by Merry Farmer
Acknowledgments
Writing a series in tandem with another writer can be a huge challenge, but Kirsten Osbourne and I were born for it. The two of us get up to all sorts of shenanigans on paper and on those rare occasions when we can get together in real life. But I owe a huge debt of gratitude to her for coming up with this crazy idea. We’ve had so much fun checking in with each other and giggling over the hijinks these characters have gotten into! Thanks also to my excellent beta-readers, Caroline Lee and Jolene Stewart. And a big, big thanks to my editor, Cissie Patterson, for doing an outstanding job, as always, and for leaving hilarious comments throughout the manuscript. Also, a big round of applause for my marketing and promo mistress, Sara Benedict.
And a special thank you to the Pioneer Hearts group! Do you love Western Historical Romance? Wanna come play with us? Become a member at https://www.facebook.com/groups/pioneerhearts/
Click here for a complete list of other works by Merry Farmer.
Keep Clicking to get started on Book Three, Cowboy’s Conundrum, by Kirsten Osbourne
Excerpt Cowboy’s Conundrum
Joy kept smiling as they drove the last few miles to the Culpepper Ranch. She knew that’s what her sisters needed from her, so that’s what she gave them. All six girls in her family had silly names, but only she was expected to live up to hers. Since she was a tiny girl, she’d known it was her role in life to be joyful, and so she’d been joyful.
The others were really on her nerves—especially Hope and Chastity. Chastity was a pain in her backside, as usual, but it was Hope’s reaction that really annoyed Joy. She knew Chastity was a brat, but Hope knew she was too. Usually Hope didn’t let Chastity bother her the way she was then. Of course, with this being their third day in the car, they were all feeling angrier than usual. The long trip had been a test of their loyalty to one another. As quadruplets, they’d always functioned as a unit, and they still were. Right then, they were just a very angry unit.
When they stopped in front of the huge one-story ranch house, Joy opened her car door and walked away from the car—away from the house. She needed a minute before she met or talked to anyone, or she wouldn’t be able to fulfill her role in this world. Taking deep breaths, she stared off at the mountains in the distance, realizing those mountains might just be her center here in Wyoming.
She could hear excitement behind her, but she had no desire to join in. She was going to meet her future husband in a few minutes, and she really needed to be able to live up to expectations when she did.
Finally, she felt like she could smile, and be the joyous woman she was expected to be, so she turned and walked toward the house. Her sisters who were with her, Hope, Faith, and Chastity, had already gone into the house with Dr. Lachele and a woman Joy didn’t know, but she assumed she was her future mother-in-law. As long as one of the men was interested in her, at least. She worried the men would all want her sisters and none would be willing to even look at her.
Joy felt like she was too awkward to ever really find a man who would care about her. She’d never been kissed, but as far as she knew, out of the four of them only Chastity had been. Chastity made it her business in life not to live up to her name.
Opening the front door, Joy walked into the house, smiling sweetly. Dr. Lachele rushed over to her, hugging her tightly. “Joy! It’s good to see you!”
Joy had a special fondness for Dr. Lachele, but really, she couldn’t think of anyone who wouldn’t. The woman just lit up a room as soon as she entered it. Between her purple hair and colorful language, she was truly special. “I’m glad to finally be here!”
Dr. Lachele looked at Joy, studying her for a moment. “Rough car trip?”
Joy smiled, feeling like her face would break. “It was long.” For once, she would like to yell and scream about how awful her sisters had acted, but she wouldn’t.
“I’m sure it was. I know you four are close, being quadruplets raised as you were, you’d have to be. But two-and-a-half days in a car with three siblings? I don’t care if you’re in your seventies. Someone is going to want to kill someone else!”
“Are you putting on your psychologist hat with me, Dr. Lachele?”
“Do I need to?” Dr. Lachele, took Joy’s arm, pulling her a bit down the hallway and lowering her voice. “I worry about you. Your sisters are so easy to read, but you—you always have the exact same smile on your face. It’s like you are incapable of showing any emotion that isn’t positive.”
