by Paula Mabbel
“I do not,” Louisa said as she shook her head.
“Louisa, I think you are a wonderful girl and I am not a man who judges people on their mistakes. I think a person should be judged on who they aim to be. You are a beautiful woman, and you’re smart too. I was seriously considering coming back this winter and proposing to you, but it would seem that winter would be too late. If we wish for people to stay in the dark about our secret, then I suggest we marry at once,” Sam said with a strange mixture of happiness and sadness on his face.
“Are you being serious?” Louisa asked him with surprise. “Why would you do that for me, when I slept with your friend?”
“I’ve just told you. I’m never going to find another girl like you and I’m never going to judge you for your past. What matters is what we make of the future and that we raise our child so that one day they might be smarter than their parents,” Sam said with a small laugh.
“I think,” Louisa stuttered, “I think that I love you,” she finally managed to stutter out.
“Well, that’s a good thing, really, because I’m sure that I love you,” Sam said with a gentle smile as he walked over and put his hands on Louisa’s stomach gently.
*****
THE END
Sign up Here to receive links to the hottest new romance ebooks on Kindle delivered directly to your inbox every week! (Click the link or enter http://mitspages.com/mits/PonderosaPublishing/historical-western-book-club into your browser.)
Here is a FREE bonus 8000 word romance story “Only Way To Tame A Rake” by Cassandra Michaels.
Only Way To Tame A Rake
Gregory looked startled as his mug crashed into the table below it. He watched as frothy beer started to bubble over the lip, and then he turned his attention back to the girl who was sitting beside him. She was pretty, but she wasn’t anything special. She wasn’t exactly smart either, but that was just what Gregory liked. If a girl ever seemed too smart or too in the know about her beauty, he would lose interest quickly because girls like that took work.
He smiled as the girl started to twirl her red, frizzy hair around her finger. The beer had improved the vision of her greatly, but even still he knew he wasn’t about to fall in love with her. She caught his smile and grinned back at him with dopey eyes filled with sunshine. She’d been drinking, too, and Gregory could tell from her sway that her better judgement had long since been left behind.
“You know, you’re very beautiful,” Gregory said as he leaned into the girl, so that he didn’t have to speak above a whisper.
“I’m sure you say that to all the girls.” The girl giggled and then a hiccup forced her whole body to jolt in its place.
“I only say it to the beautiful ones.” Gregory sent her a smoldering smile, the same one that had been tried and tested on many girls before her. His eyes almost rolled back as he watched her cheeks turn blush with pink. “We should get out of here,” Gregory suggested with a mischievous smile on his lips and playful eyes.
“Oh, where should we go?” the girl asked dopily.
“Somewhere quiet,” Gregory said as his eyes widened. He could tell from her expression that she understood what he meant, and he waited for her to stand up.
“Oh, I’m not sure we should do that. My father would kill me if he ever found out.”
“Then we’ll make sure your father never finds out,” Gregory whispered as he ran his eager hand up her leg.
He could feel her shaking under his touch, but he’d stroked enough legs to know that it was the good kind of shiver. He could see it in her eyes, as his fingers danced across her skin. It was a look of relaxation and longing. “Come on, we should go,” he whispered when he was sure that his fingers had persuaded her.
“I told you that we can’t.” The girl shook her head and a cross look filled her eyes.
Gregory sat back and picked up his mug of beer. He shook his head as she stood up and quickly walked away. He’d been so sure that he was going home with her. He’s spotted her early in the night and hadn’t bothered with any of the other girls who might have been options. He started to tut under his breath when he realized that his night had been wasted on a girl who wasn’t willing to follow through with her flirtations.
“You don’t sound happy,” Tessa said as she started to clear away the empty mugs that Gregory had left at the table.
“If I was happy then you wouldn’t have a customer,” Gregory quipped, and then he took a long drink from his mug. “Here, you can have this one, too.” He held out the mug without looking at the landlord’s daughter.
“You know, it wouldn’t hurt you to show some manners,” Tessa scolded him as she took away the mug from his hand.
“Well, aren’t you a pretty little thing when you get all fired up,” Gregory said with a smirk playing across his lips.
“Oh, you are joking? You’ve spent all night all over that poor girl with the red hair and now you’re turning your attentions to me? I would say I’m flattered, but I was taught to tell the truth as a child,” Tessa said, and then she walked away without giving Gregory a chance to reply.
He watched her as she walked away. It had always been a mutual understanding between the landlord and Gregory that Tessa was off limits. It wasn’t that anything had been discussed about it, but Gregory knew that his reputation as a rake wasn’t undiscovered, and he was sure that the landlord wouldn’t serve him his beer if anything happened to his precious daughter.
That didn’t matter at the moment, though. He’d spent the night with his attentions on the wrong girl, and now there was a chance that he might have to go home alone. He stood up at the thought and walked over to the bar. “I’ll have another,” he said to the landlord who walked over.
“We’re closing up now,” the landlord said, shaking his head.
