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

by Faye Sonja

  “I can see that,” he smiled. “I feel it even as an outsider.”

  “But, I was chosen last for everything growing up because I was half blind. And when we got to the courting age, the boys would ask me out to get to another girl. I felt low and Samuel never left my side through it all. So when he asked me out I felt...”

  “Like you owed him that much,” he finished for her and she felt relieved that he could read her that well. “You do not though.”

  “I know, but I do love and respect him enough to have given it a try.”

  “How long have you been trying?” he asked her pausing with a raised eyebrow.

  She chuckled. “Four years.”

  “Wow!” he exclaimed. “I see what you mean by not loving him enough to marry him. He must have become more of a big brother to you.”

  She nodded. “But he doesn’t get that. In any event I am nostalgic for what my parents have and something new, so that was my reason for answering your ad to begin with.”

  She watched him digest all she had just said and she knew he must have had other questions but he didn’t ask them. It was as if he was giving her a break from having to explain herself.

  “He knows now though,” she finally said to him.

  “Knows what?”

  She touched his hand. “He knows that I am smitten by you and I would like to explore this. He approached me about it the night after the feast and I could do nothing but listen to him as he went on warning me that it might become my undoing.”

  Joshua smiled. “You are smitten by me?”

  She rolled her eyes at him. “Out of everything I said that is what registered for you?”

  He laughed. “Now I understand exactly why Samuel has been looking at me crossed eyed.”

  He had been doing a lot of that lately and she knew she was to be blamed for it all. She felt guilty. She knew she needed to fix it.

  “But if your life was not prepared for me, why did you invite me here?” he asked.

  “I admit now it was a bit selfish, but I like you,” she said with a smile.

  He sighed and she had a feeling there was something he needed to tell her. “I have something to tell you.”

  “What is it?” she asked him.

  “I was shunned for leaving my other community.”

  She looked at him in shock. That was not good. If her father found that out he would never allow her to continue being his friend. Rules in this community were very strict. “Why?”

  “I left the first time because I was young and silly,” he began. “But when I came back it was to stay. The only problem was the woman I had loved before I had left, wanted nothing to do with me and she left because my expectations were too much. Her brother blamed me so I left again to go bring her back. Only she was already in love with another man by the time I found her.”

  “But if you left for that reason surely they can understand,” she replied.

  “No,” he looked back at the sprouts they were sticking in the ground. “The deal I made was that I had to come back with her or I would be shunned.”

  “That must have been heart breaking,” she said.

  He looked at her with a smile. “Well, I learned a valuable lesson. Life is what you make of it and there is lots of adventure and love to be found while you are at it. As long as you open your mind to it.”

  “That is very grown up of you.”

  Joshua brushed the back of his hand against her cheek. “Meeting you eliminates any regrets I have. Let’s just hope Samuel doesn’t pummel me into a pulp. They laughed at his words and passed the rest of the day in comfortable chit chat about what they wanted out of life. When they parted that evening it was with the promise of doing lunch tomorrow.

  As luck was to have it, tomorrow never came. Jessica had hoped for a glimpse of Joshua, but for a week her soul called out to him with no response and she was beginning to think they had made a terrible mistake getting so close to one another. Now a week later just before dawn, she could not sleep and so she sat at her window enjoying the cool morning air that blew in, and hummed her favorite song. She liked it because it sounded like a lullaby and it soothed her troubled soul and chaotic mind which was filled with thoughts of the man she had kissed on the river bank. She raised fingers to her lips and smiled, remembering the sweet caress of Joshua’s lips whispering secrets of a lifetime against hers and his fingers clinging to hers as he had begged her not to go.

  A dangerous liaison it was, but then again she had come to realize that all the best things in life seemed to be forbidden.

  There was a knock on her door jarring her back to reality and she fought to hide the pleasure in her smile as her door opened.

  “Up so early?” Cas’s frame filled her doorway.

  “Why are you not sleeping?” She asked him, sitting on the ledge of her window and staring out into the morning.

  “I heard you humming. You worry your Maem,” her brother said both things in the same breath as if they were of equal importance.

  She beckoned him over with her as she watched the sunrise. “Are you happy, Cas?” she asked him.

  He looked at her confused. “Yes, I have you all so I am happy, but I can tell that you are not. You should tell Maem and Daed what is going on with you.”

  She nodded and kissed the top of his head. She intended to. It was full time she stopped playing the games she was playing. She had responded to being his mail order bride and that was what she would try to be if fate would allow it.

  * * *

  6

  Chapter SIX

  -

  -

  -

  -

  -

  -

  -

  “ She hoped he would be something

  more than just the same traditional

  gentleman she was growing tired of.”

  .

  “Are you okay, Joshua?” Cassandra asked him as he stared out the window at the darkest hour before dawn.

  “I don’t know,” he responded to the old woman who had woken up from his shuffling about. “Did I wake you?”

  She smiled at him taking a seat at the kitchen counter. “You did and it is quite okay. It had been a while since I woke to see the sunrise. Care to tell me what is on your mind?”

  He smiled. “Love.”

  Laughing, Cassandra got up to put some tea on. “Jessica Massey. She is a gorgeous one.”

  “How did you know it was her?” he was surprised at her apt deduction.

  “She has been the brightest glowing star about these parts since you have arrived and you keep looking at her like you are about to whisk her away into a life of romance. You should do just that.”

  He turned back to the window where the birds were stirring with their chirps carrying on the cool morning breeze blowing in through the window. “She is promised to another.”

  “Young man,” Cassandra said sternly drawing his attention back to her. “If she were meant for Samuel the two would have been married a very long time ago. Do not let love pass you by out of courtesy. Go take a walk in the cool morning breeze and think on it. Nothing like fresh air brings clarity.

  She left him to decide and he went with her suggestion, pulling the door closed behind him as he went. He walked down the road to the river and moved through the dense forest, pushing away the ample fluffy branches that came his way. Wanting to be closer to nature, he decided not to take the pathway but, instead, go directly through the forest. It was as if there was not a sign of any civilization around him, and he enjoyed it and lost himself in his thoughts of her.

  The oak trees were his favorite, with their wide, strong, mossy trunks and tender, roundish leaves. The air was still wet from the early morning shower – while everywhere, in the open; it had already been dry and hot, as if there was no shower at all. The shadows of the forest still preserved the moist humidity, intensified by the smell of wet moss and last year’s leaves that still lay on the ground. He loved this deep
moist air, saturated with oxygen and filled with freshness.

  As he was moving through the forest, a couple of times he came across little glades with no trees. They were intensely lit by the rays of the wakening summer sun, like small islands of happiness, not enough to make him too hot from the fullness of the sunlight, but enough to bathe his face and arms in their warmth. And just when it was getting too warm, he could again dive into the pool of fresh, moist greens of the forest to appreciate the shadows of the generous old oaks.

  Half an hour later, he was at his destination point. The valley lay right in the middle of the forest, thoughtfully muffled by nature, protected from the inner noises and fuss. There was no one else around and there he sat and made the most important decision of his life. Jessica was to be his. He now needed patience and a plan to ensure that he did not have the community frown at him when he made her his bride.

  * * *

  Jessica felt like she was going crazy, as she made noodles with the other women in the community barn. There was chatter about the wedding that was supposed to be happening in a week and that just brought her face to face with her own predicament. She wanted to just get up and run from there.

  “I am going for a little walk to clear my head,” she said to Chrisanne who smiled sympathetically at her.

  “It will all be alright soon,” Chrisanne replied hugging her.

  “I hope so.”

  She left the barn and headed towards the orchard, speckled with the few last minute pickers who paid her no mind was soon to follow. Up ahead of her Joshua stood over his basket of fruits, before handing them to another person and signalling for her to follow him. She wandered around watching him walk away, trying to decide whether she wanted to follow him or not. She had done quite a good job of avoiding him recently, she was not sure she was ready to have him back in her presence just yet. But her desire to be in his space made that decision for her.

  When the orchard around her echoed in silence she walked off in the direction he had signalled to her. It wasn’t long before the wind blew his scent in her direction- a soft but noticeable tinge of wild berries and mint coffee from the beans that were growing around them. She was intoxicated by it.

  “Why have you been avoiding me?” he asked almost immediately as she stepped out from behind a huge tree that had been her hiding place.

  Joshua looked at her as if unsure of what to say. “I don’t think I can do this. Samuel knows and he is a bit offended by it all...”

  Jessica lost the control of her tongue just then as her mind did a fast play of how things would turn out for them if this liaison ever became public knowledge, but even then the joy of being in the same space with Joshua was so much more. For a moment she had to wonder how they got there so fast. Just a few weeks ago she was lamenting her existence and wondering what next, now she was having secret trysts in the woods surrounding their community.

  She stepped up to Joshua who was busy staring nervously at his hand and she knew exactly how he felt. “If you don’t want to then we can stop, but for some reason this is the only thing that has felt right to me in a long time.”

  “And what is this?” she asked looking at him and feeling her world crumble around her. “Tell me because I don’t know what it is.”

  Joshua took a step towards her and she stepped back. “Have you done this before?” he asked and that was the only time she lifted her eyes to look at the man she was sure she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

  With a sigh Jessica decided to give him the truth. She had a feeling it was the only way they would actually be able to move past this hurdle. “No I have not, and this is not fun for me. I want us, but I am afraid I might lose my family and my community in the process,” she said with a sigh.

  Joshua looked at her with a mixture of surprise and jealousy. It was cute.

  “You have to decide Jessica,” he said and she heard the sadness in his voice, as if she was expected to start a totally new adventure with him and he had somehow been disappointed. “If you do not want me then I will go, but you cannot have this continue. You are hurting yourself and us at the same time.”

  “I know but-“

  “Jessica!” Samuel called from somewhere behind them, cutting her short. “Where are you?”

  Joshua rushed to her, pulling her deeper into the orchard.

  “I should go or he won’t stop looking,” Jessica bemoaned.

  “He will,” he whispered back to her. “Just be quiet.”

  Pulling her against the bark of an oak tree out of sight in the middle of the apple orchard, he kissed her to keep her quiet as Samuel called for her again. He was becoming a real pain, but then and there she had no care in the world, because the sweet taste of the strawberries that flowed from Joshua’s lips wiped away all sense of self-preservation. It was as if she could not get enough of him. Her tummy fluttered and her ears tingled, and her mind could not get over the heat flowing from his hand on her hips that kept her safe. The heat building between them was enough to set her heart on fire and as Samuel continued to call for his woman in the distance they lost themselves to the embrace.

  “Are you sure this is what you want, Joshua?” she asked moments later, pulling away breathlessly.

  Joshua smiled. “I have never been more sure of anything I my life.”

  “Even with the issues that will come from me telling Samuel that I am throwing away four years?” Jessica asked as her brows furrowed in an expected rebuttal.

  “Even then,” he whispered against her cheek kissing her forehead to ease her worry. This time it was a gentle tale of the longing she had felt for the week they had been apart, and a promise that he would always be there.

  Jessica breathed in a sigh of resignation and pulled away, looking into his eyes with a satiated smiled that spoke volumes. “Why do I feel like this is where I am meant to be?”

  “Because maybe it is,” Joshua said running her fingers up her cheek. He kissed her over her blind eye and pulled her back into his arms, wrapping her into a hug that squeezed all her worries away.

  “I like you a lot, Joshua,” she whispered with a sigh. “And this will only get harder. The more we do this, the harder it will become to stop. So think about it.”

  “I have thought about it,” Joshua said resting his forehead against hers. “It is all I have been thinking about and Samuel knowing doesn’t make me want to deter at all, but I am afraid for my heart.”

  Jessica didn’t want them to get ahead of themselves and so she handled it as diplomatically as she knew how. Resting a hand on his cheek she whispered softly. “Let’s just do this one day at a time, and where it leads us we will follow and decide what is best as we go along. Ok?”

  Joshua nodded. They stood there, two hopeful adults wrapped in the warmth of each other’s embrace and Jessica knew this was only the beginning of what they would become. She hoped it would be something beautiful and minutes later when they snuck out of the orchard going their separate ways, she knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that being with this man was what she was meant to do. She was happy now that she had answered his mail order bride advertisement.

  * * *

  7

  Chapter SEVEN

  -

  -

  -

  -

  -

  -

  -

  “ She hoped he would be something

  more than just the same traditional

  gentleman she was growing tired of.”

  .

  It was Sunday again and this time she made sure she was dressed in her tunic and out of the house with her family, headed to church on that beautiful Sunday morning. She sat between her parents with Samuel to her left, gazing at Joshua. There was just something about him that stroked a certain kind of admiration. The way he walked with such confidence and ease set him apart from the rest. His long legs taking powerful strides with a purpose, and the way he tucked his unruly hair back behind his ear was enough to m
ake her stop and stare for longer than normal.

  “Are you going to go talk to him about this?” Samuel asked from beside her. She didn’t know what to take of that as they took their seats in the church, and so she decided to open that can of worms later.

  “Are you going to tell my parents?” she asked him.

  It was something she had been wondering. He had no reason to keep her secret for her and she was wondering if he was going to force her hand. He had never been that kind of man, but her love for Joshua, and yes she was beginning to feel it was love, would make any man act somewhat out of the ordinary.

  He frowned at her. “Tell them what? Tell them that you have eyes for another man and that our last four years of courting has been a lie?”

  “It wasn’t a lie Samuel,” she tried to defend herself. “It wasn’t a lie.”

  “Then what was it?” he asked in hushed angry tones. “Were you just using me to keep yourself from being lonely? Tell me Jessica, how many times did you have the opportunity to tell me this over the years?”

  She turned to look at the people behind her hoping no one had heard the exchange between them. Satisfied everybody was caught up with the goings on in church she looked at him not sure how to answer. She had a feeling he would not believe the truth and she didn’t want to sound like she was trying to convince him of the truth.

  “How many?!” he asked again.

  “None,” she said, resigning to his demand. “This is the first.”

  “So you are now admitting it?” he asked, this time his voice was softer and she mistook it for understanding. “You are admitting that you have not felt for me the way I have felt for you in a very long time. How sad that you did not just tell me. I am supposed to be your best friend.”