How Miss West Was Won

by Diane Darcy

  “You do that. I want in again. In matters of the heart, you can’t win them all.”

  “I can try.”

  He snorted and ambled off down the aisle to congratulate the bride and groom.

  Mrs. Simpson giggled. “As if you don’t know who is next.”

  “Well, I’m still thinking, aren’t’ I? Sawyer’s a hard man, but he’ll fall fast enough when the time comes. Gabe, he’s more easy-going, but he’s going to be a hard nut to crack. So who to marry off first?”

  “Hmm.” Nancy looked thoughtful. “I say Gabe. I don’t think Sawyer is ready yet.”

  “Maybe.”

  “Maybe, my left foot. I say you can’t get the sheriff married off. That man is a confirmed bachelor if ever I did see one.”

  “You’re terrible. You are addicted to gambling, Nancy Simpson,” she laughingly admonished.

  “Shh.” Nancy glanced around to see if anyone was listening. “And you’re not? Please! Are you going to take the bet or not?”

  Helen considered. “I might have to contact some friends in San Francisco. I could write to the Taylor’s I suppose. They made their money in land. They have daughters about Grace’s age.”

  “I’ll give you until the September harvest.”

  Helen snorted. “It will take that long for a girl to get here!”

  “November then. Our regular bet?”

  Helen smiled, loving the familiar thrill of a challenge. “You’re on!”

  Epilogue

  September— Two months later

  Luke stood at the front of the church and looked out over the townspeople.

  His own sweet wife was sitting on the front row, smiling at him with trust, good humor, and just a little bit of naughtiness.

  Maybe that last was wishful thinking on his part, but he thought he’d accounted himself well enough throughout the early days of their marriage, and was hopeful she wanted him as much as he did her.

  This time around? He loved being married.

  “There is a rumor going about the town.” Of course, it was Mrs. Braxton, sitting beside Grace, who spoke first. She cleared her throat and waited until she had the attention of everyone in the church house. “As I said, there are rumors going about the town that the three of you are planning something.”

  Luke glanced at his two friends, sitting behind him on two of the three chairs facing the crowd. Gabe looked amused and Sawyer was scowling. “You know better than to listen to rumors, don’t you?”

  Mrs. Braxton waved a hand in the air. “Where you’re concerned, rumors do tend to be true.” They were grumblings of assent in the crowd, mostly from the women. The men seemed to think that being dragged here to listen to this was equal parts chore and amusement.

  Mrs. Braxton stood and glanced over her shoulder until everyone quieted. “Are you saying you’re not planning anything? Because after the tournament fiasco, I think this town has had enough, don’t you?” She pointedly included Gabe and Sawyer in her remarks.

  Luke shook his head in disgust. “Enough? Enough of what? Isn’t everybody happy that the new school house is being built?”

  Again there were rumblings in the crowd, both positive and negative. Luke shot Gabe and Sawyer a look. It was time. “But, now that you mention it, Mrs. Braxton, I think, we think,” he gestured toward his two friends, “that now would be a good time to make an announcement that has been brewing for the last month or so.”

  “I knew it!” Mrs. Braxton turned to her friend Mrs. Simpson. “Didn’t I tell you, Nancy? Didn’t I tell you they were planning something?”

  Luke raised his hands in the air, palms forward as he tried to gesture for silence. “If you could just give me a moment to explain –”

  “Explain what, exactly?” Mrs. Braxton took a breath, her impressive bosom rising. “Just what are the three of you up to now?”

  Luke stifled a wince. Did she have to act like they were still ten years old? She was seriously undermining their authority. It was time to take charge again.

  “If you will just take your seat, Mrs. Braxton, I will explain everything.”

  At that, Mrs. Braxton settled between her friend and Grace, and continued to look suspiciously at the three of them.

  “All right,” Luke began again. “Here is what we are planning to do.”

  He glanced at Grace, and she gave him an encouraging smile. It was just possible that she was expecting his child, and they were waiting to find out for sure. Again, he couldn’t help but think how very happy being married made him this time around. He’d had no idea it could be so much fun. They had plans to go and visit her mother and sister soon. It would give him a chance to set up some meetings with some investors in New York City.

  He took a deep breath, and looked out over the audience. As many people as could fit were crammed into the pews, and many more stood around the edges of the room. He clapped his hands, then rubbed them together, and finally made the big announcement. “Our plan is to build a library in Orchard City.”

