The Rancher's Mail Order Bride (Dalton Brides Book 1)

by Kirsten Osbourne

  Bart was the easiest. He was leaner than the other two, as if he hadn't always had quite enough food. His hair was also a bit longer.

  Nate and Walton were just alike though, so she started looking for distinguishing marks. It wouldn't do for her not to be able to tell them apart on sight. Walt's shoulders were a little broader, and his tan was a tad bit darker. They would have to be standing beside each other for her to tell that difference in them, though.

  Finally she realized how she'd be able to tell them apart. Walt had a tiny cowlick just above his right ear. Four or five strands of hair stood out straight from his head. She sighed. If that was the only way to tell them apart, then she'd make it work.

  They talked as they ate, the men telling their stories. They'd been raised by a dairy farmer and his wife. Their father had once gone to the gold mines to make his fortune, but he'd come home with only enough money to buy the family farm and enough cows to make a living.

  They'd been raised not really in poverty, but they had always known the burden of hard work, even as young boys.

  Bonnie told them about their merchant father and how they had three brothers Brett, Hank and Percy.

  Gwen thought about her brothers as Bonnie mentioned them. She missed them, which surprised her. Bret was the oldest, and he was the one who tended to be the bossiest. He thought his younger siblings were put on earth to do his bidding. The sisters all called him Bossy Brett. The middle brother was Hank, who had helped them escape. He was incredibly handsome. He and Gwen turned every head when they walked down the street together. Percy was the youngest and most annoying of the three in Gwen's mind. He did everything he was told immediately. He was perfect in every way.

  "I left home at seventeen," Bart told them. "I don't know why, but I just couldn't stay there any longer. My feet have always been itchy."

  Gwen frowned. "Why do your feet itch?"

  Bart sighed. "It's an expression. I have a hard time staying in one place for a long time. I prefer to move around and see new things. I hate seeing the same thing day in and day out."

  "You're a rambler," Gwen said, her eyes widening. She looked at Bonnie, but his words didn't seem to surprise her sister.

  Bart shrugged. "I prefer the term 'drifter.'"

  "Drifter. All right." She looked at Nate. "What about you?"

  "I've traveled a lot as well, but I don't have a problem staying in one place as long as things are going well. I've been a cowboy my entire life. I really never dreamed I'd have my own spread, but when Walt suggested this, we had to join him." Nate shrugged. "There's a bond between us. When one of us needs something, the others are always there."

  Bonnie eyed Nate for a moment before nodding. "What about you, Walt? What have you been doing since you left your parents' home?"

  Walt smiled. "Learning everything I can about life and about ranching. I knew someday I'd end up somewhere with my brothers, and we'd build our own empire. It's happening now."

  "Empire?" Gwen asked. He dreamed big.

  "Empire. How does it feel to be an empress, darlin'?"

  Chapter Six

  After breakfast the following morning, Bart drove the three sisters into town. He'd kindly added a plank onto the back so there would be a second seat, and she and Libby wouldn't have to sit in the wagon bed.

  Gwen thanked him for handing her up into the wagon. "Thanks for driving us to town."

  Bart nodded, but said nothing.

  "Why are you driving us?" Libby asked. "Wouldn't it have made more sense for you to stay and work while we went to town?"

  Bart shrugged. "It would, but we decided I needed to go with you the first few times you head to town. You're not back East any longer, ladies. Out here men outnumber women. It's not safe for a lady to be wandering around town alone."

  "We'd have each other," Gwen argued. She truly didn't have a problem with Bart driving them just this once. They didn't know the way to Wiggieville, so it made sense that they didn't drive themselves. Doing it every time didn't make sense, though. Gwen was used to her independence. After being locked in her room for two months, she was now in Texas under the watchful eye of her brother-in-law. Was this any way to treat an empress?

  "Maybe eventually you'll get to go alone. For now, I'm driving you." His tone of voice made it clear that he wouldn't respond to any other arguments.

  Bonnie was sitting close to him, clutching his arm. "I appreciate you looking out for us, Bart."