Joy shrugged. “I’m Joy.”
“You don’t always have to exemplify your name, you know.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Joy said, with the exact same smile on her face Dr. Lachele had just complained about.
Dr. Lachele sighed, obviously concerned. “You have my number. Please make sure you use it if you need me.”
“I do. I’m sure you’ll be visiting to check on us as well.”
“Of course I will. Don’t do anything you don’t want to do, Joy. Live for yourself for a change.”
“I’ll do my best.” But Joy knew she wouldn’t. It was her job to make the people around her happy. Her mother had told her that repeatedly over the years.
Joy moved around Dr. Lachele to where Chastity was leaned over a countertop talking to a blond woman. She looked to be in her early fifties, so Joy assumed she was their future mother-in-law.
The woman looked up and smiled. “You must be Joy!”
Joy nodded, feeling ridiculously shy. “Yes, ma’am. Are you Mrs. Culpepper?”
The woman laughed. “Well, only if you’re feeling very formal. Call me Linda!”
Joy smiled and nodded. “Sounds good. Thank you for letting us stay with you for a while. Your home is lovely.” She looked around her, spotting Faith sitting off by herself on the sofa. There was no sign of Hope. She must have needed a minute to herself as well. Not sure what to do with herself, she wandered over to sit beside Faith. “She seems nice,” she said in a whisper.
Faith nodded. “She really does. Are you as happy to be out of that car as I am?”
“I really thought Hope was going to strangle Chastity for a minute there, and I wouldn’t have blamed her!” Joy shook her head. “So happy to finally be here.”
“Are you calling Mom and Dad tonight?”
Joy frowned. “I don’t want to, but one of us has to. I don’t plan on telling them where we are, just that we’ve found some nice Christian men and are being well-chaperoned.” Difficult talks with their parents always fell to Joy. She wasn’t certain why, but it had always been that way.
“Good idea.” Faith looked over the top of Joy’s head at something. “Oh, my! I call dibs on the sexy one!”
Joy turned her head, wishing immediately she had a tissue. “Am I drooling?” she asked softly. “All three of them are sexy!” She’d been attracted to a few boys in college, and she’d once even had a crush, but these three weren’t boys. They were men with a capital M.
“Which one do you like?” Faith asked, her voice a whisper.
“The one in the middle.” Joy had always been fond of dark men, and that Culpepper Cowboy had hair as black as night. She wanted that one, but really? They were all pretty darned sexy, making her feel things in the pit of her stomach. Would she really be married to one of them within a month? Sleeping with them?
Faith sighed. “I don’t know how we’re ever going to choose!”
* * *
“Let me help!” Chris said, his voice filled with exasperation.
Karlan handed him a board. “Sure, hold this.” He went back to work on the fence, pounding in a nail and wrapping barbed wire around it. “By this time next year, I think we’ll be able to afford electric fences.”
Kolby glanced over his shoulder. “Those cost an arm and a leg. How could we do that with the kind of acreage we’re looking at fencing in?”
Karlan shrugged. “A little at a time, I guess.”
Kolby looked down at his watch for the third time in five
minutes. “Aren’t any of you guys as nervous as I am?”
“Nervous?” Karlan asked, his voice perfectly calm. “What’s there to be nervous about?”
Kolby shook his head, refusing to believe none of his three brothers had profusely sweating palms like he did. Within a few hours they were all going to meet four women, and they were required to choose one to marry, and marry her, within a month. How could they do that? He took a deep breath. “What if they’re all money-hungry snobs, who come here thinking ranch life is like they’ve seen on Dallas?”
“Don’t be a nervous twit, Kolby. Dr. Lachele vetted them. My friend Trey says she’s brilliant at what she does,” Chris said, still holding the board. “What do you want me to do with this, Karlan?”
Karlan shook his head at his brother. “Just keep holding it!”
Kolby frowned. “I’m not being a nervous twit. Did your friend Trey tell you about how crazy Dr. Lachele was? Did he mention her purple hair and strange outlook on life?”
