by Jenna Brandt
The Tycoon’s Sister
A Silverpines Companion Tale
Jenna Brandt
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Locale and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, actual events, or actual locations is purely coincidental. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, email [email protected].
Text copyright © Jenna Brandt 2019.
The Silverpines Series © George H. McVey 2019
Original cover design by Josephine Blake with photo copyright by Period Images
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The Tycoon’s Sister
She’s a women’s suffrage advocate with her own substantial wealth, he’s a livery worker saving for a future he may never get. What happens when she comes tumbling into his life?
Elizabeth Holt has her own inheritance that she wants to be in charge of, but her aunt and brother think her incapable of running her own life. When she makes one mistake in Boston, her aunt sends her to stay with her brother in Silverpines. When she arrives, she is less than happy about the situation, and she doesn’t want to be stuck in the remote town filled with strangers.
George Caldwell left his home in Rockwood Springs, Texas to chase the woman he thought he loved. After being rejected not only by her, but by a second woman he met in Silverpines, George wonders if he will ever find the right woman to love. When the uppity Elizabeth Holt gets dumped by her horse into his proverbial lap, he knows she can’t be the one, or could she?
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
A Note from the Author
Also by Jenna Brandt
Join My Mailing List and Reader’s Group
Acknowledgments
About the Author
For my Friends
You make living in a small town adventurous.
I love doing life with all of you.
Chapter One
December 15, 1900
Outskirts of Silverpines
The noise of the train bumping along the rail tracks, mixed with the crying baby and rowdy men in the nearby train cars, was almost too much for Elizabeth Holt to bear. Even with the means to rent her own train car, she still couldn’t avoid all of the irritations around her.
The young Boston debutante let out a heavy sigh as she pinched her eyes shut, leaned back in her seat, and willed herself to think about better days. What she wouldn’t give to return to her happy life as the center of her social set in the affluent Beacon Hill. All the parties, dinners, and opera nights had kept her busy during the evenings, while her women’s suffrage meetings occupied her days. She had floated from one merry engagement to the next, never caring about anything a “normal” woman of twenty should deem important. Elizabeth enjoyed a good flirt as much as the next girl, but she had rejected countless suitors, not only because she assumed they wanted her inheritance, but because she didn’t want to be subjugated by any man. She was content to live her life on her own terms, free to do what she wanted when she wanted.
Her Aunt Gerty hadn’t liked any of it. She had turned a blind eye to Elizabeth’s escapades because her niece reminded her of her dearly loved and departed sister. Elizabeth hadn’t used her mother’s memory to get what she wanted, but she definitely didn’t mind that it kept her aunt out of her business. At least, until that wretched night that had ruined everything.
Elizabeth hadn’t meant for it to happen, and if she had known the outcome, she would have avoided sneaking off with Rutherford Wilks to go on a late-night horse ride. Little did she know that a group of his peers, one of whom she had rejected, would make their way to the stables that same night. By the next morning, all of the best families in town were aware of her indiscretion with Rutherford. Everyone refused to believe that she had only meant to go for a ride, and all assumed her virtue was no longer intact.
The questions had flooded in; why at night, why without a chaperone, why with a boy worth half as much as her? Didn’t she know it would ruin her reputation? Didn’t she care? Her aunt had shielded her from the worst of it, but the damage had been done. To make matters worse, her aunt insisted Elizabeth was to leave Boston at once if she were to have any future at all.
Three days later, the servants had her trunks packed, her aunt had secured her passage, and Elizabeth was being shoved onto a train. She was being forced to leave her happy life and trudge her way out West to become her brother’s problem—as her aunt so indelicately put it.
Elizabeth wanted to believe it was only temporary, that after some time away, she could return home. The tears in her aunt’s eyes as they hugged goodbye at the train depot, however, made Elizabeth’s blood run cold with dread. Her aunt had acted as if she were to never see her again.
“Are you all right, Miss Elizabeth?” her personal maid, Kate, who had been assigned to travel with her out West, inquired with concern. “You seem…displeased.”
“That’s a polite way to put it. I would say I’m beyond perturbed, and bordering on infuriated,” Elizabeth snapped out as her eyes opened and she glared at the door exiting their train car. “It’s only gotten worse as more people have joined the train over the past couple of days.”
“We should be arriving shortly, Miss Elizabeth,” the young, red-headed girl encouraged. “We only need to endure the nuisance a smidge longer. It isn’t as bad as you think.”