  Gwen rolled her eyes at Libby who giggled. They watched the scenery as they drove. Gwen was thrilled to have a day off from cooking lessons. As much as she wanted to learn to cook well, the actual learning made her crazy. Bonnie was a hard taskmaster.

  When they got to town, Bart helped them all down. "I'll wait in the wagon," he told them.

  Gwen was happy to hear that. She didn't want to have her brother-in-law breathing down her neck while she browsed the only store they had available to them.

  Once inside, Gwen was severely disappointed. There weren't half as many items for sale here as there were back home. While Bonnie and Libby picked out a butter churn, Gwen looked through the fabrics. There weren't many choices. Finally, at the bottom of the table, she found a bolt of cornflower blue material with tiny little flowers on it. She tucked it under her arm with a huge smile, carrying it over to her sisters.

  Bonnie and Libby already had a whole pile of supplies on the counter ready to purchase. "We'll need flour, sugar, and lard as well." She turned to her sisters. "Should we get some potatoes? We need to plan what we're going to make for Thanksgiving."

  Gwen nodded. "That's still a whole month away, but we can start talking about it. Are we going to eat at Libby's?"

  "She has the best place for entertaining." Bonnie sighed. "I can't wait until spring when we can put our kitchen gardens in. We'll have so much more to choose from."

  When they were ready, Bonnie went out to get Bart to tote things out to the wagon. After she left, Gwen turned to the merchant. "Is there a post office nearby? I need to mail a letter to my Aunt Edna." Her aunt lived in Seattle, and though they'd never met, they'd been carrying on a correspondence for years.

  "I take care of the mail in town," he told her.

  Gwen handed her letter to him before turning to speak with Libby. "It's nice to be able to shop, even if it's only for a little while in a tiny store."

  Libby nodded. "It is! We'll have to work harder than ever this afternoon to make up for it, though. Bonnie said she was going to teach us to wash clothes tomorrow."

  Gwen shuddered. "I don't even want to think about washing the yellow dress I came here in. It's rank."

  "I don't think there's any way we'll be able to convince Bonnie to do it for us." Libby frowned, obviously thinking of her own travel clothes.

  "I know. I wish we were rich, and we could just hire someone to do everything." Gwen frowned. She knew she should be happy to be in Texas, married to a handsome rancher, instead of back home married to old man Bellafonte. "Not that I'm not happy with Walton."

  Libby nodded. "I understand exactly what you mean. Walt seems like a good man."

  Gwen nodded. "Oh, he is. He's just...larger than life sometimes. I really think he thinks everyone should be able to do everything he can, plus a million other things. I'd like to see something he's not good at just once, you know? He even cooks better than I do."

  "Gwen honey? The horses cook better than you do. You need to start applying yourself when Bonnie teaches us."

  "There's no need to be rude, Libby."

  "Sometimes there is," Libby argued. "Sometimes you need to hear that you can't be a spoiled brat here. We're all going to need to work hard if we're going to make the empire Walt has in his head a reality. You say all the right things, but you don't really try while Bonnie is teaching us. You're so convinced you can't do it that you just don't."

  Gwen frowned. "That's not true. I try really hard." Was her sister right? Had she decided she couldn't cook well so she wasn't even trying?<
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  "Sometimes, you're your own worst enemy. Being pretty doesn't get the food cooked or the laundry done. Bonnie's willing to teach us, but she's not going to spend all her time teaching us forever, you know." Libby turned as Bonnie came back into the store with Bart right behind her.

  Gwen picked up her fabric and carried it out to the wagon while she thought about her sister's words. She couldn't live on her looks any longer. Libby was right. It was time for her to get her hands dirty whether she liked it or not.

  *****

  Gwen made a roast for dinner that evening while Bonnie watched over her. She carefully peeled all the potatoes to tuck into the pot with the meat, and even peeled the carrots by herself. As soon as the roast was in the oven, Bonnie said it was time to bake bread again. For the first time, Gwen didn't complain. She was going to be the best wife she could be, if only to prove she wasn't spoiled.

  She couldn't believe her own sisters didn't think she was trying to be a good wife. Didn't they know her better than that?

