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

by Faye Sonja

  "What is it?" She urged with a smile.

  "You look like a woman who is used to the finer things in life and I cannot give you that. I barely make enough money to keep this place up and I don't want you to feel deceived..."

  His words trailed off as she laughed at him. For a moment he was offended until she spoke.

  "If you were expecting a materialistic woman then I am sorry to disappoint you. I am no such thing. I believe in honest work and honest pay, and that so much that can be achieved through a good days work. I believe in building a life from the ground up."

  He lost himself in her words as she spoke, wondering if he had died and gone to heaven or if this was just too good to be true.

  "Are you real or are you a concoction of my over active imagination?" He asked in disbelief.

  "Must be all the clean air finally blowing through this place," she joked.

  He wanted to pull her into his arms for a hug, but thought that would be too much at the moment seeing as they had just met.

  "Thank you for that," he said and as he said the words he knew that she did not know just how grateful he was that she wasn’t after money. Maybe there was hope for him after all... maybe there was hope.

  They went back to the kitchen where she made him sandwiches and spoke about her ride from town. She sounded excited about it all and most of all she enjoyed Michael's company.

  She was not your average woman and even though he saw how she tried to keep her blind eye turned away from him, he wanted to tell her she didn't have to. They were all a little damaged and it only made her soul and spirit that much more beautiful to him. He thought about telling her that, but more so than ever he wanted to show her.

  Jason sat watching her feeling like he had known her all his life. Somehow he knew this was exactly where he was meant to be at this precise moment and this was who he was meant to be with.

  The stars were finally aligning.

  * * *

  For two weeks she stayed and felt like she was exactly where she was supposed to be. She walked Jason to work most mornings and then went to the market with whatever money he gave her. Michael would be waiting to take her back home by coach when she was done and then he would leave her to her house making while he went back to work. Each evening they both came home with a hot meal waiting on them at the table and stories of the men and drunkards they had encountered.

  That night Jason was silent and she was worried he might be having second thoughts about her being there.

  "Are you okay?" She asked cautiously, invading his personal space as he sat sipping on the cheap bottle of bourbon she had picked up for him in town.

  "Is this enough for you?" He asked her.

  She was momentarily confused but then realized he was actually asking her about this place she had come to think of as home. "It can be."

  He turned to look at her clearly not missing the cautious choice of words. "But is it enough for you now? Because if it is not then we cannot just hope that it will be enough later and I really do not have much else to offer."

  She sat beside him in silent contemplation for what she was about to say. "I am just not sure where you want this to go Jason. I came here to be your wife, but for weeks you have said nothing to that end. I do not know if you still want that or if you just want a friend and some company. So yes, this can be enough for me, but as to whether it is or not, I have no grounds on which to make that decision as of now."

  He sighed and looked away from her. "I worry that you will want more. When you speak of where you came from and what you left behind to come here, I wonder if you will wake up some day and realize you made a mistake."

  She chuckled. "What I left was never something I was born into. It was something I helped to build from scratch so I am okay with simplicity and we can build our own lives together right here."

  "Really?" He asked sounding like and unsure child.

  She nodded. "I believe in growth and growing together. If you can accept that then we will be fine."

  There was a moment of silence that not even the crickets dared to break and then when he spoke it was with words that set her heart ablaze.

  "Kate Amelia Blanche, will you do this poor man the hour of becoming his wife?"

  She laughed with tears in her eyes as he took a ring from his pocket and bent before her.

  "I don't have much and I cannot promise you that I can give you the world but I will try to make you the happiest bride ever."

  She pulled him up and into her arms, kissing him passionately for the first time. "I would be happy to call you my husband."

  That night as they slept in separate quarters she had no idea that come morning things for her would change.

  "Jason!" She heard a voice that sounded oddly familiar boom from the echoing hallways in the foyer. "Get your scrawny behind down here boy!"

  She heard Jason's door open beside her room and they rushed, making their way down the stairs. She quickly pulled a robe on and ran to the banister outside her door. What she saw brought back a dreadful sense of déjà vu.

  "Father!" She watched Jason embrace the man she had seen before in less than desirable circumstances, and fear crippled her as she realized that not only was Jason embracing him but he had called this monster father and seems generally happy to have him back under the same roof.

  "For two years I have been gone and you still look skinny and underfed," the man joked. "It is nice to see that you actually managed to clean this place up a little though."

  Jason blushed like a child looking down at his feet. "Well dad, this is not my handy work at all. I have something to tell you."

  She tried to scream for him to get away from the monster of a man who had taken Nathan from them a year before, but no words came from her mouth. She tried to move but was rooted to the spot.

