The Independent Bride: Mail Order Bride (Boulder Brides Book 2) Read online

  He was gratified to hear Lizbeth’s open twitter and Greta’s subdued laugh. Hannah’s mouth though, only quivered at the ends as she raised her brows. “I see you will not be content until the whole town is fluttering with controversy. The problem has grown quite serious. It would be much easier if the Utes just went to their reservation and stayed there. These atrocities are not meant to be seen by good people.”

  “I agree. These atrocities are not meant to be seen at all, or performed among good people. How unfortunate that our goodness is being challenged.”

  He knew he was flustering her. He knew he was grinding like sandpaper against her sensibilities. But he couldn’t seem to stop prying behind her cool façade, trying to discover what really went on in the mind of this rock-hard woman.

  “Mr. Samuelson, you have some strange ideas. They can’t be helped. You’ve spent too much of your life among savages. I’m sure a few months in Boulder will change some of your opinions. The uprisings have brought unnecessary bloodshed to our efforts to retrieve law and order. If you went to the committee meeting, I would have thought you would understand this.”

  “I have a poor memory. You will have to keep it refreshed for me. As long as we ignore the violence without, it cannot come within, is that correct?”

  Hannah opened her mouth slightly to speak then decided to hold her tongue. She knew he was taunting her on purpose just to get her reaction. His eyes pierced hers. It felt like a magnet pulling her closer, and she hated it. She felt a sudden anger rise inside of her. How dare he walk into her home and make her feel confused, vulnerable, and weak. She wanted him to leave her house immediately, yet she didn't want him to go at all. He was too young and careless to have that much affect on her emotions. While she knew he was older than Greta, he was still younger than she and Hannah prided herself on being mature beyond her years.

  “He is baiting you, Hannah,” said Greta quickly. “He has forgotten how to speak with fair society. I won’t allow you to agitate Miss Barclay any longer, Lester. It’s past the dinner hour, and we should have something to eat before heading back.”

  “You could eat with us,” offered Lizbeth. “We have a pot of beans boiling, some cold milk and bread.”

  “No, we will not put you out. You had not expected guests, and besides, there is still something Lester is curious about, and if we leave now, we’ll catch it.”

  “The stagecoach!” laughed Lizbeth, clapping her hands together. “You want to see if more women have arrived. How many girls must you meet, Mr. Samuelson, before you are satisfied?”

  “All of them,” he told her, grinning. “I must meet all of them.”

  The flat had been so warm, he had forgotten it was winter until they opened the door and the chill wind greeted them. He snugged his greatcoat around him tightly. “That was thoroughly entertaining.”

  “Entertaining, Lester? I don’t know what Hannah will think of you now, and I had such hopes that the two of you would hit it off.”

  “Why we hit it off splendidly! I do believe I have made as great an impression on her as she has on me.”

  Joseph placed a hand on Lester’s shoulder. “I believe Greta is right. You don’t know how to speak to fair society, at least not to mature, single women.”

  “They are all like Miss Barclay?”

  “No, I would say she is one of a kind, but to hear her speak, she has similar views as all of them. Cautious. Anxious about the future. Ready to defend what they have struggled to obtain. They will not let anything jeopardize their goals.”

  “They cannot protect themselves from the rabble if they are afraid to confront it.”

  “Ordinarily, they would agree, but most feel the Indians should not live among us. They should be removed to live on the reservation the government granted them. I think you’ll find it difficult to make them see things otherwise.”

  “I’m not naïve. There are people like that in Oregon, and there have been massacres on both sides. Pain and loss are difficult to put aside, but it must be done for there to be healing.”

  His eyes wandered up the street. The stagecoach was coming in. At the depot, about half a dozen men gathered in a group. Grimy with dust and sweat, the black dirt rubbed into their skin so deeply, not even a month of baths would soak it out, their mitted hands clutched signs saying, “Women wanted for cooking, cleaning, and laundry,” or “Looking for wives. All types and ages considered.” They waved their placards vigorously as the stagecoach came to a stop and four young women stepped out. Two of them chatted with the men. The other two asked directions from the stagecoach driver, who pointed to a building with a shingle out front that said, “Rooms by day or week.”

