Wyoming Bride

by Joan Johnston

  Praise for John Johnston

  “Joan Johnston does short contemporary Westerns to perfection.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “Like LaVyrle Spencer, Ms. Johnston writes of intense emotions and tender passions that seem so real that the readers will feel each one of them.”

  —Rave Reviews

  “Johnston warms your heart and tickles your fancy.”

  —New York Daily News

  “Joan Johnston continually gives us everything we want … fabulous details and atmosphere, memorable characters, a story that you wish would never end, and lots of tension and sensuality.”

  —Romantic Times

  “Joan Johnston [creates] unforgettable subplots and characters who make every fine thread weave into a touching tapestry.”

  —Affaire de Coeur

  Wyoming Bride is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  A Dell eBook Edition

  Copyright © 2013 by Joan Mertens Johnston, Inc.

  Excerpt from Montana Bride by Joan Mertens Johnston copyright © 2013 by Joan Mertens Johnston, Inc.

  All rights reserved.

  Published in the United States by Dell, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  DELL is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc., and the colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

  This book contains an excerpt from the forthcoming book Montana Bride by Joan Johnston. This excerpt has been set for this edition only and may not reflect the final content of the forthcoming edition.

  eISBN: 978-0-345-52747-9

  www.bantamdell.com

  Cover design: Lynn Andreozzi

  Cover illustration: Alan Ayers

  v3.1_r1

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-one

  Chapter Forty-two

  Chapter Forty-three

  Chapter Forty-four

  Epilogue

  Letter to Readers

  Dedication

  Other Books by This Author

  Excerpt from Montana Bride

  Hannah had never been so scared in her life, but running wasn’t an option. If she didn’t go through with her part of the marriage bargain, Mr. McMurtry might not go through with his. Her husband had left her alone in their room at the Palmer House Hotel to ready herself for bed. It had taken less than no time to strip out of her gray wool dress and put on the white flannel nightgown that was all she’d brought with her. She paced the outlines of the elegant canopied bed without ever going near it.

  The room was luxurious enough to remind Hannah of the life she and her sisters and brothers had lost three years ago, when their parents were killed in the Great Chicago Fire. The six Wentworth children had ended up in the Chicago Institute for Orphaned Children, at the mercy of the cruel headmistress, Miss Iris Birch.

  Hannah caught herself staring longingly at the fire escape through the fourth-floor window. The view blurred as tears of anger—terrible anger—and regret—enormous regret—filled her eyes.

  Hannah felt trapped. Trapped by a moment of generosity she rued with her entire being. Why, oh why, had she listened to her tormented sister Josie’s plea?

  Two months ago, their eldest sister Miranda had left the orphanage in the middle of the night with ten-year-old Nick and four-year-old Harry to become a mail-order bride in faraway Texas. Hannah, her twin sister Hetty, and Josie had been left behind to await news of whether Miranda’s new husband might have room for all of them.

  They’d waited … and waited … and waited for a letter from Miranda. Weeks had turned into months with no news that she’d even arrived safely. No news that she was now a wife. No news about whether there might be a place for the three who’d been left behind.

  Hannah and Hetty had been prepared to wait until they turned eighteen in December and were forced to leave the orphanage, if it took that long, for Miranda to send word to come. Josie had not.

  Hannah tried to remember exactly what tactic her youngest sister had employed to convince her to answer that advertisement in the Chicago Daily Herald seeking a bride willing to travel west to the Wyoming Territory.

  “We should wait for Miranda to contact us,” Hannah remembered arguing.

  “That’s easy for you to say,” Josie had replied. “You only have eight more months of beatings from Miss Birch to endure. I’ll be stuck here for two endless years. You know she’s been meaner than ever since Miranda stole away with Nick and Harry. I can’t stand two more years here. I can’t stand two more days!”

  Hannah had taken one look at the desperation in Josie’s blue eyes, owlish behind wire-rimmed spectacles, and agreed to marry a man sight unseen.

  At least she’d had the foresight to get a commitment from Mr. McMurtry that he would bring her two sisters along on the journey, which entailed three arduous months traveling by Conestoga wagon along the Oregon Trail. The trip could have been made in sixteen hours by rail, but as a child in Ireland, Mr. McMurtry had been on a train that derailed, killing the rest of his family. He refused to travel on another train.

  They would all probably die of cholera or drown crossing a river or be scalped by Indians or trampled by a herd of buffalo long before they got to Cheyenne, where Mr. McMurtry planned to open a dry goods store.

  Even if they made it all the way to Wyoming, she and Hetty and Josie were headed away from Miranda and Nick and Harry, with little chance of ever seeing them again. Agreeing to marry a total stranger headed into the wilderness was seeming more harebrained by the moment.

  What on earth had possessed her to do something so very … unselfish?

