Last night, he could barely stand the thought of being trapped in this thing another day, but since he’d already wired her of his expected arrival, he’d forced himself back on board.
When the vehicle finally stopped, he couldn’t help but groan in anticipation of being freed from this contraption.
He nodded toward Frank on the opposite side of the coach. “Thank you for your assistance. I couldn’t have done this without you.”
“Not a problem.” The middle-aged man put his hat on and practically jumped out the door, clearly as eager to be free of this cage as he was. “I’ll come by in the morning if you’d like.”
“No need.” Jacob winced as his sleepy leg protested the weight he placed on it. “I don’t intend to go in early, and I’ve got Nolan. I’m sure you have plenty to see to at your place.”
“See you later then.” Frank tipped his hat, collected his things, and headed for the livery.
Jacob grabbed his own bag, thanked the driver, and watched Frank walk down the road.
He nodded at two passersby who’d acknowledged his return, but soon found himself alone on the street.
The smile he’d been sporting died away.
Annie hadn’t promised to be waiting the very moment he set foot upon the dirt.
And it was late, and she did have children to tend.
“Marshal!”
He turned to watch Nolan ride up at a clipped pace, cheerfully flagging him with a hat in his hand.
As much as he probably ought to be informed of what happened during his absence, he’d hoped not to deal with work until tomorrow.
“Welcome back!” Nolan reached down for a handshake. “Your wife’s wagon is at your house. Figured with how she moved everything to the ranch while you were gone, you might be intending to head straight out, but she probably wouldn’t fuss if you stopped by to help her pack the last of it.”
Jacob nodded, trying not to appear as if Nolan’s information was new. “Of course.”
She’d already moved most everything?
And why would she have come into town but not be at the depot? He consulted his timepiece. Exactly eight o’clock. Had the telegraphing office bungled his message?
“You all right?”
Jacob shook his head. Somehow he’d forgotten Nolan was still there. His mouth twitched a little as he tried to form a reply. “Sure. Fine. I’m just tired.”
Perhaps she’d lost track of time.
“Good. I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Nolan disappeared back down the road.
Jacob closed his mind off to the sudden thought that Annie’s ranch was worth more to her than him and put one foot in front of the other. He’d known her ranch was important, for she’d married a stranger to save it.
But she’d also told him she loved him. Maybe not as much as she loved her ranch, but love it was, he was sure of it.
He sighed and switched his bag from one hand to the other. Just because she was being practical—coming into town to pick him up along with hauling the rest of their things back to the ranch—didn’t mean she wouldn’t be happy to see him.
He was no longer in love alone, but perhaps more romance and wooing were necessary so he wouldn’t be the only one counting down the minutes while they were apart.
Up ahead, Annie’s wagon was indeed parked in the churchyard near his house, but her horse wasn’t hitched to it and the wagon bed appeared empty. He frowned at the house’s dark windows as he approached his front door.
Had she walked to meet him at the station and passed by unnoticed?
He tried the knob. Unlocked. He opened the door. “Annie?”
His voice bounced around the empty room. Nothing left but the big rug on the floor.
Nolan hadn’t been kidding. She’d dragged everything out already.
Though he’d wanted to own a ranch for as long as he remembered, the bareness of the place where he’d spent his first days as husband and father...
Well, he hadn’t expected to miss this house, but it seemed he would.
“Jacob, is that you?” Her voice was faint as it traveled from beyond the stairwell.
Though she’d not met him at the station, that didn’t mean he couldn’t sweep her off her feet the moment he saw her. “Coming.”
At the top of the stairs, he peeped into the kids’ rooms. Also empty.
She hadn’t wasted any time. What did she have left for them to take back?
At the threshold to his room, he stepped inside and took his fill of Annie’s profile silhouetted against the window. Slim and fit and all his.
“Hello.” Shadows obscured her face, but the warmth in her voice made his worries melt away.
But instead of coming to meet him, she pushed up the window sash, letting in the cool evening air.