“Just one more for the road,” Gregory pleaded as his eyes moved from the landlord to his daughter, who had bent down to pick up some broken glass. “I’ll tell you what, either let me have a beer or let me take home Tessa. I’m a good guy, I don’t mind which.”
“I think you better leave,” the landlord said with eyes that could have killed at a distance.
“I think you better make me,” Gregory challenged him, his good sense clouded by the several beers he had chugged down.
The landlord stood up straight and opened up his shoulders. He was at least two inches taller than Gregory and, although that wasn’t a huge amount, at that moment it felt significant enough. Gregory stepped back from the bar and properly eyed up the man in front of him. He’d spent many nights at the tavern wondering who might win between them in a fight and, although his gut was telling him that his chances were slim, he couldn’t help but feel excited over the prospect of finally putting the debate to rest.
The landlord walked around the bar and indicated for Gregory follow him, which he did. They walked in a kind of silence that was only broken the sound of both of their heavy breathing. The air outside was cold as they walked into the clear night, but Gregory couldn’t feel it. He’d had too many beers to feel anything other than drunk.
“Look at you, you’re stumbling all over the place,” the landlord said with pity in his eyes. “I’m not even sure I can fight you.”
“Don’t be a coward. I thought you wanted to protect your wench daughter’s honor?” Gregory stumbled again as he finished speaking and held out his fists. He waited for the landlord to take a swing, but he didn’t. “I said you need to protect your wench daughter’s honor,” Gregory shouted.
The windows of the houses next to the tavern started to open. The landlord shook his head and walked back into the tavern without saying anything. Gregory could feel the eyes of the townspeople on him, but he didn’t flinch under their scrutiny. He didn’t care what they thought. He didn’t care what anybody thought about him, which was a good thing considering the fact that nobody who knew him thought anything nicer.
******
Gregory sat up with some difficulty and fou
nd his hands reaching up to support his head. He could hear the sound of a thousand drums in his mind, even though there were none in real life. That made no difference to his poor brain, though, which seemed to cringe with every deep thud. He tried to swallow, but found he couldn’t because his mouth was too dry. He frowned as he thought back to how much he’d drunk the night before. It made no sense to him how he could be so thirsty merely hours after consuming so much to drink, but he was, and there could be no denying of it.
He slowly moved his legs to the edge of the bed and stood himself up. A queasy feeling in his stomach quickly seemed to intensify at his new position and he felt himself pulled against the urge to sit back down. He forced his feet forward and walked over to the small wash basin that was sitting beside the window. It had a jug of water that had been filled the day before, which he lifted to his lips without a moment’s hesitation.
The water tasted stale and slimy as it ran down his throat, but it didn’t matter because his mouth no longer felt as though he’d been eating sand, and that was all that he cared about. He looked back at the tangled sheets that were strewn across the bed and considered returning to them. He felt too rough to face the day and his will was weak. He walked back over to the bed slowly and sat down on the mattress, but barely a second had passed before he found himself standing back up.
“Gregory, I insist on you coming down this instant,” his father’s voice called from the bottom of the stairs. He sounded angry. Gregory could hear the way his voice was breaking as he tried to keep it steady.
“I’m coming now, Father,” Gregory called and then he sighed quietly. His memory of what had happened the night before was somewhat sketchy, but he was sure that his father’s tone meant that he was about to find out the full story.
He got to the top of the stairs and found that his father was still waiting for him at the bottom. He took the time he was walking down them to measure how angry his father really was. His cheeks were burning a bright, blotchy red color that didn’t help Gregory hold out much hope. His eyes flickered up to his father’s forehead, and his stomach jolted as he realized that the dark purple anger vein was throbbing from underneath his dark brown hair.
Gregory considered turning around and going back up the stairs. He was sure that his bookcase would be heavy enough to block the door. He turned his head and tried to work out how long it might take him to run back up the stairs and move the bookcase. He couldn’t even convince himself that he could move the bookcase. He turned his attention back to the stairs below and realized that he would quickly run out of them. He could feel his palms started to sweat under the heat of his father’s gaze and then the stairs indeed ran out, and he was standing right in front of him.
“I’ve just been out to the bank,” his father said with an unfaltering glare.
“I take it you had a long wait?”
“This is no time to think that you are funny, Gregory. You have made a spectacle out of yourself, and I’m not impressed. This has to stop. I had a good reputation in this town once. Now I see people turning away from me in the street. I’m simply not having this anymore. I have to do something before your reputation is damaged beyond repair.” His father took a deep breath and his eyes clouded over.
Gregory didn’t say anything for a moment. He knew that his father had a temper. He knew it because that’s where he’d got his from, but he also knew that his father calmed down much more quickly than he ever could. He watched his father to see whether the outburst had been enough, but the quick rise and fall to his chest told him that it was far from being over. “I don’t know what to say, Father,” he said when it was clear that he was expected to say something.
“You are a disgrace and I am only willing to offer you one more chance. You are my son and I love you, but we cannot go on like this. I will not. You are either to marry a girl and settle down or leave this house and the fortune that it will bring to you.”
