by Sky Winters
Jasper cracked up. “I don’t have any of those domestic workers, sorry darlin’. The only people I employ are ranchers like me, who know how to take care of horses and cattle. The house is clean ‘cause I keep it clean. Or ‘cause I don’t spend all that much time in it, to be honest. Until you arrived, there was not much call for me to be here, except when I was working.”
She did her best to not look too surprised, but inside she was appalled. How was she going to manage the household if there were no workers to help her? “May I hire a domestic or two to help me?”
“It can be a wedding present from me,” he said to her with a grin. Part of the bet was that he had to train her to be a homestead wife, and that meant that the future Mrs. Daniels was going to have to learn to do some things by herself. Proper homesteaders grew their own vegetables and made their own clothing. Miss Annabel was clearly not used to such things, so this would be a challenge. Perhaps the hardest part would be convincing her to learn it.
After a while of riding around Jasper’s land, it was clear that Annabel was feeling saddle sore. He helped guide her horse along with his and they went back to the stable. Once he was off his, he assisted her down from hers.
He still could not get enough of having her in his arms. “Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?”
She shook her head at him, smiling up at him sweetly.
“Have you chosen a name for your pretty new horse?” he asked her. He was not used to being in the presence of a lady for so long. He was usually undressed and in a bedroom when he was with a lady for a long period. He did not quite know how to speak to her or what to make of her, so he ended up using a voice that one might employ when speaking to a child that one dotes on.
Annabel picked up on that and arched an eyebrow a little. As long as he thought of her as a cute angel, like her father always had, she would be able to get whatever she wanted out of this marriage. He was handsome and interesting, but she reminded herself that he was first and foremost her ticket to freedom and adventure of her own.
“I think I will call her Penelope,” she answered, giving him an adorable, dimpled smile.
Jasper handed her a sugar cube. “Give that to Penelope,” he said, amused.
She did as she was instructed.
Once the riding was over, he was unsure what he should do with her. Clayton’s bet might go along smoother if Jasper married Annabel right away, but he knew that the proper thing – the thing she would want – would be to give her time to get used to things in Colorado and propose to her in person.
In an effort to do that, he walked with her back up to the house, letting her take in all of the sights of her new home. She watched as some of his workers rode horses alongside some cows, gasping when one of the cows ended up with a lasso around her neck.
Annabel turned to look at Jasper. “I suppose that is a sight I’ll have to get used to.”
He smiled at her and put his arm around her, careful to keep it limp and not pull her in too close. A lady like her might get the wrong idea about a guy like him. “You don’t have to look if you don’t want to. I’ll distract you.”
When they got to the front porch of his house, he turned towards her and took her little, gloved hands in his big, rough ones. “Your home is very nice,” she told him, blushing and obviously jittery now that he had taken her hands in his. Was this the big moment that all of her friends and every lady she knew waited for?
“I hope that you will like it here,” he said, gazing into her eyes. “I hope that… You will be my wife.”
Despite any annoyance that she had toward him about his lack of domestics or the fact that he had left her stranded upon arrival, Annabel already rather adored the man she had come to marry. He was a kind, simple sort that she could see herself being happy with, unlike those fat old suitors that her parents picked out for her. He was entirely her choice. “I will be your wife,” she affirmed.
Beaming happily down at her, Jasper leaned in and gave her a soft kiss on her lips. “Then you will make me the happiest man in Evergreen.”
All I gotta do now is not sleep with her and take her to the chapel, he thought. Ol’ Clayton will be handing over that eight hundred in no time!
Once we’re wed, I’ll really show Mother and Daddy that I can take care of myself, she thought as she looked at him. He won’t turn down a request for money from me. I just know it.
Jasper welcomed Annabel back into the house. “If you like, you can feel free to go around and make notes about what you’d like to change,” he told her. “Like I told you, I ain’t too attached to anything in the place, except for my bedroom and this living room here.”
There was a large deer head that was mounted on the wall above her. She looked up at it, a bit disgusted but keeping it to herself. “I see.” She hoped to be able to host balls here at some point in the future. Would something like that deter anyone from coming? She didn’t imagine so, not in this backwards sort of place. The people who hung out in that saloon probably were used to far worse things than a taxidermied head on a mount. Thinking of the saloon reminded her of a question she wanted to ask him.
“What do you do for fun around here?” she asked him, keeping her voice innocent and pleasant as she explored the living room, making mental notes of things that she wanted to at least have cleaned. Living without any sorts of maids or anything was not going to last longer than it had to. She would see to it that a small staff of housekeepers would be hired, preferably before their wedding.
The corners of Jasper’s mouth quirked up at that question. He figured that the answer was fairly obvious. She had been to one such place that he went to for entertainment. “Well, there is the saloon where you met my friend Clayton,” he said. “I usually spend my evenings there. There are also several nice bars where I like to play cards. Simple things like that. I’m afraid we’re not as elegant as you are probably used to.”
Annabel shrugged a little, smiling at him. “It sounds nice in its own way. I’m accustomed to going to balls, but I suppose that I could enjoy going to saloons with you.”
