The Duke's Dilemma: Regency Romance Menage Short Stories

by Lacoste, G. G.

  “I went for a walk around the town. Just in case I go soon. I most likely will never be back here again.” Patty commented.

  “Oh I wouldn’t count on that missy. I don’t know of any man that will put up with your attitude.”, her Uncle Harry walked in from behind.

  “So you told Uncle Harry?” Patty looked at her Aunt.

  “Of course I did, he should know.” Her Aunt Bea looked taken aback.

  “I’m shocked you got an answer actually. But I guess if someone hasn’t met you and just read about what you looked like.”, Her Uncle stopped half way through his thought.

  She had known that he was going to say she sounded nice in her classified. It had been about the same thing she would expect to hear from him. She wanted to tell them just how happy she would be to never have to see them again, but she chose to be nice instead. Patty only hoped they would soon stop putting her down.

  The doorbell rang and Patty took the chance to get out of the conversation. Her Uncle Harry had looked like he was about ready to start talking again. If he continued with the same idea, Patty knew some rude comment would come up soon. Personally, she would rather just be anywhere else but here.

  “Hello, you have another telegram.”, the young man said as Patty opened the door.

  “Oh wow that was quick.”, she commented and grabbed the paper. She looked around; thankfully her Aunt and Uncle hadn’t followed her out to this room.

  Patty,

  I’ve set up your trip; you should be at the train station at 8 in the morning tomorrow. It leaves from Topeka. I hope that your trip is peaceful. I will see you tomorrow night.

  Yours truly,

  Sam

  Patty was ecstatic at the message. “Oh thank you.” She smiled at the young man who had delivered the message.

  “Yes ma’am.” He held out his hand hoping to get a tip. She reached into her little change purse and found just a few coins.

  “I’m sorry it’s all I have left in the world. I have to go pack now.” Patty ran out of the room and past her Aunt and Uncle who had been waiting to see who had been at the door.

  She heard her Aunt yell out as she passed. “Where are you going in such a hurry?”

  “I’m leaving I must be in Topeka at 8 in the morning.” Patty yelled back.

  It didn’t take long for her Aunt and Uncle to come into the room. “What do you mean?”, her Aunt asked.

  “Sam Jones, the man in San Francisco has paid for my travel via the train. I’m leaving; I must pack and get ready.” Patty smiled.

  “Don’t expect me to keep anything here for you. If you leave anything behind I’ll throw it away. So when you come back, well, it won’t be here.”, her Aunt Bea said.

  Patty didn’t let it bug her. “I won’t be back.”, she said and stared straight at her Aunt and then turned back to pack up her things.

  She heard her Aunt make a noise that clearly showed her disapproval of how Patty had talked to them. But Patty didn’t care anymore. As far as she was concerned she really wouldn’t be back. Even if this Sam Jones wasn’t a good guy and something happened between the two of them, she would never step back into Kansas.

  Patty ignored her Aunt and Uncle the rest of the time she packed her clothes. Eventually she knew they would leave her alone.

  “I hope Sam is a good guy. One who will treat me right, and not be rude. Not like those two are to me.” Patty said to herself and thought of her Aunt and Uncle.

  The thing about it that made it worse was they shouldn’t be this way with her. Not as far as she was concerned. So what if they didn’t like the way her father had spoiled her. Patty still missed him dearly and didn’t need their criticism on top of her grief.

  “I hope San Francisco opens up a brand new world to me.”, she said as she packed.

  She had several things that she didn’t care if she brought along. So she took them and tossed them into the garbage bin. Finally, she placed her head on the pillow and tried to sleep.

  Chapter 5

  Sam looked at his watch one more time. “She should have been here already. Why is the train late?”, he asked the clerk at the station once more.

  “Sir, like I told you five minutes ago I don’t know. It will be any minute now. Just please sit down and relax.”

