by Megan McCoy
“Mr. Browning, Darla has fallen ill…”
“I beg your pardon?” Holly spoke over Mr. Zachary, squaring her shoulders up to the tall rancher. “Darla’s great, but she’s never done more than look at a horse.”
“Have you?” Mr. Browning asked, tipping his hat back and revealing sun-tanned skin and light blue eyes.
Holly lifted her chin, surprised at his handsomeness, and folded her arms over her chest, matching his stance. “Helped break’em in for the war. Have you ever broken a horse in? It’s not for amateurs.”
He stared down at her and tilted his head. “Sure. Plenty. Have you ever birthed a calf?”
“Hundreds. Ever delivered a breach birth?”
“Course, I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty.” He looked her up and down, a hint of admiration on his face, and then continued. “So, you’re a farm girl, then?”
“I’m a ranch girl,” she snapped, stepping forward. “The only thing we grew was beef. Until the war, anyway.”
“Then you lost your husband?” he inquired, watching her reaction.
She stepped back and looked down at the planks on the elevated platform, feeling her cheeks flush as she nodded. Instead of saying something cruel or continuing with their Who’s Tougher contest, Mr. Browning surprised everyone.
“I’d like to marry her in a church, not out here at the train station.” He looked over at the surprised faces of the Zacharys and waited. He looked like he wasn’t used to waiting.
“Oh, well, Mr. Browning, we’re scheduled to leave on this train for the next town and our next companion’s meeting. We can’t stay and chaperone…”
“I have my monthly visitor!” Holly shouted in a panic, taking another step back towards the train. This was all happening so fast and not even slightly in the way she’d thought. “So, sorry, no honeymoon or con-sulmating the marriage; so, you’d be better off just waiting for the next round of girls, so sorry, M-Mr. Browning. Can’t, can’t control nature.”
Mrs. Zachary looked horrified, as Mr. Zachary bumbled out a few indistinguishable words. Holly caught Pryce Browning smiling and even heard him let out a hearty laugh, as she turned and made for the dark train, the whistle blowing. If she could get on and the train started moving, there was really nothing anyone could do, right?
Pryce Browning felt like a masochist. Surely, he wouldn’t put himself through all of this again. But he did because he wasn’t really a masochist at all. He was an optimist. Zachary Companions of the West had provided a fine list of women who would make any man happy.
Not him. All three prospective wives had arrived on what everyone called the Bridal Express in those lavender dresses looking prim, proper, and completely wrong. He’d promised his parents when they were dying that he’d get married and have children and be happy, but how could those mail order brides who looked helpless and meek bring him any kind of happiness?
The women in any of the nearest towns were either prostitutes or already married. And the Zacharys had promised to provide Pryce with a, well, companion. He’d sent each deferential waif back every time, the marriage annulled. Until they’d sent him the dossier on Darla. She looked like a real woman, someone who would survive and thrive on a ranch. And he could use a partner. An equal.
Then little Ms. Holly Eve appeared in front of him. Well, was dragged in front of him, pouting in an adorable way. He liked how she had to lean her head way back to look him in the eye. He liked how she sized him up with that crooked bonnet and a strand of blonde hair blowing in the wind. He liked the challenge in her gray blue eyes and irreverent way she spoke to him about growing up on a ranch.
He never knew he liked any of those things, but courting wasn’t really a sport he’d ever engaged in. Which was probably why he’d hired the Zacharys to provide him with a wife. He’d be an idiot if he let Holly get back on that train.
She was perfect.
He held a finger up at Zeke Zachary as he tried to apologize and brushed past Sarah as she looked mortified. He reached Holly just as she took her first step up onto the train, wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her back into his chest as she gave an appealing little squeal of surprise.
“Get your hands off me!”
“We don’t have much time, but you’re going to listen to me until this train rolls down the tracks.” He spoke from behind her, leaning his head down and pressing his lips into her bonnet covered ear, barely brushing against the soft skin of her cheek. He suddenly found himself realizing what Shakespeare had been harping about.
