A Sweet Mail-Order Bride for the Distant Rancher: A Western Historical Romance Book

by Lydia Olson

  “How’s the planning coming along?” her father asked. She knew that he was only asking to appease her, but she appreciated it. Not only was he working to be a better father to Jane, but he was also taking time to be more loving and open toward Kate. For the first time, Jane felt like they were a real family, and it filled her heart with joy.

  “It’s so exciting,” Kate said. “Soon, I’ll be mistress of my own household. Matthew purchased a lovely cottage on the edge of town …” Kate began, but Jane excused herself to get more cheese to put on the table. And besides, she’d heard Kate’s excited description about the new house several times already.

  Her father grabbed her hand before she could turn away. He grabbed Kate’s as well. The three of them made a circle in the middle of the room.

  “I wanted to say something before you scurried off to be hostess,” her father said.

  His eyes were watery, and for a moment, Jane was worried that he would start crying, which was very unlike him.

  “What is it, Pa?” Kate asked, worry clear in her voice. “Are you unwell?”

  Her father shook his head. “No,” he said, smiling widely at the two of them. “I’m the best I’ve been in a long while.”

  “Then what is it?” Jane asked.

  Her father squeezed her hand. “I just wanted to tell you both how very proud I am of you, and how proud your mothers would be to see you.”

  Talk of her mother constricted Jane’s heart. It saddened her that she was not there with them celebrating Christmas and Kate’s courtship. It was the only thing that soured a beautiful moment.

  “Thank you, Pa,” Jane said. Her voice was thick with tears.

  “Oh, don’t cry!” Kate ordered. “You’ll ruin your face, and it won’t do for people to think the hostess is upset. It’ll start the season off on the wrong foot!”

  Jane laughed. Kate could still be forceful when she felt the need to be.

  “Well,” she said, “I wouldn’t want to ruin the party.”

  Kate gave her a firm nod, but Jane could see the effect that their father’s words had on her. She too was full of happiness, tinged with just a bit of sadness for days gone by.

  “I’m going to go check on the guests,” Jane said. She squeezed her father’s hand before releasing it. She gave him a slightly mischievous smile as Kate launched into a description of the elaborate wedding dress she planned to wear.

  Jane decided it was past time to find her husband. She hadn’t seen him since the first wave of guests arrived, and she missed him.

  “Looking for me?” Jane shivered at the feel of Milton’s breath on her neck.

  She whirled around until she was facing him, dressed smartly in a dark suit. His vest was a deep green that matched her dress, and he was clean shaven.

  “Where did you go?” she asked. She allowed herself a moment in his arms. She wanted to enjoy a moment in the safety of his arms before propriety prompted them to move away from one another.

  “Matthew wanted to talk about your sister,” Milton said with a groan.

  Jane giggled. Milton was happy for his friend, but he’d told her that he would rather not talk too much about her sister.

  Jane looped her arm around Milton’s. They smiled at their guests throughout the house. Neither Jane nor Milton wanted to spend too much time socializing, but they couldn’t do anything else—after all, they were the hosts of the party.

  “They’ll be married soon,” Jane assured him.

  And out of our hair, she didn’t say it out loud, but she knew that he was thinking it. She chuckled at the thought.

  “Matthew wanted to know what he could do to make his marriage as successful as ours,” Milton said.

  Jane couldn’t help but laugh. “Is he nuts?” she asked, chuckling.

  “What do you mean?”

  Jane shook her head. Milton was a good man and an amazing husband. They had been together for just a few months, and for a great deal of that they’d been struggling to trust one another. They were still figuring out their own marriage. It had only been a month since they had not been fighting one another or someone else.

  “We are still figuring things out,” Jane said.

  “Are we?” he asked.

  For a moment, Jane worried that she offended Milton, but then, he gave her a soft smile and her hand a small squeeze.

  “I told him that,” he said. “He seems to think that we have everything figured out.”

  Jane released an unladylike guffaw. She was shocked that he thought that, since Matthew hadn’t spent a great deal of time with them together.

  “He should probably ask one of his sisters,” Jane said. She looked across the room where she spied Sara and Hank. They were laughing with Serena. The sight of them gave Jane a warm feeling. She missed their dinners together.

  “I told him that, too,” Milton said. “I think he’s too embarrassed to go and ask them. They’ve been teasing him badly about how quickly he has fallen for Kate.”

  Jane bit her lip to keep her laugh to herself. She could just imagine the ribbing that Matthew was getting from his sisters. Apparently, he’d previously mentioned never marrying, so they loved reminding him of that.

  The two of them stood together watching their guests mill around. They’d hired a trio of fiddlers to entertain their guests, and people were beginning to dance.

  “Would you like to dance?” Milton asked.