  “They are probably answering letters for a bride,” said Greta, pointing to the girls who were entering the makeshift hotel. “Women often wait there for their prospective husbands to arrive. Some of the men live as far as forty or fifty miles away, but this is the end of the stage line for the women.”

  “I want to talk to the two who answered the advertisement.”

  Greta laughed. “I think they want richer blood than yours, brother. You’ll have to pick up an ax and start digging in caves until you find gold if you want to impress those ladies.”

  “Maybe so,” he said, but he continued to keep his eyes on the depot as they entered the Palace and ordered dinner.

  Chapter 4

  The view from the crags overlooking Boulder was spectacular in early spring. The plains in front of Hannah were beginning to sprout with fresh new greenery, and blue and white wildflowers nodded under the sun. Behind her, ruddy cliffs reared high into the air, and even further back, snowcapped mountains made dulled pencil points in the sky.

  Hannah sat under the shade of a lone bristlecone pine that twisted and stunted its growth to brace against the winds. The town of Boulder had no trees, nothing to block the unbroken landscape.

  Jeremy Parks sat down beside her, one long leg propped at the knee, the other stretched in front of him. He handed her the water canteen. “This is what I wanted you to see. Cattlemen love open space. They love to see the land in front of them travel on for miles. Look to the east, beyond the town, and you can see the ranches spread out like tiny ants. Mine is over there, in that far southern corner.”

  “You say it’s twenty miles? That’s a long ways, Mr. Parks, for a day’s ride.”

  “It is. That’s why when I pick up supplies, I always spend a couple of nights in town. There’s no need to task the horses unnecessarily. We depart early in the mornings. We arrive late afternoon. I’d like you to come visit with me for a few days if you would. Nothing improper. You can bring along Lizbeth as a chaperone. But I’d like you to see the ranch.”

  “Is it large?”

  “As large as the prairie. I get around forty-five dollars per head of cattle, and the grass is free.”

  “How many head of cattle do you have?”

  “A little over two thousand by the last tally. I’ve got cows that will be dropping their calves soon so that will change things a bit, but I’ve got a purchase order for twelve hundred, after a nice season of fattening up. The winter didn’t do them poorly. They’ll be stout as pigs by autumn.”

  “That’s a substantial amount of money, Mr. Parks.”

  “It is. There’s overhead. The ranch is run almost like a small settlement. There’s the bunkhouse, which can bunk up to twenty hands, but it usually sleeps no more than ten or twelve. Cowboys are a bit notorious for not coming home to sleep at night.”

  “And the ranchers?”

  “Oh, we have our hands full. We’re basically businessmen. We pay our drovers, our contractors, our ranch hands, our cooks. We’re expected to be ambassadors of goodwill, so we keep our houses large for guests. Since our ranches are far apart, it’s customary to have guests stay for several days.” He chuckled. “Maybe it’s why I idle so long in Boulder. I enjoy being a guest.”

  “All in all, it must get lonely at times. It doesn’t sound like there
are very many women out there.”

  “There aren’t. Some of the hands have found honeybuns and put up their shack here and there to keep her warm and toasty at night. My house cook is a woman, but she’s middle-aged, fat and married to the crew cook. Some of the ranchers have wives and children. When they come over, well… I think that’s when I feel the most connected to people and begin to think about becoming a family man.”

  “It’s a funny thing,” said Hannah idly. “I don’t think I ever thought about being a mother. Not with the war. Not with everything it stood for and destroyed. And now, with Lizbeth, I feel I’m creating a monster. I didn’t know young girls require so much supervision.”

  “I think you’re doing well. Lizbeth is coming into her own. You can’t stop her direction, but you can influence it. I have a feeling you’re a very influential person, Hannah.”

  He laid his hand over hers, and she felt a warm pleasure travel up her arms. He had long ago put away his disappointment in her refusal to be his lady luck at the gambling tables, but insisted she was the lady luck in his life. “You bring me success,” he insisted, although as far as she could tell, he had been successful long before he met her.

