Mail Order Bride: 9 Book Boxed set : 9 Brides for 9 Cowboys: CLEAN Western Historical Romance Series Bundle

by Faye Sonja

  For just that second everything around them faded into the background and they were alone.

  Then someone cleared their throat and brought her back. That was when she realized that all conversation had stopped so that everybody could focus on the banter between them. She looked around the salon which was still a bit empty due to the hour. Of the six people who worked there, only three of them were in and only two other clients were getting their do ups.

  She turned her attention back to Brian and continued where they had left off.

  “Tell me how am I different.”

  She hoped he would not cite physical attributes because that was getting old. She had heard all the pickup lines in the book and most of them were foolish things engineered to get her smiling. She had long since stopped falling for them and if this gorgeous gentleman, who she was sure she would enjoy, ever spouted any of that chauvinistic and crass folly at her, she would dismiss his existence just as fast.

  “Most women want to be verbally romanced into a date, and nothing is wrong with that. My point of contention is that women know from the moment they look at you whether they would want to go out with you, hop into bed with you, or marry you.” He swivelled in his chair to turn and face the other people in the salon, four of whom were women and agreed with his point. The other one, a man, simply gave a curt nod in agreement.

  Brian continued, “I am usually one to just tell a woman I like her and I would like to go out with her, then whatever happens from there happens, but I have been told so many times that that is crass of me, so I started doing it differently. The talk designed to make you feel comfortable enough to eventually agree to coffee or a drink, and I have always felt like such a fraud.”

  A round of laughter erupted at that and Amy smiled. “Why though?” she asked him encouraging him to continue as she was enjoying the way he strung his words together. The ease of eloquence with which he spoke was entrancing and his voice sent shivers down her spine. She had to give herself a mental shake to get a grip, but she enjoyed the fact that a man could have that much of an effect on her.

  “It makes me feel like a hunter. I spot a woman, watch the way she moves and decide to go in for the kill. But before she lets me in I must use all my powers to convince her that she is awesome and I am interested in the mundane details of her life. Half the time, by the time she gets to telling me yes I am already bored by conversations of where she lives, what she does and all those other things I could have left for later. So I feel like I have interviewed her for a job and that takes some of the magic out of it.”

  “True,” the other man piped up.

  “Women love to know men care about the small things, before they get involved,” Lyca interjected.

  Amy knew Lyca would have because they have had so many conversations about this over the last few months, but personally, Amy preferred the less time consuming approach. She wanted the man to be a gentleman when he asked her out, but she could really do without all the boring mundane conversation that came with it.

  There was silence at that and Amy was falling in love with Brian with every ounce of truth he spoke.

  “My thing is,” Brian was saying, “I just want you to know from the get go that I like you and I want to go out sometime, while we are out we can decide on the terms of the engagement.”

  With that he swivelled his chair back around so Amy could continue her work and then he asked. “So how about it? Dinner tomorrow night?”

  She chuckled and said, “Let me check my schedule.”

  They all laughed at that and she loved the way his grey eyes twinkled at her. She finished up with him and as she cleaned him up and he paid her and turned to leave she responded.

  “Dinner tomorrow night sounds good.”

  He kissed her on the cheek before he left. “Dress comfortably and bring a jacket.”

  He didn’t leave her time to question the strange dictation, and even though it struck her as weird she went along with it. She knew that even if he told her they were going to ride through the forest she would still go. Men like him were rare and she had a strange feeling he was about to become an important part of her life. She all but forgot about the man she had arranged to meet that day.

  Or was that her just hoping because she had been alone for so long?

  Maybe it was her just hoping but she really didn’t care. It’s not that she didn’t have suitors falling all over themselves for her- she was by many standards a beautiful woman. She was tall and petite with all the right curves in all the right places. She had unruly curly hair that she kept short and neat, because she couldn’t be bothered to comb it, and she was independent for the most part. Men always found her attractive, but she had chosen to be alone because no man had ever intrigued her the way the tall, tanned and handsome one she had just met had.

  “Look at you,” Lyca said walking up to her at the doorway where she stood looking out a Brian’s disappearing back. “Maybe you finally found your match.” Lyca nudged her playfully and went back to work.

  Amy couldn’t stop smiling and as a client walked in wanting to get her hair done, she went back to work with a fluttery feeling in her stomach that lasted all day.

  She had been longing for a different kind of romance and maybe now she would finally have it, and she was going to enjoy every minute of it without the guilt and fear of whatever might come. She felt she had earned it, but she would be smart enough not to go in with too many expectations.

  “He left you a note,” Lyca pointed to the paper about to blow away in the gust of wind. She eagerly plucked it from its perch.