  Jane nodded and allowed him to lead her to the middle of the room. “I’m not much of a dancer,” Jane warned. “We had lessons as children, but the grace all went to Kate.”

  Milton gave her a small bow before taking her hand once more. He placed a warm kiss on the back of her hand before taking her back into his arms.

  “Don’t worry about that,” Milton told her. His warm breath played across Jane’s ear, causing her to shiver. They were so close that she could smell the sage of his cologne. She loved the scent of him. It always calmed her.

  The music started and Milton began leading Jane through the steps of a slow waltz. “We are behind everyone else,” Jane said.

  Milton gave a small shrug. “It doesn’t matter. It’s our party.”

  Jane loved that Milton didn’t care what other people thought. She’d spent so much of her life caring that she wasn’t very familiar with what it felt like to just live. Milton opened her up to that. He’d allowed her time to find herself, and she would never be able to repay him enough.

  “I love you,” she blurted out just as she stepped on his toes.

  The smile that Milton bestowed upon her was nearly blinding. It was the widest smile he’d ever given her.

  “I love you too,” he said.

  And Jane knew that eventually they would be the married couple who give people wonderful advice. Until then, Jane was glad to be in the arms of the man she loved.

  THE END?

  (turn the page)

  Extended Epilogue

  Can’t get enough of the story?

  Don’t miss the complementary chapters featuring our beloved couple one year after the end of this story, with Liese being pregnant with their first child while she has been working at the school as a teacher.

  CLICK/TAP Here to read the Extended Epilogue!

  Then return, for an extra sweet treat from me…

  (turn the page)

  Ready to start your next Romance story?

  Turn on the next page to read the first exciting chapters of my Amazon Best Selling Novel “The Feisty Bride's Unexpected Match”! Don’t miss it!

  … or you can stay up to date with my latest Amazon Best Seller Novel!

  Click here to get it!

  The Feisty Bride’s Unexpected Match

  STAND-ALONE NOVEL

  A Western Historical Romance Novel

  by

  Lydia Olson

  Blurb

  She is a mail-order bride. He is a rancher meeting her halfway. How will they choose to protect their love, when staying together means accep
ting danger?

  Sarah Harris is a tender young woman who has recently lost her father. Having no other choice, she decided to reply to a mail-order bride and to move West. On the train, she meets a stoic rancher who shares the same destination with her. A sudden train attack leaves them alone with only a horse and no money to travel. Sarah struggles with the challenges of the wilderness. However, David's strong presence is enough to make her fall in love with him. How can she dedicate her life to the man she has come to love when she has promised to marry someone else?

  David Bryant is a determined young rancher who travels West to inherit his uncle's ranch. While traveling, he's taken aback by Sarah's fierce yet sad eyes. She's so different from him but she feels so close. When they're called to stick together so as to survive in the wilderness, David will help her overcome her fears and he will teach her survival skills. Her strong will and stubbornness are enough to make him fall madly in love with her. But her husband-to-be is a danger to both of them. How will he protect the woman that has shown him what it means to be loved and give love in return?

  Sarah and David should realize that only by staying together can they really overcome all difficulties. But when they learn that Sarah's husband-to-be is not who he said he was, how will they trust each other with their hearts again?

  Get my "The Feisty Bride’s Unexpected Match"

  Get This Book for FREE with Kindle Unlimited!

  (Or turn the page for your Free first chapters)

  Prologue

  Beaufort, North Carolina

  August 4th, 1879

  Sarah Harris could not help but swell with pride as her student, Jacob, successfully completed the arithmetic problem she had written on the chalkboard. “Well done, Jacob,” she said as she beamed with delight and clasped her hands together. “Well done.”

  Jacob, all of ten years old, returned the smile as he placed his pencil down as his cheeks flushed a rosy red. “Thank you, Miss Harris,” he said. “I’m just glad I finally figured it out.”

  Sarah smoothed the wrinkles in her flaxen-colored daywear dress with a high-collar made of cotton fabric and gestured to the door. It was on the more expensive side, thanks largely in part to her father’s money that was never in short supply. “You are a hard worker, Jacob,” she said. “I’m certainly happy that you stayed behind the past two days to figure this all out. Knowing mathematics will help you in your life’s journey, though I understand how frustrating it has been for you to learn it.”

  Gathering his books, Jacob headed for the door, padding his way along the wooden floorboards of the classroom that was no bigger than a barn meant to house only a handful of horses or cattle. It may have been a quaint space with only a small chalkboard and six desks—but it was Sarah Harris’ home away from home, an environment she was well-accustomed to, having grown up with her professor father who taught her all that she knew, including tutoring students that were a little behind the others, like young Jacob, so that they could grow up with all the advantages available to them.