  When she served the dinner she'd fixed herself that evening, she smiled as she saw Walton sniff his plate and smile. "This smells wonderful!"

  "I did it all myself. Bonnie told me what to do, but I did it." She couldn't keep the pride out of her voice as she told him it was all her doing.

  "Well, you obviously did a good job. It smells great." He was pleased to hear she was ready to stop letting her sister do everything. He wanted a wife who could do her chores without instruction.

  Gwen slipped into her chair across from Walt and waited while he prayed for them both. She took a bite of the meat and smiled. "It actually tastes good!"

  He laughed and took a bite himself. "Yes, it does. Very good!" He served himself a helping of the boiled potatoes and added gravy to them. The gravy had a few lumps which told him she must have made it after Bonnie had left.

  Overall the meal was the best she'd made. The carrots were a bit hard, but he didn't care. She was improving. "This meal is wonderful. Thank you for your hard work."

  Gwen felt like dancing around the house at his praise. He wasn't one to praise falsely, so she felt really good about herself. While they ate, she thought back to his words of the day before. "Did you mean what you said yesterday? About building an empire?"

  He nodded. "Absolutely. We have enough land to grow a huge herd. We're less than a year into this, and we've already made a bit of money. I've got quite a bit saved from my years of working for other men. We've got a good start on it."

  "Do you think we'll have a big house some day?"

  Walt laughed. "We'll have a house fit for an empress, of course. What I see is having one huge house with three spokes going out the sides and back. Each of us could raise our family in one of the spokes."

  "Spokes?" Gwen wasn't following his line of thought.

  He got up from the table and got a piece of paper, sitting back down to draw it out for her. He drew a huge square, and coming off of the back and each of the two sides were long halls with rooms off of them. "Like this. We'd live in this spoke," he said, pointing to the hall off the right side of the building. "Bonnie and Bart would live off the back, and Nate and Libby would live off this side. We'd share all the common areas. In each spoke we'll have a large bedroom, a nursery, maybe two small bedrooms and a bathroom. We'll all share the parlors and the kitchen."

  She chuckled. "It sounds nice. Have your brothers agreed to this plan yet?"

  He shook his head. "No, of course not. I haven't even mentioned it to them. They'll do it if I ask though. I'm the oldest."

  She raised an eyebrow. "You're triplets. How can being the oldest matter when you're triplets?"

  He shrugged. "I can't answer that really, but it always has. When we were children, they did whatever I said. When I moved here and decided to ranch, I sent them both a letter asking them to come. Asking was just a formality, though. I knew they'd come if I asked them to."

  "So you're the leader of the three of you?" She didn't quite understand. She would never do everything Bonnie asked, just because her sister asked it. Bonnie was bossy, like every oldest child she'd ever known, but that didn't mean she was going to follow her blindly.

  "Not exactly. I'm not sure how to explain it. Being triplets, we're connected in a way most siblings aren't. I think we all knew that one day we'd end up living close together and working together. It's just the way things were meant to be."

  Gwen didn't understand but decided not to question him further. It was odd to her way of thinking, but if it made them happy, then who was she to judge?

  After dinner, they sat and talked for a few minutes, and she waited for him to volunteer to do the dishes, because she'd worked so hard cooking. When he didn't, she got to her feet and did them herself. It was obviously going to continue to be her job until they could hire a maid or she had daughters she could pass the chore on to.

  When she was finished, she turned to see him watching her. He had that little sparkle in his eye that told her what he wanted, and he always wanted the same thing. "Are we going to make an early night of it again?" she asked as he got to his feet and stalked toward her.

  He picked her up and carried her into the bedroom, setting her gently on the bed. "Always, my dear."

  Chapter Seven

  Gwen fell deeper and deeper in love with Walton every day of their marriage. There was just something compelling about him, something that made her want to be more than she was. Every day she got up a little earlier and worked a little harder.

  The first time she baked bread without Bonnie giving her instructions, she danced around the room, kissing her older sister on the cheek. "You're a wonderful teacher, Bonnie!"