  "I am getting married," Jason said and his father's chorus of joy was enough to make her move quickly down the stairs.

  "Where is she? Where is the unlucky woman who chose to wed you?"

  Jason laughed joyously and moved to help her down the stairs. "Father, this is Kate, my bride to be."

  The man froze recognizing her instantly.

  "This monster is your father?" She barely managed to get the words out, her throat tightening with each word.

  "Monster?" Jason asked her and she remembered how he had fired a bullet at Aunt May, near crippling the old woman who had simply screamed for him to do them no harm.

  "Yes, he is a monster!" She said angrily. "He nearly killed an elderly woman I have known for years when he came bursting into our house making ridiculous demands of his son."

  Her words trailed off and her eyes widened in shock as she realized one thing she had missed before.

  "His son?" Jason asked looking between them both, confused at what her words implied. She looked at his father and the stone cold look of death that walked boldly across his face was enough to make her shake where she stood.

  "This cannot be," she said.

  "Shut your mouth!" His father growled at her. "Don't you dare say another word."

  Jason stood between the two of them, looking back and forth. "What the hell is happening here?"

  "She is a liar and I want her out of this house immediately!"

  Jason glared at his father, a silent command for him to be silent before he turned to her. "Kate, talk to me."

  "If this man is your father, then my best friend is your brother," she said. It didn't come out as smooth as she had wanted it to.

  "What?!" He asked in shock.

  "You have a brother, Jason. A brother your father nearly killed after shooting the woman we call mother in the leg. He took him away from us for six months and only the Lord knows what happened during that time."

  "What?!" He asked again.

  She didn't know how else to tell him so he would understand so she kept silent and waited for his father to speak.

  "What is she talking about?" He asked him.

  His
father's response was to simply walk out the door. Jason looked at her apologetically before running out behind him and she knew that her words couldn’t be unspoken.

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  3

  Chapter THREE

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  “What if the life he is inviting you

  into is less than desirable?”

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  Jason wasn't sure if the feeling bubbling in his stomach was anger, shock or a strong sense of betrayal. He wasn't sure if he wanted to punch his father into oblivion for what he was telling him, though he was sure he wouldn't succeed at doing that. He had listened to Kate's account of how the man had barged into their home one morning, firing shots at the ceiling before shooting an old woman in the leg and running off with the man who was her best friend and his brother. The brother he had known nothing about until now.

  "Why?" He turned to his father who was still sending daggers at Kate with his eyes.

  "Why what?" The man asked him sipping from the glass of bourbon.

  "I had a brother and you never told me," Jason repeated, still in disbelief.

  His father didn't respond to him and he didn't push it any further. They all sat in silence and he stole glances at Kate who took turns glaring at his father with hatred and staring at him with fear. He looked at the woman who had made him the happiest he had been in all his years and he felt saddened that he had just promised her the day before that he would be the best husband he could yet here was his father and the drama that came with him all over again. He was livid and saddened by so many things. When Kate got up and walked away minutes later, he let her. He had no idea what he would say to her or how to remove the trauma of what his father had done to her and her family, so he remained silent.

  "Let her go," his father finally spoke. "She is not the woman for you anyway."

  "How dare you?" He got up and paced angrily in front of his father. This time he was sure of what emotion he was feeling as his father stared at him in shock from the steel in his voice.

  "Tread carefully," the older man shot back at him. "You may think you are a grown man now, but you are still my son and I can whip you into shape should I desire to do so."

  "Like you apparently did to my brother," Jason said remembering with pain how Kate had recounted details of the scars his brother wore. "I have loved you through it all father, but your betrayal and lies know no bounds and I am tired of constantly trying to turn my life around just to have your decisions come back to haunt me."

  His father laughed. "Look at you. Trying to be the good little husband to be. Tell me, does your bride know you are a wanted criminal in several states?"

  Jason could not believe his ears. "That was a life you dragged me into and I have done nothing but try to get out of it ever since."

  "You are ungrateful!" His father said through clenched teeth. "That life is what paid for this house you are quick to put your bride in. That life is what has gotten you this far, so how dare you look down on me for taking care of you the best way I knew how."

  "No!" Jason shouted at him in frustration. "I have never looked down on you. What I am angry about is how even now when there is no longer a need to, you will lie to me and keep my brother away. How could you father? Is that why you disappeared for two years? Is this why the sheriff wants to have a few words with you? When will this all end? When?"

  The questions came in a rush as he fought back the tears of frustration knowing how his father hated to see men cry. But even then Jason hated the fact that what his father preferred was still so important to him. He waited on the answers to his question, but when none came he got up and headed to town.

