Mail Order Bride: 9 Book Boxed set : 9 Brides for 9 Cowboys: CLEAN Western Historical Romance Series Bundle

by Faye Sonja

  “I think he likes having you here,” the girl teased as they brought the men lunch. Much of life on the ranch was similar to life in her Amish community and she welcomed the feeling of home with the freedom she had. She welcomed and enjoyed it.

  She didn't see much of Jake after her first day when she had told him of the people she intended to hire and asked of his recommendations. In fact the only time she saw him was at breakfast, dinner and the one day he had found her in the stable staring at the amazing horses there.

  "Do you know how to ride?" He had asked her and she had not been able to answer him right away.

  “I think every Amish girl knows a thing or two about running a horse,” she had teased.

  He had a presence that pulled her in. It was warm yet distant without being aloof, and strange enough she missed the sight of him when he vanished for hours at a time. When he was around her stomach did little flutters and she had to keep reminding herself that she was here to work, not fall in love, and he did not pay her much attention as it was. But still there was the flutter at the sight of him, and this morning was no different.

  “Good morning Minna,” he said to her as he made his way to the table.

  “Hello stranger,” she said with a smile. He blushed ever so slightly before silently gobbling down his breakfast and making an escape.

  “You would think he would rather not be around me,” she commented to Esha as they looked at him disappear out the door. He was dressed in a suit today, which meant he was heading into the town on business, and when she heard the hooves of the horse trotting away she knew she was right. “Am I that horrible a company?”

  “I don’t like many people Ms Swartz, but I find you gentle of spirit and kind at heart,” Esha said and paused, waiting for Minna to lift her face to hers. “He is just a strange one and he is probably trying to hide the fact that he likes your company a little too much.”

  “You think so?” she asked Esha, hoping she was right because she was beginning to feel like Jake was avoiding her.

  “Men are like children, Minna. They sometimes need to only see the magic in the people around them.”

  Minna was becoming used to the fact that the young woman was like an old sage, and like all old sages she spoke in parables left open to many interpretations. She had one of those old souls her mother would always talk about, and it was soothing to listen to her.

  Their morning was interrupted shortly before lunch by loud shouts from a woman whose voice grated her ears.

  “Where is she? Where is the woman who is to see that the affairs of this house are in order? She had better get to it!”

  “Do not let that woman get under your skin,” Esha ran to her. “She is Simon’s Aunt who comes by here once or twice a month solely to give us all a headache.

  Before Minna could ask what she was talking about Esha shoved her out the door and onto the stairwell where Jake stood below with a thin but gorgeous woman in a fancy blue dressed topped by the kind of hat that would have cost Minna a month’s pay.

  “Look who I found on the way back?” Jake said trying to sound like he was excited, but his eyes told her he was really trying to warn her.

  "Is this her? Is this her?" A high pitched voice instantly annoyed Minna as she walked back to the sun room.

  "Minna, meet Sally," Jake reached a hand out to her and she took it as he pulled her to his side. He gave her hand a supportive squeeze as if apologizing for what was about to happen.

  “I hope you can really do the job of getting Simon’s affairs together. You look like your barely 15. How old are you?”

  Minna had to bite her tongue to keep herself from responding to the insult phrased as something else. “Old enough,” she said.

  She endured Sally’s questions for close to an hour and found out in the process that she was the one who used to do Minna’s job, but had suffered a stroke just months before and had to give it up. She was sympathetic to the woman’s plight, but if it had anything to do with her incessant chatter then Minna could understand why her heart would give out. When she finally left, Minna’s ears breathed a sigh of relief, but the woman had raised an important question about the unease of the a few men who were caught stealing and had been let go by Jake when he arrived.

  From Sally’s account she understood that they were not too pleased about being fired by some young man who had no inkling of anything. She went in search of him. Simon had told her that occasionally things could get unsettling but Jake had said nothing to her and they were both supposed to be keeping up this place in the absence of their employer.

  “Have you seen Jake?” she asked Esha.

  “He was in his study the last time I saw him,” she responded.

  When she reached his study she stopped short of opening the door as a male voice she did not know could be heard.

  “They have threatened that they will bring the fight to your doorstep if you do not meet their demands, and I am unsure of how we would be able to stop that.”

  The frustration in Jake’s voice when he spoke was more than obvious. “Give me some time to come up with a solution,” Jake said before the door opened and she watched them both exit.

  “Minna!” Jake cried looking at her surprised; she was the last person he had expected to see outside his doorway. “Is everything okay?”

  She smiled. “Yes, all is well. I just thought I would come give you a break from work for a minute and talk about an issue Sally raised.”

  He furrowed his brows. “I don’t have the time for a break and that old woman is to be taken with a grain of salt.” That was a saying she had learned recently in the English world and she liked it.