This room wasn’t bare. His bed still remained along with the big oak wardrobe.
The breeze ruffled the curtain and the strangest screech started, slowly transforming into a bad impression of a musical note.
He groaned. “If anything could ruin a homecoming—”
“Give Joe a chance.” She smiled as she walked toward him. “He’s been practicing.”
Why would listening to that boy ruin perfectly good music put such a smile on her face?
Though an instrument was in the process of being murdered outside, the moment she stepped into his arms, his ears were inclined to forgive.
He pressed a kiss against the top of her head and spoke into her sweet-smelling hair. “Let’s run away before he ruins the night.”
“Shhh, listen.” She backed up to place a finger across his lips, which he immediately kissed.
Though perhaps the heady feeling of her skin against his was turning his brain into mush, Joe seemed to be making actual, recognizable sounds.
At the end of what seemed like an interminable measure of something resembling a song, another violin joined in. Joe’s teacher? Then a harmonica entered into the congealing melody.
Nolan was the only harmonica player he knew and ... was that a banjo? “Would that be Mrs. Tate’s son?”
She smiled. “Know anyone else who can play one?”
He shook his head.
So this is why she hadn’t come to meet him. And yet... “If Ivan’s out there, Mrs. Tate likely knows about this serenade. Somehow, I doubt dragging her son out to play for us will make the old woman’s estimation of you go up.”
She shrugged. “You’re probably right, but I don’t care anymore.”
She raised up to give him a kiss, and he couldn’t help but return it with more fervor than was likely appropriate with people only a few feet outside their window.
Though Annie’s intoxicating lips were busy sending every thought flying from his head, the song outside formed into a recognizable melody despite Joe’s screeching in the midst of it.
He pulled back. “Is this, ‘When the Corn is Waving, Annie Dear’?”
He’d never been one to sing this song much, but he might have do so more often now.
“Yes.” Annie ran her hand up his arm and onto his shoulder. “Mind if we dance?”
“As long as you promise this dance ends with more kisses than I got after the last two.”
She hummed. “I think I can assure you of a little more than that.”
How could a man care a whit about dancing after such a promise? “Just a little, eh?”
Her grin was wickedly adorable, and he pulled her against him.
The first night they’d danced to Joe’s violin definitely had not ended as he’d hoped, but this night sure would.
She laid her head on his shoulder and he started to sing along with the lazy beats of the verse:
When the corn is waving, Annie dear, oh! meet me by the stile,
To hear thy gentle voice again, and greet thy winning smile;
The moon will be at full, love, the stars will brightly gleam;
Oh! come, my queen of night, love, and grace the beauteous scene.
His
voice failed him for a moment and he pressed his lips against her hairline as they swayed. “The whole time I was away, I couldn’t wait to hear your voice or see your smile, so when you weren’t there to greet me when I got off the stage, I got jealous.”
“Jealous?”
“Nolan stopped to tell me you’d moved everything to the ranch. I started worrying you might never want me more than your land.”
She pulled back to stare up at him. “I thought you wanted the ranch? If you’d rather we buy land that would feel more like yours, we can. You’re more important than a piece of property—though I’d want to put something into the deed about being able to attend the graves.”
The song outside the window ended in a plaintive chord and he nuzzled her ear. “Don’t worry about it. Wherever you are is home enough for me.” He kissed the freckle at the corner of her eye and then the one below that.
“I’m sorry I didn’t meet you at the station. I was late getting everything set.”
The vibrations of her words buzzed against his lips as he trailed kisses down her neck.
“Our plans changed last minute, so I had to come up with a new one.”
Leaving off with the kisses, he cupped her face, and couldn’t help but smile at every adorable inch of her. “Please tell me this plan doesn’t involve us picking up the children and driving out to the ranch.”
“No, we’re staying right here.”
“So you’re mine for the night?”
“And every night.”
Just as Jacob leaned down to kiss her for all she was worth, the band outside started up again.
He growled and tipped his head toward the window. “And how do we make them go away?”
“Drop the sash and extinguish the light.”