  Hi Amy,

  I am Brian James, the man you know as James from the newspapers. I am sorry to have introduced myself under such a disguise, but it is for reasons you will later find out.

  I much enjoyed you company and I must say you are more than I thought you would be. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

  Yours, hopefully...

  She smiled. She was liking this man even more with each passing second. Maybe he was indeed her match.

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  2

  Chapter TWO

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  “ … I beg that we speak of things we

  have yet to address …Our marriage?”

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  Brian smiled as he walked back to the carriage awaiting him around the corner. He was happy he had finally decided to change his barber. He lived on the other side of town. The more upscale side of town, but he found the snobbish ways of the rich and famous had stolen something from him. The elitist behavior he was expected to display at all times was making his life boring and predictable, and he longed to share a bit of his roots with someone he could grow old with.

  He was never born into money, his family had been the average middle class family who could afford a short vacation or two each year, but still had debts to pay. It wasn’t something that had bothered him much, because he had been a happy child. But he had also been very smart and from a young age had known he was not going to be one of those young men who settled for less than he thought he deserved. He had wanted the world so he had worked hard for it. He had tried to become a medical apprentice though it had never worked out because he found that his time was better spent building his businesses.

  So that was what he had done.

  He had done it all in the manner society had expected him to. He had even gotten married.

  Yes, he was married. Well, he had been until she had a child for him and then had run off with some ranger she had fallen in love with. Her name was Jean, and he had thought he would have grown old with her, but she had other plans for her life and they did not include him. The thought alone made him weepy, and so he pushed it aside and gave the coach driver the order.

  “Take me to work, Silas,” he ordered and returned his thoughts to the woman who was to be his soon... Or so he had hop
ed.

  He had loved the way she smiled and the way she spoke as if she were a woman who had gone through so much in her life. He looked forward to learning about her stories. He had seen a scar on her wrist and he wanted to know what had caused it. He felt she would be no ordinary woman and he would be disappointed if she were. Only, he had left out that he already had a child. A beautiful daughter he doted on more than life itself, and it was yet to be seen if she loved children the way he did. He hoped so.

  He hadn’t felt lonely or any such thing, but he knew he needed a mother for his child. He needed a woman’s touch around his estate. His wife had been good for that, but in the year and a half that she had gone, he had been hard-pressed to manage it all. His only joy and source of strength had been his daughter and for her he would move mountains, but he knew she would need more.

  Then he had seen Amy.

  The thought brought a smile to his face. He had known the moment he saw her that she was different.

  How?

  He wasn’t quite sure about that either, and somewhere in his mind he was thinking maybe it was that he wanted her to be different and not that she actually was, but he was okay with trying to find out. The conversation in the salon had been enough to intrigue him and he loved her directness. Most women he knew took the route of telling him what they thought he wanted to hear, she hadn’t been like that.

  He was happy she wasn’t and physically he loved the way she wore her natural self. Her face had been devoid of any makeup and her hair had been the curly kind he always loved- much like his daughter’s and so she would not be too different and unknown. He found himself thinking of forever with this woman he had just met and had to remind himself that he had been down this road many times and so he needed to pace himself, least he suffer the pain of yet another disappointment.

  “We are here, sir,” Silas said as the horses came to a stop and he came around and opened the carriage door for him. He had a long day ahead of him and he needed to focus on that. He would be home the following day and he planned to spend it with his daughter who was growing up way too fast for his liking, and in the evening he would see what fate would bring his way.

  “Good morning,” he smiled at the doorman at the entrance of his building. As he walked into his office, his office help stopped and looked at him as if he suddenly appeared strange to her.

  Brian had known her all his life, they had grown up together and he had taken her with him while he climbed the ladder of success. She was truly invaluable, telling him off when he needed to be told off and never letting him forget why he had started in the first place. But as she walked beside him trying to read his mind and silently picked at his secrets, he knew she was about to stick her nose into his business yet again.

  “What are you all glowing about?”

  He rolled his eyes and took the file from her hand as he stepped into his office. “It is a beautiful day and I am happy to be alive, Kayla.” He finished hoping he would have diverted her curiosity, but even as he hoped he knew that was not a possibility.

  “It is always a beautiful day when you get these glows about you, but that excuse won’t work this time.” She paused then shook her head. “What’s her name?”

  Kayla sat across from him with a loud exasperated sigh he tried to ignore to no avail. As he flipped through the files she had given him, she kicked his desk and repeated the question through clenched teeth.

  “What is her name?”