  She stepped away from the door as he continued to frown at her. “I simply thought you could do with a few moments outside of this office. I thought we could take a moment to get to know each other and just talk since we are supposed to be managing this place together.”

  “Minna, all this works a lot easier if we both accept the role we have to play here.”

  He was unnecessarily harsh and she had to wonder if she had done something to warrant it.

  “Have I offended you in any way?” she asked him.

  He stared at her in shock. “I never said you did.”

  “But you have been acting like I have. Avoiding breakfast when I am at the table and eating dinner elsewhere. I was of the impression we would be working together but you act like I have the plague.”

  Jake laughed. “I am simply going about my duties here. I suggest you worry less about me liking you and tend to your own business about this ranch.”

  Those words were a slap to the face but she said nothing else. She would avoid him too since that was what it seemed he wanted. And here she had been thinking that maybe they could be friends. Apparently not. With that thought she went about her duties and skipped dinner when she saw him at the table.

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  5

  Chapter FIVE

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  “ I will get her back here … I am going

  after her and I will bring her back. ”

  .

  For two days she maintained the same manner of going about, avoiding places she knew he would frequent. She found herself buried in one of Simon’s many books when she was free and she kept up with the upkeep of the house. She still felt a sting every time she thought about Jake’s harsh words and to get past that she prayed. It had been a while since her bible and the teachings of the Amish ordnung played a deep role in her life, but she found herself seeking solace in her old ways.

  Two days later at noon on Friday a knock came on her door, and she opened it to see a solemn Esha standing there.

  “Jake would like to see you,” the woman told her.

  She slowly made her way to Jake’s office on the other side of the house, intrigued to hear what it was that he would tell her now. She re
sented the way he summoned her, but she went anyway.

  “Come in,” he called when she rapped softly on his door.

  She slowly did as he bid and his face went slightly red as he looked up at her. “You asked to see me?” she asked him.

  “Yes… yes,” he stuttered standing and straightening his britches, looking every bit like the man of the house. “I wanted to tell you that I was sorry for my harsh outburst earlier this week. It was rather unkind of me.”

  “Did Esha tell you to say that?” she interrupted him, and took a breath of relief as he saw his eyes twinkle.

  “She did give me a lecture on my manners, yes,” he said with an apologetic smile.

  Minna looked at him thinking for a moment before she responded. “Well, to be very honest, you clearly need someone to keep their nose heavily invested in your prerogative, since you have a tendency of making silly choices.”

  He looked at her in shock, but she was not afraid of him considering she was already out the door. Might as well grant herself the serenity of speaking her mind.

  He took a deep breath and leaned against the edge of his desk. “I am trying to do right by you Minna, please don’t make it harder than it has to be.”

  He paused but she was not sure what he meant. “I have watched you for the last week and I have seen you as a person should. I have watched you help even the stable boy with his chores, and you have brought life and laughter to this place. I am sorry about my comments in my moment of frustration, and I appreciate you being here, and I would very much like for us to be friends.”

  He paused and Minna nearly choked on what he said. “What did you say?” she asked him. When he repeated she smiled. “Okay then.”

  “Maybe we could do lunch tomorrow,” he suggested.

  “I would like that very much. And can I make a suggestion?” she asked him as she turned to walk away.

  “Always,” he said lifting his head and giving her his full attention.

  “Remember that dilemma you had the other day?”

  He looked at her confused. “The men I fired?”

  “Yes,” she said. “Compensate them for a few weeks so they do not starve while they seek other employment.”

  “But they were caught stealing,” he said.

  “Yes, and people steal for a million different reasons, but you will simply encourage bad blood to leave them unable to feed themselves. Extend a hand like us Amish were taught to do, and if they over step their boundaries then you can get the law involved.”

  She turned back to look out at the sprawling green lawn and made a note to take a walk on it barefooted. Jake shuffled behind her before she felt his presence at her side.

  “You are a woman of great wisdom,” he said.

  “I find that if we only try to understand each other we can share this earth peacefully,” she said, looking up at his dark eyes and smooth face, thinking how their children would look. She caught herself in the thought just before it got too bold. How dare she be thinking such a thing when they were just friends and he had not expressed a desire for more.

  She quickly excused herself to the kitchen where she spent the day making noodles to keep her mind busy.

  “Do you have someone special in your life?” Esha asked her hours later. She shook her head and there was a wild twinkle in the woman’s eyes that she did not quite like.

  Three days passed but no lunch took place and Jake was too busy to notice. It was coming down to the spring harvest and both were far too occupied with their assigned tasks to find the time. By mid-afternoon exhaustion would set in and try as they might they were rarely ever awake for dinner. Aside from that, all seemed to be going well until a rushed knock sounded on her door across the hall early one morning.

  “Minna! Minna!” Esha called to her. “I need your help!”

