only owed once), Addie had to find a way to come up with the cash.
She had never worked a day outside of the farm, in her life. And with her family once consisting only of her father and her – now just her – that was more than a full time occupation. But it seemed like the cause of her problem offered her a great solution. If her daddy could sell a farm twice, what said Addie couldn’t promise herself as a wife to two, or even more, unsuspecting cowboys hard up for a woman?
She saw more than one newspaper advertisement calling all available women. She didn’t know much about the mail order bride business, but this much she did know: the ads said men would send women cash to come West. That was all she had to read to know here problems would soon be solved. Solved by cold hard cash. Or cold hearted cash.
Addie quickly put herself up on the mail order bride auction block once, eager to put her plan to the test. And it worked. She chummed the mail order bride waters with dozens of responses. In no time, some unsuspecting romantic chap by the name of Emory Calhoun wrote her beautiful letters, putting his heart on the line.
His letters were so heart-felt, Addie was not sure how tough she could be. Emory said all the right things. His words were solace as she navigated the brutal reality that the magistrate posed. And she had just lost her father in the worst possible way.
While her romantic pen pal didn’t come right out and say that he was a handsome man, she could tell by his technical description he offered in lieu of a likeness, he was very handsome. Addie was more than tempted by Emory’s courting by correspondence but she had to draw a hard line. She entered the mail order bride business for just that -- business. While she was moved -- stirred -- by Emory’s love notes, love was not in her cards.
Emory lived outside of the city of Great Falls, Montana which he promised was an up-and-coming city like Chicago. Addie laughed; Mr. Calhoun had a sense of humor. Great Falls predicted to be connected to the railroad within the next few years!
Emory sent her tickets to take the Northern Pacific to Mullan Pass and from there, Mullan Road all the way into Great Falls. It was his plan to meet her at the train station himself and ride the road together. He sent her fare to travel the road anyway. And she kept every penny.
Addie could not afford to be sentimental. Having her heart broken over the loss of her father she had no intention of marry. She kept sweet Emory on the hook until he sent her enough money to keep a rope from around her neck. But pretty soon she figured out that the magistrate was just milking her for money. She more than paid the swindled sum back. Finally, she stood up to the magistrate.
“I’m done,” she said. “I’m leaving. But I’m done.”
“You leave, you’re a wanted woman,” he said coolly.
“That’ll be a first,” she laughed. “'Cause no one ever wanted me before.”
“I’m warning you Adaline,” he said, butting up his doughy body to her doughy body.
“Give me some time to come up with another payment. I’ll revisit the situation then,” said Addie.
And before he could catch on to the fact that she had no intention of giving him another dime, Adaline Filcher was a ghost. She left for Great Falls which seemed like the furthest place from Chicago as she could afford to go. Even there she couldn’t say she never looked back; Addie was constantly looking over her shoulder.
Chapter Two
Adaline Filcher stepped off of the stage and nearly into the brawny arms of a great wall of a man named Galen Allen. He had not made any reference to his rugged good looks in their brief correspondence. Addie was more than pleasantly surprised. And then she had a moment of regret. She thought of Emory.
Addie herself was more than a handful. At twenty years old, she was a pleasantly plump woman, with pale blond hair. She had bright blue eyes and lips on the rosy side. Her face was round and fair. But next to the broad bull of a man who was her intended, Addie was almost diminutive. He was as hard and angular as she was soft and round.
“I hope your travel was tolerable,” said Galen evenly.
He did not exhibit too much emotion. He took her hand daintily but that was it. No kiss or embrace. He did take command of the few belongings she brought. Living on the run meant Addie packed light.
“It was thank you, Mr. Allen,” said Addie. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”
In the background, once the mountain of a man stepped aside, was another man with vacant, scowl. Addie flinched. He was so mean looking.
“My brother,” smiled Galen. “Don’t mind him. He’s been a bitter pill for about a month. Kind of rubs him the wrong way I asked him to come and help me with your bags.”
Addie stuttered. She just left trouble. She didn’t want it twice.
“Mr. Allen?” she asked her intended for clarification.
Galen whispered. “He got stiffed by a bride. Sent money out to a gal, who lived out your way. She kept the money and said no thanks.”