  He glanced at Grace and took in her beautiful, glowing face. Oh, but he loved her.

  After a moment of silence, filled with looks of confusion, and gaping mouths, people finally found their voices. Protests, confusion, and excitement erupted in the room.

  He held up his hands again. “I know what you’re thinking. How could we possibly pay for any of this?” He glanced around the room, hoping his expression instilled confidence. “Well, believe it or not, we do have a plan.”

  Through the commotion, he clearly heard Mrs. Braxton mutter, “I’ll just bet you do.”

  He glanced at his wife once more. The Carmichaels had recently written to Grace and given their blessing on their wedding. It had gone a long way toward calming her and soothing the guilt she’d felt over deserting them. The letter mentioned that they missed her, and that Penny had gotten into some sort of trouble in London.

  He still had some negative feelings towards the Carmichaels over the way they’d used Grace as bait, but regardless, Grace had immediately wanted to go and help Miss Carmichael. Fortunately, the suspected pregnancy prevented her from doing any such thing.

  As her new husband, he’d hesitated to flat-out forbid her from going, so he was happy she’d made the decision on her own.

  He glanced over at Sawyer and Gabe, who now stood beside him, letting the criticisms run off of them like water off a duck.

  He hoped they could all continue to remain calm. Especially Gabe. It had gotten around town that Mrs. Braxton had sent for another girl to live with her now that Grace was married. Everyone knew the widow had Gabe in her sights to marry the new girl. Even Gabe knew it and was running scared. He was more determined than ever to remain a bachelor.

  Sawyer was simply trying his best to stay below the widow’s notice. But as Grace had noted, Sawyer’s days of remaining single might be limited anyway. He was having a hard time staying away from Minnie.

  The tournament had turned out so well, with more positive aspects than negative, that they couldn’t help but try something else.

  The worst negative had been the blackguard who’d murdered a girl, and terrorized Grace. The man, a Mr. Oliver Bennett, was extremely wealthy, as it turned out. He’d hired an attorney, but to no avail, as Mr. Carmichael had sent another attorney, one of New York’s finest, to make sure the proceedings reached the desired conclusion.

  The saloon owner had recognized Mr. Bennett as the man who’d hired the murdered prostitute. Grace had testified to his repeated attacks as well. The man had been judged, and hung. Luke knew his wife was both relieved and distressed by that fact.

  He let the arguing die down a bit and after a few moments, Mrs. Braxton stood once more. “So, what are your grand plans? How on earth do you propose to pay for—”

  “Before anyone tries to shut the idea down,” he raised both hands again. “I just want you to listen closely. We have considered many different ways to make money, discarded most of them, and have come up with a plan I thin
k all of you can get behind.”

  He waited for everyone to settle. “We understand most of you don’t wish for another gambling tournament coming to this town, though in the end, I think you’ll have to agree it did generate enough income to meet our goals.”

  He waited to see if anyone would bring up the murder trial or the hanging, but no one did. That was just as well, as the entire town had fixated on both events and felt pride in the fact that Orchard City had seen justice done in the end, both for the murdered girl, for Grace, and for the elusive Miss Carmichael. Grace had come out the heroine of the piece for her defense of the young girl, both in standing up to a knife, and for taking on her identity to protect the real Miss Carmichael.

  “What we’re going to do is …” he glanced back at his friends for support. “We’re going to bring a Wild West show to our town.”

  After a short, shocked silence, chaos erupted once more. Again, his hands went up as he tried to calm everyone. He glanced at his wife. Serene and unflappable, she sat on the bench in the front row. Just looking at her brought him a level of peace.

  This outburst was not unexpected, and so he let it rise for the moment. Once everyone quieted down again, he looked out over the townspeople. “It’s going to bring in more money to this town. More good, progressive-thinking people. And just consider it, a library in our small town! A real sign of progress that will benefit us all.”

  “What if we just want to be left in peace and quiet?” Mrs. Braxton was quick to insert. “What if we don’t want more people coming to our town and disrupting things and murdering people?” She glanced around for support and her friends all nodded.

  Luke looked her square in the eye. “The good people of this town elected me to look out for everyone’s interests. I want you to know that I’m not going to let you down. It may seem to you that these ideas are schemes of some sort, but believe it or not, our town is stagnating. I’ve seen other towns die away, their children leaving for better opportunities, and it could happen here if we don’t take care to make this place a thriving concern.