  Bonnie smiled. "You've been trying hard. That makes a big difference."

  Gwen looked over at Libby who was nodding and smiling. "I'm really glad you decided to work so hard, Gwen. Walt must be so proud of you."

  Gwen blushed. "I think he is." Whether he was proud or not, she knew he was very happy with her body. Every night he carried her off to bed and made love to her. Most mornings, she woke with him stroking her insistently. "I'm happy."

  The words stunned her as she said them. She'd never thought she could be happy doing as much manual labor as she did. Or without having a man dote on her every whim. Walt was not one to treat her with kid gloves. He expected her to work just as hard as he did, which was harder than she'd ever imagined anyone worked. Somehow, though, being in Texas and working so hard was making her happy. Of course, she was certain much of it was Walt. He made her happy just by being him.

  Bonnie looked at Gwen and smiled. "Well of course you are. We all are. We married good men. I'm sure Libby is happy too."

  Libby nodded, a smile plastered to her face. It didn't look absolutely true to Gwen, but she wasn't going to contradict her sisters.

  "For me, I think it's more than that," Gwen told the others. "I think I finally feel like I'm doing something worthwhile."

  Bonnie laughed. "You mean you're not spending all day every day gadding about with your friends and every evening with a different beau? Yes, you're doing something much more worthwhile than that."

  Gwen frowned. She had been somewhat worthless before. She could see it now, but she hadn't been able to then. When they'd been at home, she'd felt like the entire world revolved around her. As if other people were only put on the planet to make her happy. Now, she did everything she could to make others happy, and not just her husband. She worked hard to make her sisters and their husbands happy as well.

  "What are we cooking for dinner tonight?" Gwen asked, wanting to change the subject from the selfish girl she'd been.

  Bonnie shrugged. "Bart's away for a few days, so I'll probably just have a sandwich."

  Gwen frowned. "Where did he go?" Bonnie and Bart seemed so happy together. She must miss him terribly.

  Bonnie smiled. "Oh, he had to go on a business trip."

  "I didn't hear about that." Gwen looked at Libby. "Did Nate go as well?"


  Libby shook her head. "Nate told me that Bart is always the one to go on business trips. He and Walt never go."

  "Never? Really?" Gwen frowned. "That doesn't seem fair." She didn't want Walt to have to be the one to leave, but it would be more fair than Bart leaving every time one of them had to go somewhere.

  Libby shrugged. "He said all three of them prefer it that way."

  "How odd." Gwen sat down and thought for a moment. "Maybe I'll make a big pot of soup. Isn't there a potato soup that you know how to make, Bonnie?"

  "Oh, yes. I have a wonderful recipe for a potato soup. I'll teach you both to make it this evening."

  Gwen paid close attention as Bonnie showed them how to make the soup, giving them each something to do to help her. She watched her sister, and she noticed she seemed sad. She wanted to ask her about it, but she was afraid to. She didn't want to pry. If her sister wanted to talk to her, she would. She was probably just missing her husband.

  Before her sisters left for the evening to go to their own homes, Gwen asked, "Do you want to stay for supper, Bonnie? We'd love to have you." She hated the idea of her sister eating alone.

  Bonnie considered for a moment. "Walt won't mind?"

  "Of course not. Please come." Gwen really hoped she wasn't speaking out of turn. Walt did enjoy their evenings alone, but surely he'd see that her sister shouldn't have to be alone.

  Bonnie nodded. "I'd be happy to. I have something for you anyway. Let me run home and get it."

  Libby smiled at Gwen once their sister was gone. "Thank you for inviting her. I was just about to. I don't want her eating by herself."

  Gwen hugged Libby impulsively. "We think alike at times, little sister."

  Libby left then, and Gwen cut one of the loaves of bread they'd made that day, putting a fresh ball of butter on the table. She was proud of that ball of butter. Her arms still ached from the hours of churning, but it tasted delicious.

  Bonnie was back minutes later. Gwen had finished setting the table and was whipping some cream to put on top of the cake they'd made earlier. It was Gwen's first cake, and she was worried that it wouldn't be perfect for Walt.