  He went back over to the window and looked out again. He had barely slept when he had finally stopped working. The little sleep he had seemed to have barely given him enough energy to make it through the day. But now here he was a bundle of nerves watching for Patty’s train.

  Sam was just getting ready to go back up to the counter and ask about the train when he saw it coming. He was a cross between nervous and excited. He couldn’t sit still if his life depended on it right now.

  Instead he went outside and stood on the platform. He wanted to see her when she first came off the train. Perhaps he could catch a glimpse of her before she saw him, and study her just a bit.

  He watched the people disembark from the train, and watched for a short woman. He spotted a young female with blonde hair. Sam thought she was pretty, very pretty. She was a small little thing, with barely any weight on her. It looked as if she hadn’t eaten a decent meal in a while. There were black lines under her eyes indicating a lack of sleep as well.

  “Hi, are you Patty Sims?” He walked up and asked her.

  She turned to him and smiled. “Yes I am you must be Sam Jones.” She put her hand out to shake his hand.

  Sam grabbed her hand and his swallowed up hers.

  “Wow your huge compared to me.”, she laughed nervously. “What do you do for a living again?”

  “I’m a tailor.”, he laughed.

  Her face fell into a look of shock and Sam laughed harder. “You are a tailor? I would have thought you were something else where you did a ton of physical work.” She shook her head.

  “I know people are always shocked by my career.”

  “I can see why.” Patty said.

  He grabbed her trunk from the train and led her to the wagon. “I just bought a house a few years back, we can go there and drop off your things. If you want to see a bit of San Francisco we can do that then. It’s really up to you. Oh how was your trip?”, he asked finally.

  “It was okay, I didn’t sleep well on the trip. I’ve never been on a train before and it honestly felt so odd to me. But as far as seeing the city, I’d love too, but perhaps we can put that off for a little bit. I’d love to get some sleep first.”, she admitted.

  “Okay that’s fine. I can understand. I worked really late last night trying to finish up a few orders. I didn’t sleep well when I finally made it to bed either.”

  Patty sighed. “My sleeplessness was because I was really worried about your reaction to me.”, she said.

  “I was worried about how you would react to me as well. But honestly, my reaction to you, I never thought of much. I figured I would see what you looked like when you got here, but more so, what your personality was. I don’t really care if you’re the most beautiful girl or not. Oh not that you aren’t beautiful, and very well might be one of the prettiest I’ve ever seen.”, he added quickly.

  Patty laughed. “It’s okay, I understand. Well it depends on who you ask really if you want to know about my personality.”, she stated.

  “I think I’ll find out for myself. It is so much more reliable to find out for oneself what a female is like. I don’t trust opinions of others; sometimes those outlooks are quite jaded.”

  “Plus what would you do, write to my Aunt and Uncle back home to find out? I know this is really odd for me too. Because I have no idea what kind of person you really are, I just have to take your word that you’re a decent person. I guess we’ll see though.” Patty said.

  Sam was a bit taken aback by her comments. But he could understand. She seemed to have a bit of a wall up around her heart.

  “I wouldn’t write to anyone to find out about you. I’ll just ask you and talk to you to get to know you.” Sam stated. “
Tell me though why do you look so sad?”, he asked as he drove the wagon to the house.

  Patty looked down and she could feel the tears starting to escape her eyes. “My father passed away recently and I was really close to him.”

  “I’m so sorry to hear that. I was never really close with my parents honestly. But it must be hard to deal with. Did your other family member’s help you through it?”

  “No not really I didn’t get along with my Aunt and Uncle at all. They think I’m a spoiled brat, and they didn’t have any issue telling me it all the time.”

  “Really, they don’t sound like nice people. But were you spoiled?”, he asked at the end.

  “I was spoiled somewhat. But they think I never did anything and that’s not true. I used to cook for my father all the time, well some of the time. He would take me out to eat a lot, and teach me the finer things in life. I know how to behave in a high class restaurant! But to my Aunt and Uncle those skills were something that weren’t important. I guess it must just be the different type of personalities from my father and his sister. She has always been quite different from him.” Patty explained. “But anyway, I guess I am spoiled somewhat, but not too much.”