The train whistle blew again.
“All right, little Miss Holly Eve. I know this wasn’t what you were expecting. Me either. But it’s where we are now, and although our choices are limited, I think you just might like it here.”
She stiffened in his arms and he felt her stomp a little foot onto his hard leather boot.
“I have someone waiting for me in San Francisco and he, he writes me poetry and is kind and…”
He felt her give up her fight a little and exhaled in sympathy. “I’m not a fancy businessman in a big city. I’m a rancher. And you want poetry? Fine. Roses are red. Violets are blue. I can tell you’re lying, but I still want you.”
She stiffened again. “I-I’m not lying.”
He laughed softly as he saw her cheeks flush. “If you only knew how expressive your face is, Miss Eve, then you’d know I know that you just lied again. I know you grew up on a ranch. Sorry about the farm thing. But you, most assuredly, Miss Eve, are no widow.”
She began to struggle against his arms, but he held her tightly. “I am. I am a war widow. Please, Mr. Browning.”
“It’s all right, it’s all right. I’m not going to tell the Zacharys. Because I’m not lying. I do want you. I find that I want you more than I’ve wanted anything in a long time. I’m not cruel, though I’m not poetic. I have a nice sized ranch, healthy livestock, and I’m lonely as hell. Do you think you could live with that? With me?”
He released her and let her think as the train whistle blew a final time and steam began to blow from the engine. She slowly turned and looked up at him, concern masking an otherwise pretty face.
“They won’t leave me here if we aren’t married.” Her reply was quiet, but it seemed to be in the affirmative. He felt himself smile and saw her mouth turn up in return. He reached out and took her hand, so small in his, and turned for the Zacharys.
“We’ll have a church wedding later in the year, Zachary. Go ahead and make things official now.”
Zeke and Sarah looked shocked, but quickly pulled out the paperwork and had both parties sign quickly, the train already moving slowly away towards the mountains.
“Do you promise, et cetera, until death do you part?” Zeke asked, running alongside the train and jumping onto the step after his wife.
“Yes!” Pryce shouted, pulling Holly behind him.
“I do!” she shouted, squealing as he pulled her to a stop at the end of the platform, the train pulling around a bend. Gloved hands waved out of the cheering train car.
“Man and wife!” Zeke called, waving the paper and signing it.
Pryce looked down at his panting little wife, cheeks flushed, laughing as she looked up at him. People clapped around them, some whistled, and he knew the time was right for a first kiss. He leaned his head down, wrapping a hand around the back of her delicate neck, and gently pressed his lips against hers. Her soft sigh and sweet smell had him growing hard, but the cheers from the gathering crowd tamped down his excitement. He leaned back, noticed her cheeks just seemed to be stained pink, and tipped his hat much to the amusement of the people around him.
He needed to get her home. As soon as possible. One question remained, though. She was inexperienced with men and definitely not a widow. Was she a virgin?
Colorado, on the road to Silver Creek Ranch
Holly could hardly believe it. She’d woken up that morning prepared to say goodbye to another friend, sure, but she hadn’t thought in
a million years the day would end in her own marriage. She looked over at her, well, husband, as he flicked the reins of the small horse-drawn wagon they were bouncing around on. He was so handsome, so big, and all hers. But what was she supposed to do with him? She wasn’t sure what a wife did, really.
“Mr. Browning?”
She saw his mouth turn up into a grin. He tipped his hat up and looked down at her. “Call me Pryce, Holly.”
“Sorry.” She turned her head down to her hands in her lap and chewed on her lip.
“Nothing to be sorry about. What’s on your mind?”
She looked off to the tall pine trees along the snow-patched road, trying to find the right way to ask what he expected of her. She felt his heavy hand on top of hers and looked over to see him giving her an indulgent grin.
“I’ve never been a husband. We’ll both have to learn how to do this together.”
She let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding and nodded. “Mrs. Zachary told us what we were supposed to do but, well, there’s explanation, and then there’s execution.”