Addie swallowed hard. That story hit a little too close to home. She knew her Emory was from Great Falls but he himself said the population was twelve hundred. Surely the world could not be that small.
“Yes, he begged me not to correspond with any Chicago gals but what was done is done,” he said practically. “Don’t worry. He’ll be alright. We both welcome you.”
But Addie wondered if she would be. It never occurred to her when she was stealing some man’s money just to save her own hide, that she would be ruining his life. But why wouldn’t it? Someone ruined her life by swindling. It would be too small a world if Galen’s brother was indeed the same fellow whose ticket money she gave to the blackmailing magistrate. But the odds of that happening in were too far-fetched. Montana was big sky country.
Up to now, it also never occurred to her she would have to come face to face with the kind of damage she might have done to someone. It just didn’t sit right with her. Now that she realized that somewhere out there, she might have hurt someone, she had no peace.
“You picked a good time of year to get hitched. This is some of our pleasantest weather,” said Galen pleasantly as he snapped the reins of the wagon to encourage the team.
Addie felt like blurting out, she didn’t pick the time; the time picked her. Travel and regret were catching up with her. She was already getting homesick.
He and his brother loaded their wagon and Addie along with it. They did not stop for a meal. They headed straight for home. Once they got outside the town proper, Great Falls was sprawling. It was like someone scattered marbles across the prairie. Except for the road and the occasional house, there were no signs of life. Addie had chosen a place to relocate about as far out as she could have.
It was a long, quiet ride out to the brothers’ place. Addie didn’t know Galen had a brother. Of course there was only a quick exchange and not really any time to learn anything about one another. Finally, Galen said something.
“So I was really quite surprised that you accept my proposal so quickly,” he said.
“Well I am girl who knows what she wants, Mr. Allen,” she replied.
And that much about her was true. Addie liked what she saw in him. He was handsome without question. A girl could do worse but she could do no better. Galen Allen was dreamy. But if the living situation was not tolerable, Addie already planned her escape. She made note of the town while she could and of the route to and from, so that if she had to depart in the night, she could.
“Is that so?” he asked with a smirk curling his lip. “Just so you understand once we’re married, I am here to know your mind for you.”
That remark made Addie’s stomach churn. Her father, God rest his soul, had always given her free rein. The two of them connected at meal time but apparently she didn’t know any more about his goings on than he did hers. He didn’t pry or interfere. Life on the farm was pleasant.
As they meandered, there was a noise off in the distance. Soft and yet unmistakable
. Maddening in a way. It sounded like applause and drums at the same time. Addie had to ask.
“That’s Black Eagle Falls,” he chuckled. “Can drive you crazy if you aren’t used to the sound. All the greenhorns complain. Are you a greenhorn, Miss Addie?”
It was the closest thing to a flirtation that they exchanged. And it was very effective. Addie’s stomach had butterflies. A new kind. She had never had a reaction to a man before. Mild attraction maybe. Strong attraction to Galen and even to his brother, whose name he had yet to disclose. But never had she had a reaction to a man in a pleasant way. This was the first pleasantry of the entire drama for Addie.
But then again Addie’s husband to be and his brother were bullish. Like muscled long horn cattle themselves. They both brought out an animal stirring in her that was both new and yet somehow recognizable. It was definitely welcome.
Until a fear gripped her. It was an element to her plan she had not counted on. If Addie developed genuine feelings for her husband to be it would make it so she couldn’t just pick up and leave if she needed or wanted to.
It was her plan that if things didn’t work out, she was going to rob and run. Feelings spoiled everything, especially the involuntary kind. She already learned that she had a tender heart. That personal element could really muck things up.
“You have a funny look on your face,” remarked Galen. “Careful, or you’ll freeze that way.”
“Mr. Allen, I come from Chicago. We laugh at freezing,” she said.
Galen nestled into her and in front of his brother said, “Then it will be warmth that’s your undoing.”
Again Addie shivered from the inside out. Just the mere contact from a handsome man, and she was putty. His touch was like fine whisky in her system. Made her feel drunk and warm. And she was pretty certain her britches were damp. She threw opened her eyes wide with embarrassment and shock.