As if to prove her maid wrong, a loud burst of cackling from down the hall assaulted their ears.
“I have a good mind to go out there and tell those men exactly what I think of them. No lady should be at the mercy of such imbeciles,” Elizabeth shrilled in anger, balling her fists up at her side.
“I wouldn’t do that, Miss Elizabeth. We have no men with us to protect us,” Kate warned with audible worry in her tone. She glanced around, shaking her head with disapproval. “I can’t believe your aunt let you travel all this way with only me to accompany you.”
“As you well know, Kate, I consider myself as capable as any man. I was willing to travel on my own, but my aunt insisted I needed a chaperone. I don’t see us staying much past a month, just long enough for the rumors to die down in Boston, and then we can both return home,” Elizabeth promised, trying to convince herself as much as her maid.
Kat
e pressed her lips together as she averted her eyes. She pressed her hands together in her lap, as she whispered, “You should focus on enjoying your time with your brother. You haven’t seen him in nearly three years, since last he was in Boston.”
Why did her maid avoid looking at her or talking about their return? Did she suspect the same thing Elizabeth did. Her aunt no longer wanted her niece living with her in Boston, and there was no return planned, at least for Elizabeth?
“I don’t see how that is going to be possible in a place that’s in the middle of nowhere,” Elizabeth sat up and gestured out the window at the rural Oregon landscape. “I still have no idea why my brother decided to settle down in such a remote location when he could have chosen anywhere he wanted. Do they even know how to socialize in a place like this, or what would be considered entertainment by the gentle class? I can’t see what the attraction was for him,” Elizabeth lamented with distaste.
“He married a woman from Silverpines, didn’t he, Miss Elizabeth? Men do strange things for love,” Kate pointed out.
“Strange indeed,” Elizabeth mumbled under her breath, leaning back in her seat once more as she crossed her arms in frustration at the situation.
Elizabeth wasn’t even sure she was going to like her new sister-in-law. Willa Brown—she supposed now the woman would be known as Mrs. Holt—was a destitute farmer’s daughter. She happened to be fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time when Elizabeth’s brother came into town. The details weren’t present in Harrison’s letter, but from what he did reveal, it was clear that they weren’t financially or culturally matched. Part of her wondered if the woman simply saw a wealthy man and latched on at first chance. If that was the case, Elizabeth would need to talk some sense into her brother before it was too late.
Mistakes out West could be easily rectified with a quiet annulment. Her brother didn’t need to be saddled with a spouse that simply wanted him for his money. After all, Elizabeth was an expert on the matter, since the suitors that had pursued her simply wanted her for the same reason; men without means wanting to line their wallets with her money.
“Look, Miss Elizabeth, the town is coming into view. Isn’t it beautiful? It’s decorated for Christmas.”
She didn’t want to give in, but the temptation was too great. Elizabeth leaned forward and looked out the window. The town was indeed decked out in Christmas splendor. There was a giant pine tree in the middle of town, glittering with candles. Wreaths and swags of garland hung above the brick buildings—newly built with the bricks from her brother’s brickyard after a fire destroyed nearly half the town. Her brother had written it was transitioning from a fledgling town into a thriving city, but it still looked paltry to her.
There was also a fine dusting of snow on the ground. Though beautiful to look at, it only further reminded Elizabeth that not only did she have to leave her hometown for the first time, but she had to do it during her most treasured time of year. She was going to miss the best parties and balls by being forced to leave. A sullen frown settled on her face as she jerked her head away from the window.
“What’s wrong, Miss Elizabeth? Christmas is your favorite time of year.”
“Precisely, because my aunt decided as punishment for my lapse in judgment, I’m to be excluded from all of Boston’s grandest festivities. She knows the holidays are the social highlight of the year, and I’m going to miss it entirely.”
“You never know, perhaps you’ll have just as wonderful a time here in Silverpines as you would in Boston,” her maid countered optimistically.
“I doubt it,” she grumbled as the train pulled into the Silverpines depot.
Elizabeth adjusted her hat over her dark brown curls, picked up her purse, and stepped off the train to find her brother, Harrison. He was standing next to a pretty brown-haired woman, who happened to be dressed in a very fashionable velvet, green dress with gold trim and a fitted bodice and jacket. Elizabeth assumed it was her brother’s wife because of the way he had his arm wrapped around her shoulders. Elizabeth hadn’t expected his new wife to look so modern and sophisticated. Apparently, she had decided to play the wife of a brickyard tycoon to its fullest potential.