  “Thank you, Miss Harris!” Jacob bid her as he waved to her and clutched his belongings close to his chest. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Sarah waved goodbye as she tucked a loose strand of her brunette hair behind her ear. She was a petite young woman, demure, her curly hair tied back and showing off her pale complexion. The light peppering of freckles on the bridge of her nose looked like a milky spreading of stars in the night sky, which made her look several years younger than the eighteen years she had been alive.

  Sarah smiled and began to relax after having taught most of the day. The golden rays of the sun were beginning to descend in the distance, winking at her across the emerald green hills that were just fifty short yards away from the schoolhouse.

  Father will want supper soon, she thought. I’ve already made him wait an hour over what I promised.

  Sarah felt the urge to close up the classroom and return home hastily—but there was something about the gray pregnant clouds off in the distance that compelled her to take just a few more minutes to herself. She walked out of the classroom, breathing in the ocean air and filling her lungs as she looked to the sky and felt a gust of wind breeze through her hair. She looked at her surroundings, the school behind her, nestled in a valley that looked down at the entirety of Beaufort. She smiled at the only place she ever called home, a place that held many memories that she would have never traded for anything else. Yet, she felt as though something was missing—a partner perhaps—and wondered how much more time would pass before she would be able to share little moments of victory like the one she just had with Jacob with someone other than her father, though living with him and sharing the unbreakable bond they had was something she relished every minute of every day. Regardless, Sarah was a happy woman, content, surrounded by the love of her father and the joys that came with imparting knowledge to the next generation of youth.

  Closing her eyes, she felt the winds increase as the clouds overhead expanded and a low rumble began to gather in the distance. In all of an instant, the setting sun was concealed by the clouds, and Sarah was forced to open her eyes as a droplet of rain splashed against her forehead and the low rumbling turned into an ominous groan.

  Looking up, Sarah saw that the clouds were turning from a shade of gray to black. No, she thought, it’s not going to rain again, is it?

  It seemed as though all of North Carolina had been plagued by storms in the past couple of years, more than it ever had before, with several homes in the area having been destroyed from the onslaught of nature’s fury and in turn, destroying the families that lived in those homes. The last rains that came through were rumored to be the last in the season, though the second droplet of water that struck her shoulder made her feel as if those rumors were now far from true.

  “Do not worry,” Sarah’s father told her on more than one occasion when she voiced her concerns about living near the shoreline. “Our house is strong and sturdy. It has survived countless rains before. No, my sweet daughter, believe me when I tell you that we are going to be just fine.”

  There was no reason for Sarah not to trust her father. She had confided and trusted him her entire life, with him being the sole parent who raised an only child after the untimely passing of her mother at her birth. He was not only an educated man but a strong man, tall and sinewy though thinner in bulk due to the fact that he ate only two meals a day. He was the model for which Sarah knew she would measure all possible suitors who would come into her life—as soon as she started finding them, naturally.

  Sarah crossed her arms to stave off the chill as the intensity of the thunder started to increase, which made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. It was impossible for her to deny that a storm was now brewing, and as a light rain started to shower over her, she retreated back to the school and gathered her belongings before a loud and spine-chilling crack of thunder clapped through the sky just a mile off in the distance.

  ***

  Sarah was just a hundred paces from the house she shared with her father, situated on an L-shaped patch of land with water on either side, when a torrential downpour began to soak her dress and turn the roads around her into muddy slop. Squinting through the rain, the skies above black as the night, Sarah saw that waves just eighty feet from their seaside dwelling were creeping closer to the shore like some sort of mythic beast from Greek lore.

  “Father!” Sarah shouted out, thunder once again cracking through the skies overhead, each of the seven of the nearby houses creaking and straining from the fury that nature was wreaking on them. Sarah’s cry could not cut through the noise of the storm or the roaring of the waves out in the sea, which were now a cacophonous roar akin to that of a primal animal.

  Sarah wasted no time, running as fast as she could and struggling to keep her footing as she felt a sickly feeling settle into her stomach. Something dire is about to happen. I must warn Father quickly!

  The white, two-story colonial close to the sho
re was shrouded by mist, the trees flanking the property swaying in the wind as limbs started to crack and leaves were strewn through the air and across the ground. Sarah, her feet sinking into the mud, stumbled as a bolt of lightning struck the road just two hundred feet ahead of her and a blinding flash of white light temporarily engulfed the surrounding area.

  Sarah gasped, a hand to her mouth as she fell to her knees, becoming drenched with rain and mud. Get up, Sarah! Go!

  She knew that lightning never struck twice in the same location, so if there was any comfort in her current predicament, it was the possession of that knowledge.

  “Father!” Sarah cried out again, now only a dozen paces from the front door that slammed against the house after being dislodged by the ferocious winds. She stood, then stumbled again, every step forcing her to muster every shred of energy she had in order to make it into the house.