  "Sir?" Michael looked him up and down when he walked into the saloon moments later. He took one look at himself and ordered a double shot of something strong. Today was just not his day.

  "Don't ask," he said to Michael.

  The young man looked at him. "Your father is back in town isn't he?"

  Jason didn't need to respond, and the fact that he didn't said a lot. Soon the sheriff would be making his rounds and he would have to take him to his father. He had no idea how he would be able to avoid that and even worse was the fact that he was almost sure he didn't want to have to. He was really tired of his father's life turning headlong into his, and worse was the fact that he would be the one who always suffered.

  He stayed out and drank himself into a stupor the rest of the day. When Michael hauled him home that evening he crawled his way into bed barely managing a smile at Kate's worried face that stared down at him. He vaguely remembered her feeding him before he passed out with nothing but guilt riddled dreams to follow.

  With sunrise his head pounded like a team of jackals were playing about in his brain, his eyes burning in the light streaming through the curtains Kate pulled open.

  "Get up," she said to him softly.

  He groaned. "Why? So you and my father can spring more surprises on me? I would rather stay in bed."

  What came next he was not prepared for. Water as cold as the Minnesota winter came splashing down rudely across his face. He sprung right out of bed and clear across to the other side of the room, wide awake and extremely sober.

  She grinned at him. "Now go to work or we will be broke!" She said smiling and walking out the room.

  He had expected her to be upset, packed and ready to leave him, but here she was tossing cold water at him and smiling like a minx on her way out. She was either well-adjusted or planning his slow and painful demise.

  When he got downstairs moments later, he approached with caution.

  "Don't worry. I have no more ice buckets waiting on you," she giggled with amusement.

  He glared at her suspiciously before looking around for his father. All he saw was Michael in a corner watching him as if he were the most entertaining thing. He sat down to eat the breakfast she had prepared, hoping that would prevent anymore of her tricks, and when he was finished she looked at him as if he was a deer in the woods and she was a careful hunter.

  "What?" He asked her. "I am going to work!"

  Michael couldn't hold back the laughter anymore and he was fixed on him with a stare that only made the boy laugh harder.

  "How would you like to meet your brother?" She asked him.

  He almost choked at the thought of what she suggested. He was sure his father would have a few choice words to say about the suggestion. But when her face sat still with expectancy, he knew she was not joking.

  "Who says he wants to meet me?" He asked, fearful of rejection.

  She smiled. "He will want to meet the man I marry and I won't lie to him, so how about we get it out of the way and you go meet your brother."

  He thought about it and the longing he had felt for his sibling came rushing back to him.

  "Okay," he said barely above a whisper.

  "Are you sure?" She asked him, her hand resting over his on the table.

  He nodded. He knew it would make her happy and he had not known her for long, but he knew that at the end of the day he would do anything to keep her happy.

  "Okay," she said then turned to Michael. "How about we all take a short trip?"

  The boy squealed in delight and just like that he knew that no matter what his life was like now, it was about to change, he only hoped it would be for the better. On his way out he searched for his father but could find him nowhere. He didn't look too hard. He had had enough of him for a while anyway. Maybe it was best he kept himself at a distance.

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  Chapter FOUR

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  “What if the life he is inviting you

  into is less than desirable?”

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  To go home was a bittersweet occasion for Kate. It did not happen quite the wa
y she had expected it to. Michael sat on one side of the coach looking out the window at everything they passed and to the other side sat Jason, worriedly tapping away an unknown song on his knee.

  What was he thinking?

  It was a question she had asked herself several times and each time she had come up with the same answer. He had a right to be worried and he had a right to be this quiet so she left him to his thoughts. It had been one week since they’d decided to make the trip and it took them several days to actually leave the house. He had gotten the hint after asking if they really had to go and she all but shoved him out of the house. She knew he wanted to go. She knew he wanted a difference and she knew that he really wanted to meet his brother; he just needed a little push.

  The one thing he did know was that it was just a matter of time before he would have to. They had spoken about it and he accepted that fact, so with one last shove, here they were on their way home. What she didn’t let on was that she was as worried as he was.

  “You okay?” Michael whispered to her. He looked at her with nothing but worry across his face. No doubt all this silence was a little strange to him, and he was smart enough to know to respect it. She worried about him. No one seemed to know where he was from, why he had left there or anything really. She worried that his silence would become an issue and at the same time she knew that they could not turn their backs on him. They would not.

  “You can talk to me you know?” He whispered again when she kept silent.

  “I know, but not now,” Kate said patting his hand on her lap.