“Good afternoon, Harrison,” Elizabeth said, reaching out her hand with a serious expression plastered across her face.
Her brother looked at her hand with a disapproving expression. He hadn’t changed much in the past three years. His feelings and opinions had always been clearly written on his face, though he often didn’t verbally express them. He was also still as handsome as ever; a fact Elizabeth was certain made him even more enticing to the women in Silverpines. Though the siblings happened to have some features in common, such as their dark brown hair and matching eyes, that’s where their similarities ended. Elizabeth had high cheekbones, rounder eyes, and fuller lips with a narrow frame, while Harrison had a solid, chiseled physique and face. The biggest difference between the siblings was their height. Though Elizabeth was lanky for a woman, Harrison stood a full head taller than her.
“Oh, Lizzy, why are you being so formal?” Harrison admonished kindly with a grin, causing his dark brown eyes to twinkle. “Come here,” he added, pulling her into his arms for a brotherly embrace.
“Don’t call me that,” she corrected against his chest. “No one calls me Lizzy anymore, not since I stopped wearing braids. You would have known this if you hadn’t spent all your time traveling and settling down across the country. I go by Elizabeth now.”
“You’ll always be Lizzy to me,” Harrison declared with affection. “I swear the last time I saw you, you were barely out of braids.”
“Hardly. I was seventeen by then,” she amended, “But I wouldn’t expect you to remember that. You’re so busy and all, especially with your new life…and wife,” she added, looking over at the other woman.
Harrison released her and turned to face his wife, keeping Elizabeth next to him. “Lizzy, this is Willa. Willa, this is Lizzy,” Harrison introduced, apparently choosing to continue to use her childhood nickname versus her real name, the moniker she wanted to go by.
“Pleased to meet you, Elizabeth,” Willa emphasized gently, reaching out her hand to her sister-in-law with a friendly smile that made her chocolate eyes sparkle with warmth.
Elizabeth took it and shook it in return. She wasn’t sure how to greet the other woman, and thankfully before she had to make a decision, Willa followed up with a question.
“And who is that with you?”
Elizabeth glanced behind her. She had temporarily forgotten the young woman was with her. “That’s Kate, my maid.”
“I didn’t know she would be bringing a maid, Harrison,” Willa said with a blush.
“Is that going to be a problem? I could always stay at the hotel,” Elizabeth stated, looking for an excuse to not stay at her brother’s home where he could keep his thumb on her.
“No, I just had everything ready for you, and I didn’t prepare a second room at present. It won’t be a problem though, I can have one of the servants fix it as soon as we get home,” Willa informed her.
The porter arrived, asking Elizabeth what to do with her bags.
“You can take them over to my wagon,” Harrison pointed to a wooden wagon that looked like it was better suited for hard labor rather than transporting people.
The porter made several trips back and forth with Elizabeth’s two trunks and three bags, along with Kate’s bag, while the rest of the group made their way over.
“You expect me to ride in that?” Elizabeth squeaked out in disbelief. “Don’t you have a car? Or a carriage at the very least? This place isn’t that barbaric, is it?”
“Our carriage is at the livery being repaired at the moment. I borrowed this from my brickyard. As for a car, I have one on order, and it should arrive before Christmas. I bought it as a present for Willa,” Harrison explained.
“You bought her a car?” Elizabeth asked with shocked accusation in her voice. She didn’t
like that he was willing to give such an extravagant gift for such a new relationship.
“I thought she could use it to travel back and forth to her dress shop in town,” Harrison defended.
“And I told you I was perfectly content to walk. I’ve done so for over two decades now,” Willa chastised with a quirk of an eyebrow.
“I don’t want my wife to have to walk, when I can provide her with better accommodations,” Harrison objected.
“It’s fine, Harrison. I don’t—”
Before Willa could finish, the porter interrupted.
“Anything else, Mr. Holt?” the young man asked, obviously waiting for his tip before moving on to help the next passenger.
Harrison handed the boy a couple of coins. “No, that’s all, Ryder. Thank you for your help.”
“I think he used me as an excuse to get it for himself,” Willa confided in a whisper while her husband was distracted. “Men love their gadgets.”
The young man scurried off while Harrison reached out and helped all three women into the wagon.
Elizabeth didn’t think anything could have been bumpier than the train ride out West, but she was wrong. As they traveled along the dirt road, the town became more and more distant. Elizabeth wondered why her brother decided to settle so far out. Her brother had been born and raised a city dweller; it was so unlike him.