Pryce let out a short laugh as the sun set on their left. “Agreed. So, let’s start with this whole you not really being a widow thing.”
“Oh.” Holly slumped her shoulders. “I don’t… I just, it’s just that… I don’t know what to do.”
“So, you’ve never been with a man?” She saw him adjust himself and squeeze the reins tightly.
“Are you mad? I know you wanted someone who knows… how. But honestly? Today was the first day I’ve ever been kissed.”
Pryce dropped the reins and scrambled to grab them back up, speaking calmly to the old brown quarter horse hitched up to them. He finally cleared his throat and peered down at her, an eyebrow raised. “How old are you?”
“Getting on to spinster age,” she admitted.
“So that makes you…”
“Twenty-two.”
“Not even close to spinster-hood. So how, may I ask, has someone who looks like you avoided men all this time?”
Her cheeks heated as she played with the silk ribbon that tied her capelet. “My life’s been hard, but I still had people who cared about me. First my dad, then my brother. The government seized our ranch so we could break in their horses for the cavalry and so that they could feed their men. Imminent domain. And after the war, well, they kept it.”
“They still must have paid you for it.”
“They paid my brother, and he’s married with five kids. They didn’t need me as a burden, but he’d kept me so close when all those soldiers were there and he wouldn’t let me go until he knew I was all right. So, I told him about the Zacharys’ academy. I told him it was just a school where I could work and attend classes. And I had to tell the Zacharys I’d lost my husband in the war so they’d let me in.”
“You’ve sure done a lot of lying.”
“Some lies aren’t so bad, though. Like my brother doesn’t have to worry about me anymore, and has more money for his family. And the Zacharys picked me out of everyone in that passenger car to be paired with you.”
“Hmm.” Pryce nodded in agreement, but frowned down at her anyway. “I don’t really like lying, the good or the bad kind. We’ll take a trip out to my woodshed when we get to the ranch and get that out of the way. The sooner the better.”
“Get what out of the way? A tour of your ranch?”
“No. We’re staying in one of my hunting cabins anyway. Not much to see yet. The house is getting fixed up. For you.”
She looked over and found him grinning at her. It had really been for Darla, she guessed, but it was sweet nonetheless. “All right.”
“The woodshed is where we keep the leather straps.”
“All right.” She wondered if the bed was in there or in the hunting cabin. Both sounded small, but she wasn’t complaining.
“The woodshed is where you get spanked with the leather strap for lying.”
“What?” She jumped to the side of the bench and stared over at him with her mouth open in the early twilight. Was he out of his mind?
“Have you ever been spanked before?” he asked, looking confused.
“Once or twice, I guess. Have you?” What an odd line of questioning for two adults.
“Yes, and they’ve all been memorable, which I can see yours haven’t. I intend to make this one memorable so I don’t have to do it again. Do you understand?” He adjusted himself again and kept looking back and forth between her and the road.
“No, actually, I don’t understand.” She folded her arms over her chest and looked off to the dark trees in the last drop of daylight. A woodshed? A leather strap? It sounded horrible.
She heard him sigh and felt him shift on the bench. “Fine, what part is confusing? I’ll try and explain a little better.”
She shivered as a cool wind passed down the road in the darkness. Her reply was simple and quiet. “You said you weren’t cruel.”
“I… Jesus, Holly, I’m not cruel. But I have expectations. This is wild country out here. Yes, we’re a territory, but it’s a long way from becoming a state. Telling me a lie could get you hurt. In so many ways. I don’t want that.”
“So, you’re going to hurt me to keep me from hurting myself? That logic follows.”
“I just need you to know what I expect.”
“And you just told me five seconds ago. And now you’re going to turn yourself into a wife beater and me to a beaten wife. Well done, Mr. Browning.”
She heard an aggravated groan as the reins flicked and the horse picked up a little speed. She placed a hand down to the wooden bench to steady herself, but otherwise kept her back turned to him, continuing to stare off to the side. A tear rolled down her cheek. “You told me you weren’t cruel. That makes you a liar too.”