He sat down on the large sofa and readied himself a cigarette, carefully rolling up the paper around the tobacco.
She crinkled up her nose a bit at that, sitting down on the sofa beside him. One thing she definitely could not abide was him smoking in their house and stinking up the place. Her father smoked cigars on occasion and she always hated the smell of it. The home did not have to smell like flowers or anything, but she did not want it coated with that noxious odor.
“Please, Jasper, don’t smoke in here,” she said to him sweetly. “That’s the only thing I don’t like about saloons.”
He smiled at her, tisking a little, and put his rolled cigarette into his pocket for later. “Well, if you want to play the saloon girl for me tonight, how’s about fixing me a drink?” He gestured over to his table full of bottles of whisky. There was no question about which alcoholic beverage he would like.
Annabel stood up and went over to dutifully pour him a glass of some Scotch. Each of them, in their minds, thought they were winning.
She brought the glass over to him and sat beside him again, carefully handing it off. “Now that you have me, maybe you don’t need to go see those dancing girls so much.” With that, she took off the jacket that went along with her dress, revealing her pale, uncovered arms and the tops of her breasts peeking out above her bodice.
Jasper gulped some of his drink back. Now this wasn’t fair! How was he supposed to keep his hands off of her if she displayed her curvy, attractive body to him? Clayton had known that it would be hard for him to resist, but surely this innocent young girl did not realize what she was doing to him…
“Do you like singing?” she asked him in a low whisper, batting her eyelashes at him.
He took another long drink of his Scotch. She knew what she was doing. He was starting to wonder if Clayton had tipped her off about their little wager. He did not think so, but he was suspicious. H
e also wanted to kiss all up her arms and over her—
“She's only a bird in a gilded cage, a beautiful sight to see,” she sang in a pretty, well-trained soprano, making Jasper fall in love with her and want her even more. “You may think she's happy and free from care; she's not, though she seems to be…”
Jasper leaned in and kissed Annabel. She danced two fingertips against his leg, smiling at him and he wanted her so badly. A little over a month, he thought. Then she can be totally yours.
He downed his Scotch and she continued to kiss him or let him kiss her, being so flirty and adorable. Before too long, his eyelids got heavy and he fell fast asleep.
CHAPTER FIVE
A Better Betting Man
When Jasper awoke, he discovered that he was lying on the couch in his clothes from yesterday. His little bride-to-be was nowhere to be found. There was an empty bottle of whisky on the table nearby, along with an empty glass. His britches were undone and his hair was all askew, making him look more like the town drunkard than one of the town’s richest men. He could see the sort of mischief he had gotten into. He only hoped little Annabel had escaped unscathed.
She came into the living room, dressed in a fetching, forest green gown that brought out the color of her blue eyes, red hair and peach-pale complexion. Jasper ogled her and grasped the empty bottle of Scotch, attempting to take a slug from it. Annabel giggled at him. “Good morning, my dearest.”
“I have the prettiest wife,” he said, holding the bottle mouth to his lips.
She blushed at him. She had always been good at blushing on command, to attract herself to beaus and sucker them into giving her the things she desired, but she realized with an even deeper blush that Jasper actually caused the reddening of her skin. He did not just give her idle flattery; he actually meant what he said. She could tell by the look on his face, and she could tell last night by the way she had appealed to him in other areas.
“You certainly thought so last night,” she said teasingly, kissing him on the forehead. “But I am not your wife yet.”
Jasper suddenly straightened up in his seat and stared at her with a look of horror on his face. “What exactly happened last night?”
It was clear that he was frightened about something indecent going on, and Annabel felt like teasing him because he was awfully cute when he was so concerned. “Why, nothing that a married couple would not do,” she said, giving him a wink. She was not going to go into the bawdy details of an event that had not happened, because she herself had never experienced it before.
But he did not need to know that at present.
He buried his head in his hands. “Then it’s true,” he said, running his fingers through his hair and mussing it up even more. “It’s all over. I’ve lost.”
Annabel raised her eyebrows at him and sat beside him on the couch. “What are you talking about?”
“The BET!” Jasper cried miserably. “Clayton bet me that I could not convince you to marry me and be my homestead wife, and that I could not stop myself from…taking your maidenhood before two months were up. Oh, I was doing so well!” He was so upset at himself that he almost started to cry.
Annabel, on the other hand, found it hard to be sympathetic. “You married me on a BET?” she asked him. Her pretty face pinkened for a different reason now. “Why, I have never been so insulted in all my life!”
She stood up from the couch, gathered her skirts and went off in a huff to her bedroom. It had only been a joke, teasing him about making love, but it had backfired and all this time, he had merely been using her to… To what? Win some money? He had been using her like she was a common trollop! Why could he not have simply married one of his saloon floozies? They would have sufficed just as well, though perhaps it was because he had to marry an actual lady.
Her blood was boiling as she quickly packed up her things. She rushed out of the house and went to the stables, borrowing a cart for her suitcase and tying it to Penelope’s bridle.
“Anna, wait!” Jasper called, hurrying after her and catching his breath in the doorway of the stable. “Please don’t go. Don’t you see? It’s all over, and I still want you.”