Without another word, he closed the window and blanketed them in darkness.
And though it seemed he hadn’t been the only one counting down the minutes until his return, wooing and romancing his bride was certainly no hardship.
No hardship at all.
I hope you enjoyed Romancing the Bride! If you did, please take a moment to share with others. You can do so by posting an honest review wherever you purchased this book and also on Goodreads.
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I’m currently writing more stories in the Frontier Vows series. In the meantime, if you’d like to read another marriage of convenience story by me, check out A Bride for Keeps in my Unexpected Brides series.
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Acknowledgments
Books are such enormous things, not only do they span many, many pages, but sometimes many, many years. I wrote this book in 2010, and my old Scribes 203 group helped me revise my way through it when it was in its infant stages. It certainly needed a lot of help at the time! Thanks to Anne Greene, Glenn Haggerty, and Naomi Rawlings for working with me back when I was still struggling to find myself as a writer while also learning how to write around a newborn.
Eight years later and after a massive rewrite, I had the privilege of getting help from fellow authors Naomi Rawlings (I forced the poor woman to read this again) and Myra Johnson. Plus my beta readers Iola Goulton, Cara Grandle, Hannah Gridley, Sarah Keimeg, Stephanie McCall, Amy Parker, Karen Riekeman, and Anne-Marie Turenne lent a hand in helping make this story into what it is now.
Thank you Najla Qamber for your artistic expertise with this novel’s cover. It makes me happy just looking at it.
Thanks to my agent, Natasha Kern, for your encouragement and belief in me.
My family, as always, sacrifices a lot to have a writer in their midst. I’m rather astounded that they’re proud of me for every new release knowing how often I’m zoned out while working on a story and shoving things to the back burner to meet deadlines. Thanks for your support.
And of course, I pray that these works are acceptable to God, for it is the talent He laid in me that makes this possible.
Also by Melissa Jagears
UNEXPECTED BRIDES
Love by the Letter: A Novella
A Bride for Keeps
A Bride in Store
A Bride at Last
Blinded by Love: A Novella
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TEAVILLE MORAL SOCIETY
Engaging the Competition: A Novella
A Heart Most Certain
A Love So True
Tied and True: A Novella
A Chance at Forever
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NON-FICTION
Strengthen Your Fiction by Understanding Weasel Words
About the Author
Much to her introverted self’s delight, award-winning writer Melissa Jagears hardly needs to leave home to be a homeschooling mother and novelist. She lives in Kansas with her husband and three children and can be found online at Facebook, Bookbub, Pinterest, Goodreads, and melissajagears.com. Feel free to drop her a note at [email protected], or you can find her current mailing address and an updated list of her books on her website.
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To keep up to date with Melissa’s news and book releases, subscribe to her newsletter at melissajagears.com
© 2018 by Melissa Jagears
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Published by Utmost Publishing
www.utmostpublishing.com
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold. If you would like to share this book with another person, please do so by gifting through proper retail channels. If you are reading this ebook and it was not purchased for your use only, please return it and purchase a personal copy. Thank you for respecting this author’s work.
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission in writing from the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Ebook edition created 2018
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
LCCN 2018910819 | ISBN 9781948678025
The song excerpt in chapter 2 is The Sparrow on the Tree by Alfred S. Gatty
The song excerpt in chapter 23 is In the Evening by the Moonlight by James A. Bland
The song excerpt in chapter 26 is For the Beauty of the Earth by Folliott S. Pierpoint
The song excerpt in chapter 42 is Many Happy Returns of the Day by Eliza Cook and John Blockley
The song excerpt in chapter 47 is When the Corn is Waving, Annie Dear by Charles Blamphin
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Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible. Extracts from the Authorized Version of the Bible (The King James Bible), the rights in which are vested in the Crown, are reproduced by permission of the Crown's Patentee, Cambridge University Press.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, incidents, and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Cover design © Qamber Designs and Media
Author represented by Natasha Kern Literary Agency
k with friends
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