  “So you do cook?”, he asked.

  “Yes I know how to cook. And I’ve cleaned a house before, and I know how to do laundry. Of course, if I could hire someone to do most of it, I would. But I don’t have too!”, she added to the end.

  “Well I don’t mind getting someone to help you once in a while if needed. But I would rather not spend money foolishly. I don’t want to seem cheap, but if you stay home, why can’t you do those things?”, he commented.

  “Yeah I guess that’s true.” Patty said, but he heard a bit of hesitation in her voice.

  Sam wasn’t quite sure if she was being completely honest with him or not. He thought perhaps she might be a little more spoiled then she cared to admit. How spoiled? He wasn’t sure, but he also didn’t know if he wanted to find out.

  He looked at her and studied her along the way as much as he could. “I’m sorry I live on the opposite side of town so this trip is kind of long.”, he told her while he was leading the horses.

  “It’s okay, I love seeing all these different things.” Patty said as she looked around. “It’s so different here from Kansas, even from Topeka. So many more big buildings, it’s so busy here.” Patty sighed as she looked around.

  “You get used to it.” Sam told her.

  “Oh it’s not that I don’t like it, don’t get me wrong. No I think it’s wonderful, but I just feel there is so much to see, how will I ever see it all?”

  “I’ll show everything to you if you want.”, he stated.

  She looked at him and smiled. “Of course you will you’re to be my husband right?”

  “Yes, well I wasn’t sure where you stood on that, you hadn’t really given any indication of how you felt about me yet.”

  “Oh, I’m really sorry. I didn’t think about it, telling you that is. I don’t know much about men in general. I know I think you’re very attractive. You’re so much bigger than me though you might crush me if I made you angry.”, she laughed.

  “I’m not a violent man. However, I do get angry once in a while. Not often, I’d like to say I’m an easy going type of guy.”

  “Maybe we’ll get along just fine then. I think a lot of it has to do with my lack of sleep and nervousness. Perhaps after I get some sleep though I’ll be fine and then you can get to know me better and me you.”

  “Yes that sounds good. We are almost back to the house now. I hope you like it. If you want to change anything inside we can save up and get it.”

  “Thanks, but I’m not really into spending a lot of money. I said I was spoiled, but that was in other ways. Sure daddy would buy me whatever I wanted, but that didn’t mean I asked all the time.” Patty explained.

  Sam tried to figure her out. She did like to say she was spoiled a lot, was she hinting that she wanted him to do the same thing? How spoiled? He was too tired to really think well. “I need some sleep too, so we’ll get home and both can take a nap. I think once we wake up we’ll both be a bit less nervous.”, he added.

  They got back to the house and he took her things upstairs. “I’ll give you the main room if you want. I can sleep in the guest bedroom for now.” Sam said.

  “Okay thank you very much.” She said and lay on the bed. She didn’t even change into other clothes she was so tired.

  Sam went to the other room and his head hit the pillow and he was out as well.

  Chapter 6

  Patty woke up unsure where she was, and looked around the room. It had all seemed like a dream meeting Sam at the train station, and their whole conversation along the way.

  She sat and thought about him for a few minutes. He was really a good looking man; she had been shocked by how attractive he had been. Honestly the whole time she had been thinking of leaving to go to San Francisco, she hadn’t considered his looks.

  Instead she had been wondering what kind of man was willing to find a wife from another state. Then again she wondered what he thought about what kind of woman would be a mail-order bride.

  It was this thought process that made her remember a few things. She was so happy to not have to listen to Aunt Bea and Uncle Harry anymore. Patty appreciated the fact that Sam had been willing to take a chance on her.

  She walked out of the room to look around the house a bit. He had shown it to her when they had first arrived several hours ago. However, she had been very tired and not able to focus well at all.