She glared icily at him, tossing her auburn curls over one shoulder and climbing up onto her horse. “Don’t you ‘Anna’ me. You’re right about it being over. I never want to see you again.” She started to cry and it hurt her so much; the tears were real this time. She realized he had broken her heart. He may have only been into this marriage because he wanted to win a bet, but she had been looking forward to being his wife. She would have enjoyed it. Even without servants.
With a sniffle, she slapped the reins against Penelope and was off towards the train station. Jasper got onto the back of his horse and rode behind her, keeping her in view although she was riding quite fast. He whistled a bit, impressed even more with her. She had to see that he loved her for real. Now that the bet was over, he could see that. He could feel it. He did not need eight hundred dollars. What he needed was her.
“Aw, hell,” he said under his breath, kicking at his horse’s sides to try to move faster.
Annabel got off her horse and rushed over to the ticket counter. “One-way ticket to Boston, please,” she said, out of breath. She handed over the money and took her ticket before picking up her bags from the waiting horse’s cart. She kissed the horse’s nose. “Goodbye, Penelope,” she said sorrowfully, tears still in her eyes. “I will miss you, good girl.”
She walked to the train and was just about to board when she heard a familiar voice hollering to her. Turning, she saw Jasper riding his horse to the station. He appeared even more bedraggled now. He got off his horse in front of her, getting his foot stuck in one of the stirrups.
“What in the world?” Annabel asked, feeling like laughing and crying at the same time. She took a hold of Jasper and helped to get him untangled from the saddle. “What are you doing here?”
He took her hand, looking into her eyes. “Please, Annabel. Don’t leave me. I love you with all of my heart, I swear it. Fact, the only thing good about that damned bet is that it led me to you… Now don’t be so mad at me. I love you. I want you to be my wife, hang everything else. I’ll stop drinking, I’ll stop going to those saloons.”
She looked into his eyes and she could tell that he was telling her the truth. “Oh, Jasper,” she said, crying happy tears. “I want you to be my husband.” She kissed him and threw her arms around him. People standing on the platform started to applaud the happy couple. Annabel giggled against his ear. “I chose you to be my husband because I thought you sounded fun and it would displease my parents the most,” she confessed in a whisper. “So I guess we were both wrong.”
Jasper smiled down at her, shaking his head a little. “But we’re both right now, that’s all that matters.”
He tied her luggage to his horse and they got back up onto their steeds, holding each other by one hand and riding to the chapel together.
They barely let the minister get his words out, so ready were they to shout, “I do!” Once the short ceremony was over and they were officially married, they kissed each other passionately.
“I have another confession to make,” she said, biting her lip a little bit.
Jasper beamed at his new wife. “What’s that?” he asked. “We’re in a church; there ain’t no better place for a confession.”
Now that they were married, they had nothing to fear about each other, but Annabel was worried that he would be mad at her for lying about sleeping together. “I- It’s about my maidenhood,” she said softly when the minister was out of earshot. “I lied to you before, which was wrong of me and I’m sorry… We did not make love that night. I was only teasing you.”
He blinked at her in surprise and suddenly grinned. “You mean I win the bet??”
Annabel sighed and nodded, smiling a dimpled smile at him. “What is it that you win?”
“Aw, mostly my pride,” he said. “And a check for eight hundred dollars.�
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She stared at him and mouthed the amount again, liking the way it sounded. Even though it had irked her that he had gone into the marriage for the wrong reason, that was a lot of money. “Wow,” she said with a chuckle. “I’m worth a small fortune.”
Jasper kissed her again. “You’re priceless.”
They went to the saloon to find Clayton, Billy and Jasper’s other friends. It did not take long to find them sitting around a table, playing poker. The pile of money and other valuables was high, and Jasper licked his lips a little but did not give in to the temptation to join them. “I would like to announce to all you reprobates that Jasper Daniels has taken a wife. Meet Mrs. Annabel Daniels, the beauty from Boston and horse riding extraordinaire!”
“Well,” Clayton said, clapping him on the back. “I’m impressed. You have the most beautiful homestead wife in all of Jefferson County. Now you only have to wait about one more month and then we’ll see if you’ve won.”
Jasper cuddled Annabel to him, kissing her on each of her cheeks, which made her giggle. “I’ve already won,” he said.
She took him aside. “Jasper, I think we should go for it,” she whispered. “I think we ought to win that check. You see, I promised my parents that I would send them along some money as soon as I was married, to help them pay their debts. It is a silly thing that we don’t have to do, but… I want to.”
He looked lovingly into her eyes. He could not say no to her, not even if he wanted to. Were it not for the booze that night, he very well might have taken her to bed and then who knew what would have happened. She had saved the day by getting him drunk, and by teasing him so unfairly. “My days of drinking and playing cards and getting up to no good in these saloons are over,” he said. “But I promise that I will help you help your parents.”
Everyone in the bar raised their glasses in celebration, and the music began to play ‘For He’s A Jolly Good Fellow.’ “To Mrs. and Mr. Daniels,” Billy announced. “May we all be so lucky!”