Pryce drew a frustrated hand down his face. During the hour-long ride he’d teetered in and out of arousal, making things very uncomfortable. He couldn’t help himself around her, though. She was adorable, sweet, smart, challenging and a virgin. And she didn’t even know what a little turn on she was being.
He felt conflicted about spanking her, though. The leather strap in the woodshed did seem a little excessive. How would she learn? He glanced over at her erect frame facing away from him and grew erect himself. Christ, he had to get control.
“All right.” When he finally spoke, it had been such a quiet ride that he saw her jump a little. He cleared his throat and tried to continue in a calm manner. “You’re right, Holly. I don’t want to be a liar. I don’t want to be cruel. I do want you to understand the significance of our situation, though. Out here, away from civilization and any help, we have to be so careful. Understand? So, from now on I’m going to need the truth from you.”
She rolled her shoulder and turned her body slightly towards him.
He grinned and continued. “My parents always said that marriage was mostly about compromise. Give a little, get a little. I’d like our marriage to be like that. How about you?”
He saw her turn her head towards him in the starlight and give a small nod. “Before my mom died, my parents said something similar.”
“Good.” He exhaled as they rounded a familiar bend. His ranch hand, Flip, had obviously started a fire in the cabin. Maybe in the hopes of a happy honeymoon. The glow from the fireplace clearly caught Holly’s eye, too.
“Is that your cabin?”
“Ours, yes.” He grinned as she looked pleased. Then he cleared his throat, as he tried to hurry along his big speech. “When we get there, we can unpack your things and I’ll bring some water for the wash basin so you can freshen up if you’d like.”
“Thank you.”
“And then we’re going to talk more about what we both expect. And consequences.”
Her head turned and he felt her eyes burning a hole through him. “No, I don’t think we will.”
“Holly.”
“Mr. Browning.”
He pressed his lips together and exhaled loud
ly as they pulled up to his one room cabin. Flip greeted them quickly, with a hat tip for Holly and food and water on the table, then took the horse and wagon for them. Pryce set her two small suitcases down by the door as she stepped in and smiled.
“It’s charming.” She looked around at the table and chairs on the right, complete with a candle, some bread, cheese, fruit and whiskey. The fireplace glowed from the center of the back wall, and the bed was in the far corner, looking awfully small.
“Flip and I are almost done with a larger bed frame.” He walked up to her and reached up to the silk ribbon of her capelet, gently tugging and taking it from her shoulders. He inhaled deeply when she tugged off her gloves, then untied and pulled off the lavender bonnet, revealing blonde hair braided up in a crown around her head, little wisps of hair falling all around.
“Thank you.” She watched as he hung everything on a coat tree and walked back over. Her form-fitting lavender dress showed off little round curves that he knew were her own. Zachary wasn’t about false advertising. No wigs, no padding, just the woman. And she was quite a woman.
He rested his hands on his hips and grinned down at her. “All right, Holly. Here’s our compromise. I won’t take you out to the woodshed, or spank you with a leather strap. Ever. That’s cruel, and I remember respecting my father, but also fearing him. I don’t want you to be afraid of me.”
Her quiet scowl told him she was both thinking about what he’d said and waiting for the catch. Smart girl.
“My mother used to take me over her knee, spank me, and then hug me. I respected her, loved her, and wanted nothing more than to please her. So that’s how I’m going to handle things with you.”
“But…”
“You lied to me and the Zacharys, Holly, and I’m going to spank you, so you remember not to do it again. You can’t tell me that’s cruel.” The thought of pulling her sweet little body across his lap and smacking her backside pink made his groin stir, again, but her reaction was what had him fully adjusting his pants.
Her mouth was hanging wide open, her blonde flyaways framing her pink cheeks. She was absolutely adorable staring up at him with nothing to say. His arousal was a lost cause, and he figured she’d have to familiarize herself with it eventually, so he just sighed heavily and took her hand, leading her to the bed.