Chris shook his head. “Well, no, but she wouldn’t send women we shouldn’t marry.”
Karlan’s text tone sounded, and he reached into his pocket for his phone. “They’re here. Mom says to get to the big house right away.”
Chris looked at the board he was holding. “What should I do with this?”
“Oh, just lean it up against the fence post. You can hold it again next time,” Karlan responded.
Chris rolled his eyes but did as he was told.
Kolby took a deep breath, trying to calm his nervous stomach. How was he supposed to find someone to spend the rest of his life with? Was divorce a possibility? He needed to reread the contract as soon as he could.
He mounted his horse, following his brothers. What if there wasn’t one he liked? Or worse—what if there was? Would he be able to hide his emotions? He couldn’t give a woman the kind of power over him that Rachelle had wielded. He’d carried an engagement ring around in his pocket, looking for just the right moment. Then she’d gone to volunteer at the underwear model shoot. After the snow had cleared, Rachelle had admitted she’d spent the four days of the blizzard doing the horizontal polka with one of the models. He still had the ring.
He forced all thoughts of Rachelle from his mind. Rachelle was the past, and he was about to meet his future. Whatever her name was.
When they reached the house, Karlan veered toward the back. “You go on!” he called.
Kolby, Cooper, and Chris went to the front door and into the house. Kolby’s eyes immediately caught a girl with bright red hair and green eyes, who was sitting on the couch with a girl who must have been her sister. He was too intent on the red head to notice a resemblance. Oh the girl made his heart beat faster!
He walked to the couch and stopped a foot behind it, her eyes wide as she stared up at him. “Hi. I’m Kolby.”
“Hi, Kolby,” said the girl, her voice soft and sweet. “I’m Joy.”
“You certainly bring me joy.”
Joy’s face lit up with a smile. He was a romantic. That’s what she needed. A man who would bring romance to her life. Her sisters didn’t need the kind of romance she did. Faith just wanted to work on her babies. Hope wanted to control the world. Chastity only needed sex, and a lot of it. But Joy needed love and romance.
She was aware of Faith talking to one of his brothers, and Chastity falling all over herself for another. She blocked them all out though. Kolby. Kolby was meant for her, and she was going to take advantage of that fact. “Tell me about yourself.”
Kolby walked around the long couch and sat on the loveseat that was at a ninety-degree angle to it. He patted the spot beside him, and Joy stood up, moving to sit where he’d indicated. “Hi,” she said again.
Kolby grinned at her, his arm going to the back of the couch, not exactly around her, but it felt like it. “Hi,” his voice was deep and a bit gruff. Just hearing him speak sent a little thrill through her body. “I’m a cowboy. We three older brothers work the ranch, while Chris, the youngest is an itinerate science teacher.”
Joy nodded. She could understand him wanting to go his own way. “I see. Do you like being a cowboy?”
He smiled. “There’s nothing else in this world I’d rather be doing. I love to be out on the range, the sun and wind on my skin. I love being on horseback as we move the herd. I’m not big on mending fences, but I’ll do it when I need to.”
“Sounds like you’re living the life you want to live.” She liked that idea. Being married to a man who was happy with what he did, would make it easier on her.
“I am. I guess I never realized just how privileged I am. I may not be a rich man, but a man is always blessed if he can wake up in the morning and do what he wants to do more than anything.”
Joy nodded, her face lit up. “That’s right. It must be an amazing feeling to do just what you want to do.”
“You don’t do what you want to do? What was your job back home? I don’t even know where you’re from!”
Joy made a face. “I’m from a small town in Kentucky, and I’ve never had a job. Our parents thought that our jobs should be looking for husbands and learning to be good wives. I’ve never even had a job as simple as flipping burgers.”
“Well, I don’t know that you should have had a job flipping burgers,” Kolby said with a wink, “but something would be good! What do you do with all your time?”
“We all have crafts we enjoy. Hope sews and spends a lot of time volunteering with children. Faith makes the most beautiful dolls you’ve ever seen. Chastity knits, and she makes wonderful socks.”