  She leaned her head against his shoulder. “It’s a nice dream, Jeremy, but I fear utopian dreams. Something always ends them in disaster.”

  “You shouldn’t. Not this one. Give it a chance to grow on you. You’re a town woman, and I can respect that. But you are also a woman of taste and breeding. I can give you the kind of life you deserve.”

  She placed her hands on both sides of his head and looked into his eyes. “Do I deserve you?”

  He leaned forward and kissed her on the mouth, gently. She was surprised at the amount of excitement it stirred within her. It’s been too long since I have been with a man, she thought to herself and kissed him back urgently. She caught herself in a moment of intense passion when his breath sounded loud and steamed heavily with her own, and back. “Mr. Parks, as you said, give this a chance to grow.”

  She looked down at the ground, aware her unguarded response had initiated the passion, her hands still and clasped in her lap. He lifted her chin. “Of course.” He stood up and dusted himself off. “It wasn’t my intention to be so forward. I apologize if I’ve offended you.”

  “I was not offended… Just surprised, at myself most of all.”

  He helped her to her feet, but then pulled her hand close to his chest. “Tell me you’ll do this. Tell me you’ll visit the ranch. Just a few days so you can see how I live. I won’t do anything inappropriate. I promise.”

  “I believe you, Mr. Parks. You are a man of honor.”

  It was late enough in the afternoon when they rode back into Boulder that Lizbeth had started poking her head out the window to look for Hannah’s return. When she saw her companion navigating the untidy street after leaving Jeremy at the Palace, she dashed down the stairs and flung open the door.

  “Oh! You bring wildflowers! Let me get them into a vase, and then you must tell me everything!”

  “I won’t tell you all the private details, but suffice to say we rode horses up to the main lookout point and had a picnic with fried chicken and biscuits. We were very quiet and got to watch some deer come out of hiding, and a porcupine waddle into the brush. That’s all I’m going to tell you except Jeremy wants us to visit him at his ranch.”

  “Can we do that? It’s not scandalous? How long will we stay?”

  “We’ll be just a few days, and no, it’s not scandalous. There will be several other ranchers there for spring round-up or something like that. They get together and discuss prices and outfits somewhat like our committee members make plans around a railroad that I’m beginning to doubt will ever come.”

  “The railroad has to come,” said Lizbeth matter-of-factly. “Everybody needs it, even the cattlemen. When people have money, you can’t ignore their needs.”

  “Out of the mouths of babes,” murmured Hannah. “For a child, you sometimes astonish me.”

  “A couple months and I won’t be a child anymore. But now, tell me. Whatever are you going to do? First, you had no beaus, and now you have two.”

  “I don’t have two beaus.”

  “Oh no? Then why do you go up to the construction site all the time? I’m sure it’s not for grizzled old Mr. Bowman. He done buried two wives already and nobody wants to be the third. And most of his crew isn’t much older than I am.”

  “Lester Samuelson goes back to the settlement every weekend to stay with the Marston’s. How better to keep up with my best friend than through her brother?”

  “It’s all on account of Greta?”

  “Yes, it is. Listen, Lester is a nice enough young man, but I know that fire in his eyes. I know it belongs to a man who can only bring heartbreak, because it’s the cause, flaming behind the fire, that he loves most.”

  “You make him sound somewhat undesirable.”

  “He is undesirable, Lizbeth. His kind are the most undesirable because if you pine for him, the day will come when you cry for him night after night.”

  “Why?”

  “It is the nature of our times. Don’t ask so many questions. Just believe me when I tell you not to get involved with men like Lester. You’ll be much happier for it.”

  When she got ready for work that evening, she tried to push Lizbeth’s conversation out of her mind. The poor child didn’t understand. She was raised here, in this forlorn backwater town forgotten by civilization. She thought taking the law into your own hands was normal, and that anybody could do it. They just had to have enough people on their side who were louder and more persistent than those on the other side. Hannah knew from experience that when there were differences, lines were drawn. When lines were drawn, there was violence. Lester wasn’t a violent man, but he was one who drew lines.