  “Susan,” he responded referring to his daughter though Kayla was not convinced. He could hear her thinking and knew the lecture that was about to come.

  “You barely got over Jean leaving, and now you are glowing after meeting some other woman,” She glared at him and he returned the stare tenfold. He knew he could not hide the reality from her and he knew it was useless for him to try.

  “You told me to find a mother for my child,” he glared at her. “I went out and found one.”

  “So this woman you have met has already agreed to be your wife?” Kayla asked as she walked to his collection of decanters and poured herself a drink.

  “She has not, because we have not yet been granted the opportunity to speak on such things but I am sure we will get there,” he replied dryly.

  “I told you that you should select a woman from the echelons you are used to, one who already has her head screwed on right, and you go and put ads in the newspapers! You are hopeless!”

  He knew it would make absolutely no sense telling her to keep her nose out of his business, it would make no sense to deny it and it would certainly make no sense to ask her to leave so he just kept quiet and let her continue. He glowered at her as she walked out of his office and thought for the millionth time that he ought to just relieve her of her place in his business, but knew he couldn’t. She was one of his best friends and that was enough for him to put up with her meddling.

  But she had done him more harm than good in that moment, because even though he had resolved to put Amy aside and focus on his work, he found his thoughts running right back to her and knew that she would be tugging at his mind all day.

  “Your ten am is coming up now,” Kayla stuck her head back into his office to tell him. He acknowledged it and readied himself, though still thinking of Amy the entire time.

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  Chapter THREE

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  “ … I beg that we speak of things we

  have yet to address …Our marriage?”

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  Nothing kept a smile on her face the entire day like the thought of this man whom she had just met. Even in his absence he held her intrigue and she could not wait until she had spent some time with him to know whether she should write home about him or not. He was something special and she found herself unable to stop smiling. She smiled so much she felt her cheeks burn as she did so.

  She was looking forward to seeing him the following night and even though it was just three in the afternoon she had already started planning what she would wear.

  Where will he take me?

  Her thoughts always came back to that one question. She really didn’t know him at all, but ironically it was not her safety that she was concerned with. She really had no concern per say, just a matter of curiosity.

  Then her mind turned to the fact that he appeared to be single. He was likely a Casanova, she thought. He had spoken like one; his argument as to how he picked up women were evidence enough that he had done quite a bit of picking up women in his life. She did not care what his past was like, what she was most interested in, is what his future with her could possibly be. She found herself also wondering if her mother would have approved of him.

  Quite an outlandish thought considering her mother did not care much since she had left. She had not responded to a single one of her letters. She loved her mother dearly, though she knew she may never see her again. She was rooted in her belief in God though and she left it up to him whether that were really true. Even though she had left the Amish world she found the way she had been brought up hadn’t left her heart, but what of this man?

  Was he religious? Would he make her happy or ridicule her ways?

  As she thought about this they rolled into the slow part of the day, just after lunch but before the late stragglers would come to get prettied up for the rest of the day. Lyca was sipping on bourbon and as Amy finished up with her last client, she took a seat next to Lyca.

  “So what do you think about him?” she asked Lyca, excited about the prospect.

  “He looks like trouble is what I think about him,” Lyca said staring at Amy.

  Amy rolled her eyes. Lyca thought any male beyond the age of twelve were evil creatures, and though she could be comical about it, Amy did not want to be discouraged. She busied herself with the tidying up of the salon and then went in search of food.

  The day
went by with the usual conversations with the clients coming in, and as they closed the salon around eleven that night, Amy told Lyca that she would be coming in earlier the following morning since she would only be working until seven. Lyca didn’t mind, but before she let Amy go she gave her some parting advice.

  “Don’t get too invested in him until you know him a little better. All men are not evil, but learn from my mistakes.”

  That advice she would take. She had already had her heart broken by Ryan; she would not go through the same thing again.

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  A messenger came with a note for her the following day as soon as she got to work.

  “Miss Amy Shultz?” the timid man asked. He rode the most beautiful black stallion she had ever seen.

  “Yes,” she finally replied with a smile. “You horse is a magnificent creature.”

  The man smiled and patted the stallion. “Maybe you will have the honor of riding him someday. I am Silas, and my boss is Brian James.”

  The man waited for her acknowledgment and yet for another moment she was caught up with the fact that he said boss. Clearly this man who had portrayed himself as nothing but a simpleton in the papers was much more than that. He was a mystery waiting for her to solve and she would do just that.

  “Yes?” she asked the man who waited for her to say she knew of whom he spoke.

  “He sent me here to confirm that you both indeed had a meeting tonight and that he should have your place of residence. I am to collect you from there tonight.”