  “What is all this about?” he came out asking.

  “It’s Simon. He came in early this morning and he is roasting with a fever.”

  “Get him to a hospital then,” Minna told him pulling her door open.

  “He is refusing. Says all he needs is some medicine from town,” Esha pointed out with a roll of the eyes. “And he no longer has one of those fancy doctors.”

  She stomped angrily down to the stubborn man’s massive bedroom. “We are not doctors here and we live close to a hospital. If you are sick we should take you there.”

  “Do you want to know why I live so much by traditional means?” he asked her with a smile laced with sweat. “I too was once Amish. I have little love for modern medicine when I know something as simple as this fever just requires a few herbs.”

  That might have been the case ages ago, but having lived in the English world for close to a year she was absolutely certain that medicine would help.

  “I have no experience with herbs,” Minna pointed out to an equally hesitant Jake.

  “You know what herbs your mother used to give you when you got the fever?”

  “Yes,” they said in unison.

  “Then go find some,” Simon said and fixed them both with a glare. “Go find me some in town. Take the fastest horse and go.”

  They both sighed in unison, their worry overriding the shock of the disclosure about his background.

  “Esha, can you run him a cold bath for me. I will make a quick trip into town to buy some herbs.”

  “I will take you,” Jake said not sure why he didn’t want to let her out of his sight. He found her to be strong but fragile, and she had taken it all in stride. He was well aware of the disconnect between her and the people. From what he knew of her she had left her Amish life for two years, but the nature of his job and his far more extensive experience in this town would ease her passage for just a quick run to the pharmacy. He had been thinking about it and came to realize that you never really got out of being Amish. It was a way of life embedded and ingrained in you. And he would have been fine staying in is community had he had more freedom to come and go.

  He loved the fact that he could maintain his culture in a subtle way here, and Minna was not one of those runaways who were more caught up with the English life than anything else. For a moment he knew should the opportunity present itself, he would enjoy building a life with her as man and wife. It was a thought he had had several times, the first of which had scared him. But now, he was no longer in denial. He had a tickle of fancy for this woman.

  In a matter of minutes he was helping her up into the buggy she loved, and in less than an hour they had made two stops to get the herbs she needed and were on their way back home. When he ran into a few of the men he had recently resolved an issue with, it was Minna who spoke to them calmly but firmly about the prospect of coming back to the ranch. He didn’t know what it was, but they kept quiet while she spoke and in true gentlemanly form, tipped their hats as she walked away before glaring at him. Not even working with Jacob had prepared him for all this management and necessary diplomacy.

  “You are quite the diplomatic one,” he smiled at her as they made their way back to the house. “How did that happen?”

  “When you wait tables and serve people for two years it is hard not to pick up a skill or two that allows you to deal with the different types that will come along. And sometimes some people just need a strong talking to.”

  “Like Sally?” he asked, reminding her of the woman who had tried to ruffle her feathers.

  They both laughed at that. “Exactly like Sally.” They fell into silence as they made their way back home and he fought the urge to take her hand in his.

  “Come what may, I want you to know that I am grateful and happy that I have met you.”

  She blushed. “Thank you for being a friend,” she whispered back.

  Jake had a feeling this was the first time in her life that she had ever been told that, and as he watched her fight the tears that welled up in her eyes, he pulled her close as he drove and she rested her head on his shoulder for the rest of the ride home.

  Yes, this
was a woman he could love.

  * * *

  It was late evening before Minna re-emerged from Simon’s room, having refused to leave until his fever broke. She took a few minutes to freshen herself up, pulling on a comfortable summer dress for the first time since she had been there, and making her way to the kitchen to silence her growling stomach.

  “How is he?” Jake asked as soon as she walked in.

  She touched his shoulder and felt the worry slip from him. “His fever broke, he will be back to driving us crazy come morning.”

  “Thank the Lord,” Esha piped up as they went back to arguing and bickering as usual.

  “What are you planning?” she asked them taking a seat, but not before smiling subtly at the way Jake’s eyes roamed her body clad in the thin summer dress she wore.

  “Every year the day after the harvest Simon throws a party. We are trying to decide what should be on the menu for this one?”

  “Oh a party?” she exclaimed getting excited at the thought of it. “I have never really been to any except the small gatherings we had in our community. Have you Jake?”

  “I have been to many of these gatherings, but I can tell you I much prefer the small and more intimate ones,” he smiled at her.

  Esha cleared her throat. “Will any of you be helping me with this menu or am I to do it all on my own?”

  Jake smiled. “You run this kitchen with ease, so pick some things and we will clobber our guests into eating them if we have to.”

  Minna laughed. “I never quite took you for the clobbering type,” she pointed out.

  “Well, my father was the kind and caring type, but he was never opposed to a proper clobbering when it was necessary.”