  Now that she was awake she wanted to see the house she would now be living in. “I wonder when we will get married.” She thought as she went to the other room.

  She found Sam in the living room reading the paper.

  “Hi, how long did I sleep for?”, she asked him.

  “About 10 hours now.”, he looked up at her and said. “Do you feel better now?”

  “Much better thank you for letting me sleep. Did you sleep some?”, she questioned.

  “I slept for around 7 hours myself. I guess I was more worn down than I thought.”, he admitted.

  “I don’t feel so bad now!”, she laughed.

  “You’re very pretty when you laugh!”, he said. “Not that you aren’t pretty all the rest of the time.”, he added.

  Patty laughed. “Thanks, I was wondering that!”

  “Come and sit down. Tell me about you, I want to know you more.” He patted the seat beside him on the couch.

  Patty went over. “There isn’t really much to know. I grew up in my little town and never really traveled much, except to Topeka once in a while. My daddy would take me there for meals all the time. However, this is the thing my Aunt Bea said was wrong all the time. I don’t know, is it bad for your father to spoil you?”, she asked.

  “Well, to some people, when they know a person has been spoiled, they wonder.” Sam stated.

  “Wonder about what, what is there to wonder about?” Patty questioned.

  “Okay, for me I wonder just how much do you expect to be spoiled by me. Do you expect me to buy you anything and everything you want? Will it matter to you about the prices of things, or will you simply spend it all? Also how much do you know how to do, this you’ve informed me of already. The fact that you know how to cook is an indication to me that you may not be near as spoiled as you think. The women I’ve known who have been spoiled are horrible. They want diamond rings that are huge, and all kinds of jewelry. They want it all, and they don’t want to give anything in return. Most people who are spoiled won’t want to love you unless you give them everything either.” Sam stated. “I hope that you aren’t like that, I really think you’re nice and very beautiful. But I don’t want you to simply use me to buy things. I want you to love me, marry me and raise a family together. These are my dreams. However, are they yours as well?”, he added.

  Patty sat and thought for a minute about everything he had said. “I’ve wanted
to find a good husband and settle down for some time. But I’ll be honest, the men in my town were child’s. They were rude and arrogant and expected me to do everything all the time. If you want to marry me you’ll make sure there is always a warm meal for me when I want it. I’ve heard that more than one time from some of them. I had my father, he was older and he wanted to spend time with me as well. So I picked the person who always treated me with respect. When I say spoiled I mean he would be nice to me, not put me down, tell me good things about myself. So many other people just want to point out the negative all the time, but not my father. He was a good man. I do want kids as well; I want to make sure they know there is good in the world. I would love to keep them away from people who are negative all the time too. Can you tell me why you chose me?”, she asked at the end.

  The question kind of took Sam by surprise. “I don’t know. Some of it was because you were from a small town. I thought that maybe you wouldn’t be tainted like so many other women. I’ve dated a few since my wife died, and they were all the same. They wanted money, and for me to spend it on them. Whenever I didn’t want to buy them something they would get angry. Why do women act like that? Anyway, it was the fact that you were from the small town. You sounded like you would be pretty.” Sam told her.

  “I don’t think all women act like that. I’ve never been upset about not getting something. I get upset when someone disrespects me and tells me I’m not a nice person.” Patty said.

  “How are you not a nice person?” Sam questioned.

  “Usually because I’ve told them I won’t be their sexual partner. I tell them I will have to marry before anyone touches me in that way. I was raised by my father to respect myself in that way. This is one of the many reasons most men back home thought I was spoiled. Was I wrong, tell me?” Patty asked.

  “What, no you aren’t spoiled for that at all. That is something that a man should respect about you. I respect that as well. Do you mind if I kiss you?”, he asked.

  She nodded her head yes. He leaned in and kissed her. It was a light touch of the lips. He didn’t want her to think he was trying to sleep with her.