  Hannah was used to thinking of herself first. That had never been a problem when she was the spoiled and pampered daughter of wealthy parents. It had even served her well at the orphanage, where food and blankets were scarce. Before Miranda had left to become a mail-order bride, Hannah had been perfectly willing to let her eldest sister consider the needs of everyone else before her own.

  Now Hannah was the eldest, at least, of the three who’d been left behind. Now it was her turn to sacrifice. Although marrying a perfect stranger seemed a pretty big leap from giving up food or blankets.

  She was lucky the groom hadn’
t turned out to be seventy-two and bald. In fact, he was only middle-aged. Was thirty-six middle-aged? To a girl of seventeen, it seemed ancient.

  Her brand-new husband had a thick Irish brogue and an entire head of the curliest red hair she’d ever see on man or woman. His nose was a once-broken beak, but it gave character to an otherwise plain face. His eyes twinkled, like two dark blue stars caught in a spiderweb of wrinkles caused by years of smiling broadly—or too many hours spent working in the sun. Oh, yes, she felt very lucky.

  And very, very sad.

  Her tall, rail-thin groom was not the man of her dreams. He wasn’t even close.

  Hannah was trying to decide how difficult it would be to open the window and retreat down the fire escape when she heard a firm—but quiet—knock at the door.

  She scurried away from the window as though her presence there might reveal her desperate hope of avoiding the wedding night before her. There was no escape. She was DOOMED. She’d been well and truly caught in the trap Josie’s agonized eyes had set for her.

  Her husband had arrived to make her his wife.

  Hannah’s heart was jumping like a speckle-legged frog in a dry lake. Even knowing who must be at the door, she called out, “Who is it?” Her voice was hoarse and breathy. Fear had constricted her throat. She cleared it and said, “Who’s there?”

  “It’s Mr. McMurtry,” a quiet—but firm—Irish voice replied. “May I come in?”

  Hannah realized her husband expected to find her in bed. She stared at the gold brocade spread that still covered the sheets. She needed to pull it back and get into bed. But she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t!

  To hell with being unselfish. She hated what she was being forced to do. She should have let Hetty do it. After all, Hetty was only two minutes younger! Hannah should have insisted they wait until Miranda contacted them. She should have told Josie No! in no uncertain terms. She should have run when she had the chance.

  But she was married now, like it or not. And her husband was at the door.

  Hannah curled her hands into angry fists and fought the tears that blurred her eyes and burned her nose. She hoped the coming journey was as dangerous as it was touted to be. Maybe her husband would die and leave her a widow and—

  She brought herself up short and looked guiltily toward the door, behind which stood the man she was wishing dead. Wishing for freedom was one thing. Wishing another person dead to earn that freedom was something else entirely. That wasn’t how she’d been raised by her parents. Hannah was ashamed of having harbored such an unworthy thought.

  No one had forced her to marry Mr. McMurtry. She’d volunteered to do it. She had to GROW UP. She had to put away childish hopes and dreams. This was her life, like it or not.

  Hannah stared at the bed. She tried to imagine herself in Mr. McMurtry’s arms. She tried to imagine kissing his thin lips. She tried to imagine coupling with him. She couldn’t. She just couldn’t!

  She groaned like a dying animal.

  “Are you all right in there?”

  Once again, Josie’s agonized gaze appeared in her mind’s eye. Hannah choked back a sob of resignation, then yanked down the covers and scrambled into bed, bracing her back against the headboard before pulling the covers up to her chin.

  “Come in,” she croaked.

  “Mrs. McMurtry? Are you there?”

  Hannah cleared her throat and said, “You can come in, Mr. McMurtry.”

  The door slowly opened. Mr. McMurtry stepped inside and closed the door behind him, but he didn’t move farther into the room.

  Too late, Hannah realized she’d left the lamp lit, and that Mr. McMurtry would have to remove his wide-brimmed hat, string tie, chambray shirt, jeans, belt, socks, and hobnail boots—and perhaps even his unmentionables—with her watching. Unless she took the coward’s way out and ducked her head beneath the covers … or he had the foresight to put out the lamp.

  Her new husband swallowed so hard his Adam’s apple bobbed, and said, “I had a cup of coffee downstairs.”

  “Coffee will keep you awake.” Again, too late, Hannah realized there was a good reason why Mr. McMurtry might not want to go right to sleep.

  Neither of them said anything for an awkward moment.

  Then he said. “I’d better …”

  Hannah watched as Mr. McMurtry blushed. His throat turned rosy, and then the blood filled his face, turning a hundred freckles into red blots on his cheeks.

  He stammered, “I’ve dreamed about this … My whole life I … You are so beautiful.”