Gregory stared at his father. He could barely believe the words that were coming out of his mouth, but at the same time he could tell that his father meant it. There was a resistance in his eyes that told Gregory that, even if he backed down later, it wasn’t because it had been an empty threat. He shook his head at the unfairness of the proposition. “You can’t do that. You got to marry out of love. Why shouldn’t I have the same kindness shown to me?”
“I have given you every chance to fall in love. You’ve spent countless nights with countless potential loves and you’ve never looked back after leaving them. The town calls you a rake. They think you are a scoundrel that their daughters should be kept away from. You have no hope of finding love here, and I have no hope of you finding love anywhere else. I am your father, and you will do as I say.”
“And who is it that you suppose I should marry?” Gregory asked with a smug look on his face. “You say that I have blown my chances with every girl in town, so tell me who it is that you think you will find?” Gregory could feel the color dropping out of his cheeks as his father’s lips turned up into a smile.
“Well, I’ve actually got the perfect girl in mind for you,” he said without revealing anything else about her.
******
Dawn had hardly broken over the horizon when Gregory’s father came bounding into his room. He could feel his eyes itch for more sleep as he sat up and forced them to stay open. It was too early to be expected to process anything, and yet his father was expecting him to prepare for a day’s journey on horseback. He groaned as he looked around at his room and the mess that he had left.
It took him having to move everything in his room at least once to find everything that he needed. He could feel a thin layer of sweat sitting on his skin from the effort, and he desperately wanted to crawl back into bed. He hadn’t even been drinking the night before; his father had locked him in the house to ensure that he would be there in the morning. But the absence of a hangover made very little difference to Gregory’s mood.
“Are you ready, Son?” his father asked when he finally emerged at the bottom of the stairs.
“Do you just live next to the stairs now or something?” Gregory snapped.
“You are such a delight in the morning. It’s a wonder how you are not married already,” his father said sarcastically as he started to walk out of the house.
“That’s hilarious, Father,” Gregory snapped again as he followed him out into the bitter chill of morning.
The horses had already been brought to the front of the house by the stable boy, and even they looked cold as they stood waiting for further instructions. Gregory’s horse was tall and solid in color, the deepest shade of black. Gregory often thought it difficult to look at, but he also knew that he was not sober enough to ever fully judge whether it was true.
He pulled himself up onto the horse and tied his bag to the back of the saddle. His father still hadn’t told him where they were going, but he had promised the journey would take up most of the day. He glanced over at the horizon that was starting to brighten up, as he pulled the reins and the horse started to trot forward. He could hear his father’s horse starting behind him. It wasn’t long before they were riding next to each other down the road.
“Are you going to tell me who it is that we are going to visit?” Gregory asked as he avoided the terms “marry” or “marriage” like the plague.
His father chuckled. “I’ll tell you that you know her,” he said with a mischievous look in his eye.
“Then surely she knows me and my reputation,” Gregory said quickly, a small trace of a smile on his lips. If she knew of his reputation, then even if he proposed marriage, there was no guarantee that she would say yes.
“She does know you, but from many years ago, as you do her. She knows some of your reputation, but you should believe me when I say she is no angel herself, and her father will be the first to admit that.”
“And who is her father?” Gregory asked with frustration. He hated being kept in the dark about matters that involved
him.
“You know him, too.”
“Well, that’s just great,” Gregory said dryly as he realized that his pursuit for answers was getting him nowhere.
“It wouldn’t kill you to have some patience, Son,” his father said with a look of disappointment in his eyes.
Gregory didn’t say anything. He was used to seeing that look of disappointment. He was used to knowing that everybody disapproved of what he did, and it wasn’t something that overly bothered him. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about what his father thought. He had a lot of respect for him, although he never really showed it. It was just that his father didn’t seem to understand that Gregory just wanted to have fun. He didn’t want to take life seriously. He didn’t want to have to worry about a wife and children. He just wanted to enjoy the world’s beauty, and in his experience the most beautiful things were usually women.
They rode on in silence for most of the journey. Although Gregory’s father had made out that he knew whoever it was that they were going to visit, he couldn’t recall the landscape that he was riding past, even though he tried. He wondered for a moment whether he’d taken the journey there before while drunk and that was why he couldn’t remember, but his gut was telling him that this probably wasn’t the case.
They spent the rest of the day riding. It wasn’t until the sun had fallen well below the horizon that they arrived at the village. Gregory looked down all the small side streets as they rode past, trying to find any memories that he might be able to link to the people they were meeting, but he couldn’t. Even when they had stopped outside a huge manor house with impressive marble supporting beams he still had no clue as to who it would be on the other side of the door.
******
Gregory was surprised by how pretty she was, although he knew that she was far prettier than the girls he usually chased after. There was something about her delicate, honey-glowed skin and soft, blonde hair that really captivated his eyes whenever he found himself around her. None of that mattered, though. It didn’t even matter that her eyes sparkled with the deepest blue and seemed to have stars living within them, because he wasn’t going to marry her.