Kolby couldn’t help but notice she left out what she did. “And Joy? What does Joy do?”
Joy frowned. “Do you promise not to laugh?”
He nodded solemnly. “Why would I laugh?”
“I make houses and furniture for Barbie dolls out of plastic canvas.” Her words were merely a mumble, like she was ashamed of her craft.
“Really? I’ve never even heard of such a thing. What’s plastic canvas?”
Joy jumped up from the loveseat and went to fetch the small bag that was leaning up against the couch where his brother, Cooper now sat with one of her sisters. She sat back down beside him, a little closer this time. She wanted to feel his warmth. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a small rectangle of plastic canvas. “This is what it looks like before it’s worked.” Then she held up the bag itself, which was three different shades of green in a pattern. “This is what it looks like worked. This bag was one of my first projects.”
“And you make stuff for Barbies from it?” He knew what a Barbie doll was, of course, because everyone did, but he’d never really been up close and personal with one. They’d lived out in the country his whole life, and he only had brothers. His only cousin was male. How would he have been around Barbies?
“Yes.” Joy’s eyes were dancing as she stuck her hand back into her bag again, this time pulling out a book. “This is instructions on how to make a castle.”
“A castle? You can make a castle from that stuff?”
“I love doing it! It’s fun for me. My sisters and I will all sit around and talk while we work on our crafts. Well, all except for Grace, but she talks to us while her cakes are baking.”
“Okay, so how many sisters are there total? Just the four of you who came?”
Joy shook her head. “No there are six total. Four came here…” She trailed off, leaving the words “to marry you and your brothers,” unspoken. “Hope, Faith, Chastity and I are quadruplets. Grace and Honor are our little sisters. They’re two years younger than us.”
“Twins? No boys?”
“Nope. Just the six of us.”
Kolby wiped the back of his hand across his brow. “That’s a lot of girls to look out for.”
Joy shrugged. “Our parents were so strict it didn’t seem to matter. We were only allowed out of their sight when absolutely necessary. We were never allowed extracurricular activities. I think that was mainly due to Chas
tity, though.”
“Chastity?” he asked. “Which one is Chastity?”
Joy realized then that this man really didn’t know her sisters. She’d never had to introduce her sisters to anyone, because they were something of a legend in their home town. Quadruplets weren’t the norm anywhere. “There,” she said, pointing toward the kitchen where Chastity stood with one of his brothers. Chastity was rubbing on his brother’s arm and making eyes in a way that made Joy deeply embarrassed for her sister. Instead of continuing to watch, she pointed out the others. “That’s Faith.” She pointed to the other couch where Faith sat with another of his brothers. “I think Hope is still on the back porch, but I’m not sure.”
Kolby nodded. “Back porch, huh? That explains where Karlan went.”
“I’m sorry?” Joy had no idea what he was talking about.
“When we got to the house, Karlan went to the back porch, and Cooper, Chris, and I went to the front door. Karlan must be with your sister, Hope.” He shook his head. “Did your parents stop having kids because they ran out of names?”
Joy shook her head. “Oh, no. They had Charity, Patience, Prudence, and Constance all ready, in case they had another set of quadruplets.”
“Do any of your sisters suit their names?” he asked, a half-grin on his face.
She shook her head. “Not a one of them. Grace is the clumsiest girl you ever did see. Chastity, well, we’re not going to talk about Chastity. She’s technically chaste, even if her thoughts are far from it! Hope is usually hopeful, but she has her moments of doubt. Honor has honor, I guess. As much as anyone, but not more so. Faith has faith, but again, about like anyone.”
“And Joy? Is she filled with Joy?” Kolby couldn’t believe the odd conversation he was having with her. He reached out and traced her cheek with his index finger.
Joy nodded. “My parents always talked about how I was the only one to really live up to my name.” She didn’t mention what a turmoil her thoughts usually were. She wasn’t trying to deceive him, but what man would want a woman who wasn’t joyous?