  Hannah found herself staring back into her husband’s very blue eyes with astonishment. She’d known she was pretty, but this was the first time a grown man had remarked on the beauty of her blond curls and wide-spaced, sky-blue eyes, her full lips and peaches-and-cream complexion. It was surprisingly gratifying to hear such words from her husband.

  Despite Mr. McMurtry’s speech, he remained backed up to the door.

  Why, he’s scared, too! Hannah realized.

  Her fear returned and multiplied. The situation was already mortifying in the extreme, but if he was inexperienced, who was going to tell her what to do?

  “I’m really tired,” she blurted. Hannah dropped the sheet and put her hands to her cheeks as they flamed with embarrassment. “I don’t believe I said that.”

  He chuckled.

  She glanced sharply in his direction. “Are you laughing at me?”

  “No, Mrs. McMurtry,” he said. “I was laughing at myself.”

  She narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

  He continued, “I’ve just married the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, and I’m standing rooted to the floor a half a room away from her.” His smile turned lopsided as he admitted, “You see, I’ve never undressed a woman before … or undressed before a woman.”

  Hannah swallowed hard and whispered, “Never? Not even a …” She couldn’t say the word prostitute or soiled dove or even lady of the night. Ladies did not speak of such things.

  He shook his head. “I’m Catholic. Fornication is a sin.”

  “Oh.” Hannah couldn’t breathe. It felt like all the air had been sucked from the room. He was thirty-six, and he’d never been with a woman? This was going to be a disaster.

  “Shall I turn down the lamp?” Hannah asked.

  “No!”

  She froze with her hand halfway to the lamp and turned toward Mr. McMurtry, her eyes wide.

  He shook his head and smiled. “I didn’t mean to sound sharp.” He hesitated, met her gaze with serious blue eyes, and said, “I want to see you.”

  It wasn’t often that Hannah found herself speechless, but she had no idea how to reply to a comment like that. He wanted to see her? Naked? “Are you sure?” she replied in a small voice.

  He chuckled again and for the first time since he’d come into the room, he took a step toward the bed. “I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life.”

  Hannah felt her heartbeat ratchet up. She sat even farther upright and once again pulled the covers to her chin. She’d been intimidated by the prospect of allowing Mr. McMurtry the rights of a husband. The thought of baring herself before this stranger sent a shiver—really more of a shudder—down her spine.

  She watched with disbelief as Mr. McMurtry pulled his black string tie loose and tugged it free of his white collar, then yanked the collar free of his shirt at the back of his neck. He tossed collar and tie onto a nearby upholstered wing chair, then let his black suit coat slide down his arms. He folded it in half lengthwise and laid it carefully across the top of the chair.

  He gave a little sigh as he released the top button of his striped cotton shirt, and she realized it must have been a little tight. He pulled the shirt free of his trousers, unbuttoned a few more buttons, then reached around to the back of his neck and pulled the whole thing forward over his head, leaving his unruly red curls even more wayward than before.

  He was still wearing a long john shirt, but he looked positively s
kinny without the striped shirt and suit coat. He paused with the striped shirt in hand, and said, “You look like my sister did every time she saw a snarling dog on the road.”

  “What?”

  “Brigit was afraid of dogs. She always expected them to bite.” He shot her a crooked smile and said, “I promise not to bite, Mrs. McMurtry.”

  Hannah wanted to believe he was harmless, but when the half-naked stranger took another step toward the bed, she heard herself whimper with fear.

  He held up a hand and said in a soothing voice, “I’m not going to hurt you.” He grimaced and added, “At least, not any more than is necessary.”

  Hannah swallowed noisily. “I know.”

  “You know?” He frowned. “What do you know?”

  He looked so formidable, Hannah regretted opening her mouth to say anything. “I mean, I know you won’t hurt me any more than you must.”

  The frown was still on his face, so she continued, “I’ve only known you for a day, Mr. McMurtry, but you’ve been more than fair in your treatment of me and my sisters. I trust you not to hurt me.”

  “Any more than is necessary,” he added.

  Hannah lowered her gaze to her knees, which were knocking under the covers. She knew more than she should about what was to come. One of the girls at the orphanage had enjoyed marital relations with a man to whom she was definitely not married, and she’d shared that experience with Hannah and Hetty.

  Hannah knew the first time would hurt, perhaps more than a little. She wasn’t sure whether to trust that things would be better the second time, and perhaps even pleasurable by the third, as her friend had promised. Would Mr. McMurtry want to do it three times tonight?

  Hannah managed not to flinch when Mr. McMurtry sat down on the bed beside her. He reached out a hand to brush a stray curl from her cheek. She’d confined her blond hair in a braid that ran halfway down her back. She bit her lip to keep from protesting when he tugged the covers from her hands and let them fall to her lap. She stared into his somber blue eyes as he pulled the heavy braid forward over her shoulder, so it rested on the front of her nightgown.