  We don’t have the railroad coming through, nor can I get them interested as yet. The towns that do entice the railroad will still be here in a hundred years. We are barely getting a schoolhouse. Now I promise you that people, including your own children, will look back on this moment and remember it as one of the ones that defined the future of this town. Are we going to continue to better our community? Or watch as our children and grandchildren move away because we lack the opportunities to give them a better life?”

  Everyone was silent for a moment.

  He thought it was a good speech.

  There were a few more complaints, but more and more people seemed to be softening toward the idea at least. He watched the reactions in the crowd, then looked at his wife once more.

  He really couldn’t wait to get her back home.

  He spotted the young boys, Elijah and Benny standing off to one side.

  It reminded him of the talk they’d had with him earlier in the week. They’d asked if he liked being married.

  He had assured them he did.

  “Does she read to you every night? Do you get to listen to all of the stories you want to hear about pirates, adventures, and heroes? Does she share her books with you?”

  Luke had smiled as he assured them that Grace, did indeed, share her things with him.

  “Maybe they will write a book about you someday!” Elijah’s face lit up. “About how you beat the villain and saved Miss West and all.”

  Luke smiled at the boys, and wondered at their perception of the events. “I guess I did, didn’t I?”

  “So is that how you win a girl? Rescue her, punch out the bad guy, and hang him?” Elijah asked.

  Benny backhanded his older brother in the stomach. “We don’t want to win no girls, right?”

  But both boys waited on his answer, the older one earnest, the younger one skeptical.

  Luke chuckled. “I don’t know, boys. I just don’t know. All I can say for sure is that’s how Miss West was won.”

  Now he watched her walk toward him, his chest filled to bursting with love, respect, awe, passion, and about a hundred other emotions. He loved the way she looked at him out of her beautiful hazel eyes, a combination of love and pride; a mischievous smile playing at her lips. He loved knowing she was all his, and he couldn’t wait to get her alone again. When she reached him, he tugged her close, draped a possessive arm around her, and started walking toward home. Gabe and Sawyer could answer any questions at this point.

  “How did I do?” Luke asked.

  She smiled. “All things considered, I think everyone took it well.” Her lip pouted out a bit. “I still don’t see why we couldn’t have a fashion show rather than a Wild West show.”

  “It’ll be a grand adventure, I promise.”

  She smiled at that. “Mrs. Braxton hates the idea. I just know she’ll want my support in opposing you.”

  “Your loyalty is to me now.”

  She sighed. “I know that, but she can be very persuasive. So, about that fashion show idea …”

  His lips quirked up and he spun her to face him, bent down, and gave her a quick kiss. “Are we going to have another fight?”

  Her own lips curved upward and she stroked the backs of her fingers over one of his cheeks. “Oh, I hope so, Luke. I really do.”

  He gripped her hand and, laughing, they hurried home.

  Thank You!

  Thank you for reading How Miss West was Won. I’m hoping you enjoyed it. If you did, please consider signing up for the mailing list at www.DianeDarcy.com and you’ll be the first to know when How the Sheriff Captured His Bride is released.

  FYI: Grace is Rachel’s sister from Rachel: Bride of New Hampshire (American Mail-Order Brides Series Book 9)

  Dear Reader,

  I’m going to attempt to clear up any confusion. In early 2015 I decided to try an experiment. I assumed a pen name, Lucy Baron, because I wanted to try serializing a story but wasn’t sure my fans would like it. So, enter Lucy Baron. On February 20th, 2015 I put up Part One of this story. After I put up Part Two, two western romance authors that I respect told me fans of western romance hate serials and it sort of took the wind out of my sails. I pulled the first two parts that had sold very little anyway and I put my head down and finished the book.

  I’d already paid for the covers, (seven with the box set) and they all said Lucy Baron, and I loved them! I didn’t really know what to do with the story. Diane Darcy or Lucy Baron? In the meantime, another author used the title! I loved that title so much, and again, wind out of my sails.

  In the meantime, LL Muir asked me to write in The Ghosts of Culloden Moor series and her opening, The Gathering, blew me away. It was easier to move forward. Around the same time, I was asked to write Rachel: Bride of New Hampshire, and I thought, Oh, Grace’s sister! So Rachel’s book came out in December 2015 and I was still sitting on Grace’s story.

  Finally, Grace has her completed story. Instead of the six part book this was supposed to be, it’s a full novel. I love these characters so much and hope you do too!

  Diane Darcy