  Jeremy, on the other hand, had no quarrel with anyone except cattle rustlers. He lived far enough away from Boulder that its politics didn’t affect him. He wasn’t even too concerned with the railroad as he didn’t have to go on long cattle drives as they did in the Texas republic. He sold his beef to a meat processor from Iowa, who promptly turned the beef into canned meat. His life was separate and independent of everyone except other cattlemen. They worked together. They lived together. They defended each other against swindlers and thieves.

  She didn’t notice Lester at the dance hall until the last number when she did her final high kick and turned around to dash off stage. She felt unduly bothered by his presence and tried to shake off the feeling. She cared not a whit for what he thought, yet still, she felt underdressed. The black and red, off the shoulders satin dress seemed suddenly garish, as did the flouncing petticoats. She shrugged, placed a shawl around her shoulders and walked up determinedly to where he was nursing lemon water. His eyes met hers as she boldly stood in front of him. For a moment she felt weak in her knees and wished she had not ventured towards him so quickly. Taking a forced deep breath, she pressed herself forward, determined this man would not bring out any weakness in her. She had worked too hard to not keep those emotions at bay. Almost brazen she pushed herself forward with even more determination.

  “Now then,” she said, leaning up against the bar counter. “You know everything there is to know about me.”

  “I do? And what would that be?” he asked, giving her that infernal flirtatious grin that reminded her so much of the young men she had waved to as they marched away to never be seen again.

  “That I am a woman who will do anything to get ahead. I will scratch and claw my way to the top. But you… what are you doing here?”

  “I’ve come to listen to Boulder’s heartbeat,” he answered, idling with his elbows propped on the bar. “It’s wild. It’s free, and it’s kind of joyous. There’s a lot of laughter here.”

  “This heartbeat reeks of beer and lust. Hardly the kind of place for a man like you, Mr. Samuelson.”

  Hannah surprised herself with her bold words. Taking control
of this conversation was exactly what she had in mind. She would not allow his words to shake her again.

  He was silent for a moment, smiling, then answered, “You know, Miss Barclay, gems are found in what many would deem highly inaccessible places. Would you limit yourself to a handful of pretty stones or would you seek out the gems?”

  “Is that why you accost all the girls when the stagecoach comes in? You are looking for gems?”

  “You have a naughty mind. No wonder Lizbeth is brazen. Some of the women who arrive are destitute and frightened. They are desperate. You were a woman like that once, Hannah. Alone, probably frightened, but you made a choice to stand on your own two feet. You inspired an idea. We’ve built a shelter at the settlement to house unmarried women with no funds. This way, they don’t have to feel obligated to marry the first man who asks. They can find jobs, have proper courtships. Marry into Christian families if they should choose.”

  “Mr. Samuelson, I’m not one of your gems. In fact, this week, I’ll be spending several days with a cattle rancher. I think I am probably in love with him, so if you have designs, you’ve been forewarned.”

  “Thank you, Miss Barclay, I’ll keep that in mind. You’re probably too old and too brittle for me anyway,” he said with a sly smile on his face, all the while giving her a side glance to see her reaction.

  “I am not! What a dastardly thing to say. You’re not that shy of thirty, my young friend, I think. You are the fox calling the grapes sour.”

  “Your compliments aren’t lost on me. I am your friend. I am a fox. Forgive me if I’m not completely discouraged.”

  “You are also incorrigible. Work your charms on the settlement, Lester Samuelson. They are not going to work on me.”

  Hannah lifted her chin and looked down her nose at him, her hands planted firmly on her hips. After a long hard almost tender stare between them, Lester slowly tipped his hat, and with a large grin on his face, he turned and walked away.

  It felt a little crude to cut him short like that, but it was best to nip all unwanted affairs in the bud. Beneath his swagger and his banter, she could see a growing admiration in the eyes of Lester, and she didn’t want it. It was unwelcome. It was a complication to her life that she preferred to keep simple.