Mail Order Bride – Charlotte's Summer: Clean Sweet Western Cowboy Romance (Seasons Mail Order Brides Book 1) by Annie Lane Read Free Book Online

they were married on Sunday. He wanted to impress her, though he wasn’t entirely sure why. He’d never before cared what anyone else thought of him. He was hard-working and honest and he stayed out of people’s business. Three things he prided himself on more than any other characteristic.
    Charlotte watched as Thomas offered her an awkward smile, if that’s what you could even call it. It was only fleeting, such a minuscule quirk of the lips that Charlotte might have missed it altogether if she hadn’t been looking so hard at the man positioned beside her.
    With a swift flick of his thick forearms, Thomas set the horses on their way and they cleared the township of Helena in no time at all. Before too long they were headed deep into the countryside. Montana really was very pretty and Charlotte found herself enjoying the warm, summer air floating over her skin in a way that she never had back in Seattle. There was a quality to it, fresh and alive. She had never seen paddocks so vast or mountains as high before in all her life. She gazed at them off in the distance, feeling completely at peace here.
    Surprisingly, she also found herself at ease with Thomas. He wasn’t big on the small-talk, and when he did give it a try he seemed to do a botch job of it, but he had a way about him that made her feel safe. He didn’t smile much either, but there was a sparkle hidden deep in his eyes that made her think he certainly knew how, like he’d done it plenty of times before, but was now keeping it under lock and key. