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

by Faye Sonja

  A crowbar? I guess it will just have to do.

  Bryson’s shadow darkened the space below the door and she had no time to ponder any further. She made her way to what must have been the bedroom, well aware that she had brought a crowbar to a gun fight, but having all of the confidence in herself to know that she would beat the odds at any cost. She silently hid behind the door in the bedroom, as it was the best place.

  “Ok Jasmine,” she said to herself as the front door was slowly opened. “You get one shot at this. Make it count.”

  Bryson’s heavy footsteps moved in time with the slow beating of her heart and for a moment she was brought back to the days when she had been a part of their gang. Days she thought she had long left behind her. Days her Amish family would be ashamed of her for. She closed her eyes and stilled the anger rising in her. Now was not the time to go blindly reliving the past and the fact that they would not leave her be. It was the time to make sure her future was secured. Bryson’s footsteps moved past the bedroom door a few steps down and the sound of that door nearly being pulled from its hinges made her panic. Even with all of his brute strength Bryson was a very agile man, and his hits were of a kind of abnormal precision. This wouldn’t be easy, but finding herself caught between a rock and a hard pace she had no choice but to get it right. If she failed this time then she was certain he would kill her.

  “Jasmine love!” he called to her. “You know, I think we would make such a lovely couple. How about we give it a go? Just come out and we can talk.”

  She nearly laughed at that but she kept her silence.

  “I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if you give me no choice. And I am such a better pick than that goon you have been hiding away with.”

  Jared… she hoped he was having better luck and if he wasn’t, then he had better be giving the other ruffians hell if they had chosen to accost him. Bryson’s footsteps to her left distracted her and she clenched the crowbar tighter, as she saw the end of his gun bend the corner. She was very right. She had indeed turned up to a gun fight with nothing more than a crowbar.

  “Jasmine, come on. Let’s be civil,” he said as he stepped further into the room and she brought the crowbar down on his hand hard and fast. The sound of bone cracking and the howl of pain that followed was music to her ears. Using his disorientation she slammed the door against him. As he staggered to the side she went in for a swing to his rather thick head, but he grabbed the crowbar mid swing, stilling her move.

  “You should have used your words,” he growled at her in anger, but she was not done yet. She brought her foot up in his groin and when he bent ever so slightly in pain, she landed a solid punch to his jawbone. She was sure that hurt her more than it did him, but it forced him to let go off the crowbar, and she did not miss this time.

  An upper cut under his chin. It was beautiful and no matter what happened to her after, she would have that image in her head until the bitter end. Blood flew from Bryson’s mouth as he fell to his back across the room. He was unconscious before he even hit the ground.

  “Perfect!” she screamed in delight. There was very little time for gloating though as Bryson wouldn’t be Bryson if he stayed down for long. She checked his pulse for good measure and then made her way out of the old building and back home. He would not dare attack her there, but just before she dashed out she wrote him a note.

  I have not told anyone about you and I will not as long as you agree to leave me and my family alone.

  Should you take it upon yourself to cause me grief, I will ensure my lawman comes after you.

  And believe me… that is something you will regret.

  Enjoy your life doing what you wish, Bryson.

  Just know I intend to do the same.

  Cheers, and thanks for all the good memories and the adventure.

  She turned to give him one last look before going out the door. On her way out she ran headlong into two of his men and she glared at them.

  “No harm will come to the group once I am left alone,” she said to them. “Make sure he knows that.”

  She hastily walked away to await Jared’s return. Once again she knew Amy and Mrs. Potter were right. She had to tell Jared before he found out on his own.

  * * *

  8

  Chapter EIGHT

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  “ I am supposed to be, but who knows

  what the future might hold.”

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  She said nothing to anyone and concocted some story as to why she had not continued on her journey to meet George.

  “I got cold feet,” she told Agnes, who had simply laughed and left her to play with the children she had so fallen in love with. Mrs. Potter was not so easily fooled though, and that night they discussed in hushed tones, what should be done should Bryson not heed her warning. For her she simply wanted to run away, but she waited on Jared, and the night she knew he was coming home she took a book and made her way to the kitchen counter to read by candle light. She couldn’t focus much on what she was reading, but she tried to anyway. Hours later, after falling asleep at the counter it was her love who woke her.

  “What are you doing?” Jared asked her, his voice husky with sleep. Jasmine felt like she had just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. For a moment she contemplated pretending to not know what he was talking about, but she could see the question in his eyes and for a moment she saw anger in his face.

  “I stayed up so we could talk, Jared. We need to,” she said stepping up to him.

  At that moment she understood exactly what being caught between a rock and a hard place meant and she didn’t like it one bit. At the end of the day nevertheless, she had some explaining to do. And the hard look that spread across his face said he already knew what she was about to tell him.

  “Why didn’t you tell me before?” he asked as he stepped into the kitchen. His eyes were dark with curious anger as he waited on her to explain herself. Truth be told she should be explaining herself, but the shock of the moment passed and the anger again struck deep.

  “Would it have mattered?” she asked, hoping he would say no.

  Jared’s eye flitted around the kitchen and then back to her face. His expression was unreadable and his eyes cold for the moment with what he had perceived, no doubt, as betrayal.

  “Until you answer my question, you have no right or room to ask me another.” His tone was flat and cold as he calmly poured himself a cup of water from the pitcher on the table. “Why didn’t you tell me before?” he asked again.

  Jasmine looked at him unsure whether or not she should answer. His face was not one she recognized and she feared for a moment that she had been right. She saw something strange in his eyes and his calm and cool demeanour as he sipped on his water waiting for her to answer. It clearly told her she might have crossed the line.

  “I wanted to give you a chance at knowing me without my past being a problem. Was I so wrong for wanting that?”

  “Are you serious?” he asked with a surprised chuckle. He wanted an answer and soon enough he would get one.

  “Yes Jared. I am,” she said and walked around him, positioning herself close to the door and the window she was not opposed to jumping out of head first if need be. “Would you have given me the time of day had you known I was fleeing the law in more than one state?”

  Jared took a deep breath and she could see his mind working as his eyes looked her up and down. “I would have loved you anyway. But now I don’t know if I can trust you. How could you ever think it was okay to keep something like this from me? They ambushed my carriage Jasmine, and would have left me for dead had some Bryson fellow not shown up and told them it was all okay.”

  His voice was going up as he spoke and his eyes were no longer cold, they instead burned with anger. There was a fire burning inside him and it wasn’t the same kind of fire that had been burn
ing earlier. It was something entirely different. This was a kind of fire that in the past had brought her aches and pains, but she didn’t care. Either they could get past this or they wouldn’t.

  “I just don’t think I would have gotten a fair chance to show you that I was a good person worthy of having. I am sorry, but the question is what do you want now?”

  “You Jasmine. I want you. That is what I want. I want you! You shouldn’t have left out that vital piece of information though. Now I cannot be with a woman I do not trust,” he responded.

  “I will go then,” she said not wanting him to be the one to ask her to leave, and as she walked past him he did not stop her. Not wanting to have to deal with the family waking in the morning and explaining why she had to go, she decided to leave immediately, and he watched her go without stopping her. The carriage took her in to town and not knowing where to go once she arrived she decide to take a walk.

  Jasmine was beginning to feel like one of those women pining for a lost love and she didn’t like it. She hoped he would come after her, but he didn’t. Mrs. Potter had been right, but she would not cry. In a couple hours it would be daylight and she was sure sleep would come a-calling but for now she was so hyped up on angry energy she had to do something about it.

  The smart thing would have been to go get some sleep at a motel, but she knew that would be the first place Jared would check. She decided in that moment that she didn’t want to see him at all. She had been fine before him. She had been just fine, but that was before she had let him pull her out of her nomadic ways and she had been silly enough to think that maybe she could finally have a home. A familiar warm bed to sleep in at night and a loving man who would keep her safe and warm.

  An owl cooed somewhere close by as if mocking her moment of stupidity, and she felt a heightened sense of frustration. She needed something to take her mind off the anger she felt. How could he have turned on her for doing what she had to in order to survive, but he had just watched her walk away without even stopping her. She sat under the eve of a great oak tree outside a noisy saloon, choosing the racket as her company until the sun rose a couple hours later and she went to the park to see if she could find some inspiration and answers as to what she should do next.

  Entering the park, a slight breeze rustled the leaves making them fall to the ground one by one. The sun had not yet begun its ascent to welcome the new day, but she could smell the promise of morning in the air. Flowers were visible in vast quantities in the shimmering moonlight, and they concealed the freshly cut green grass now covered in dew. During spring the park was filled with the colors, sounds and scents of a new season. She had been instantly drawn to the energy there, and the myriad of flowers were an added incentive. There were sun-collared daisies, vivid purple lilies, carrot tinted hydrangeas, and cotton candy pink hyacinths. The pathway was nothing more than a dirt trail that wound throughout the entire park. The ground, moist from the drizzling rain the day before, caused her footing to slip just the tiniest bit, keeping her on her toes. There was a white picket fence that ran along the trail, reminding her of the one running around her Amish home that she now longed for. Despite all its natural blessing and allure, the park was barren except for her and a couple of chirping birds who tried to soothe her soul.

  Walking by the small green and brown tinted pond, the milky white, soft feathered ducks could be seen floating around in the early hours of the morning. Soon they would be awake and battling for the scraps the passersby would throw them. She was startled and becoming more and more aware of what was happening around her as an elderly couple walked by hand in hand. For a moment Jasmine wondered if she would ever have the opportunity to grow old with someone like that. She smiled inside for the peace she felt when she visited the park.

  It was the one place she had found any kind of peace in recent months.

  Beyond the pond laid the lonely playground. The brick red jungle gym sat there in its solitude, longing for some eager company. In between parts of the jungle gym was the bridge to partake in children's fantasies from battling trolls, or patrolling the fortress. An ugly putrid brown covered it, and was quite obvious it was in need of repair. Surely it would only be so long before it came crashing down. The swings rocked gently, and the sound of the metal being moved by the wind could be heard over the breeze. Orange and bright in color, the swirl shaped slide echoed the belly laughs and shrilly screams of children who dared to take it on. Those were the sounds that could be heard in the daytime when passing through and it made her wonder if she would ever have the chance to raise a child of her own. One to take to the park to enjoy the childish delights. She didn’t know what the future would hold for her, but she welcomed it with open arms.

  “Where are you when I need you Jared?” she asked in the silent morning air, hoping her voice would be carried on the wind to the man she loved. No response came, but a headache did. It was one that seemed to be gaining in intensity by the second. No doubt she was suffering from a lack of sleep.

  A few minutes ago it was just a throb, but now it felt as though it would rip her head right off her body. She had been ignoring it during her walk but her mounting frustration was not making it very easy. She grabbed hold of a concrete bench on the sidewalk as the pain surged and she felt for a moment that she was going to black out. She gripped the side of her head and held the scream in just as her knees gave way.

  “I am right here,” came the answer and she looked up with tear filled eyes at Jared looking down at her. She looked up and around and saw that he wasn’t alone.

  “You came?” she asked tired from despair and unable to think of anything else to say.

  “I will always come after you,” he promised sitting beside her and taking her into his arms.

  “I am sorry. I did not mean to betray you nor cause you harm,” she huffed out between sobs, clinging to his jacket.

  “No,” he said lifting her face to his. “Never you be ashamed of your past because it never defines you. If it is what you had to do to survive then it is what it is and I was wrong for judging you so harshly. Please forgive me,” he said kissing her face.

  She had no words. She just held him close as she cried for all the years of fear she had kept inside. She cried for all the pain she had felt and she cried with joy for she hadn’t lost the man she loved.

  “Jasmine Devore,” Jared said to her when she had stopped crying long enough for his words to get through to her. He shifted down on one knee and took a small box from his pocket.

  “Oh no,” she said in surprise at what he was about to do.

  “Come hell or high water I want you in my life. I want you with all the good bad and indifferent. With the past that helped to make you into the amazing woman you are today, and the future we will build together. I love you, and I would be honored if you would be my wife.”

  She hugged him and cried some more, not knowing what to say.

  “Is that a yes?” he asked kissing her wet cheeks.

  “Yes!” she said as he slipped the ring on her finger and behind him his family clapped and the children hooted as if they understood the significance of the moment. “I love you.”

  It was a promise sealed with a kiss as he swung her small suitcase into his arms and led them to the waiting carriage. Mrs. Potter smacked him hard across the back of his head.

  “You would have thought I raised you both better than this!”

  Jared kissed her apologetically and Charlie laughed earning himself a smack as well. She smiled. She was happy she finally had a family of her own.

  * * *

  Epilogue

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  Four weeks later

  The wedding had been a great wondrous affair with more people than she knew in attendance, but now she just wanted to be alone with her family. The children had been carted off with George the Librarian for a weekend in the library and she was all alone with Agnes and Amy who had arrived for the wedding with a gentlemen she was courting named Ryan, who
Jasmine thought was just wonderful. He was also a US Marshal and she was beginning to wonder if God was putting these men in their lives to keep them on the straight and narrow. Maybe they would have another wedding soon, or so she hoped.

  Jasmine sipped on the glass of wine Agnes had poured her as they looked out at the men on the patio trying to figure out how to work the new grilling oven they had just installed. They placed the charcoal on the stone and then had placed a piece of mesh wire across it with two stones to prop it up. The men looked at it in awe as if it were the greatest invention of all time.

  "Do you think we should go help them?" Amy asked as they laughed at the utter display of masculine hopelessness before them.

  They watched as Ryan shoved the other men away and got the grill started in under a minute.

  "We have a winner," she said looking at Amy who gazed at her man with nothing but pride. She wondered if that was what she looked like when looking at Jared. He turned as if he had sensed her staring at him through the open door, and after catching her eyes he winked at her. She thought to herself that this was a man she would certainly learn to cook for.

  As Charlie winked at her, the smile on Jasmine's face dulled just the slightest bit. She knew at some point in time Jared might have to go back out on the road and it was not something she was looking forward to.

  "You get used to it," Amy said rubbing her back. "You get used to it, but you never stop worrying."

  Amy followed Jasmine's gaze to where the men stood, laying steaks on the grill that the women had prepared the night before. They stood around the grill watching it work its magic.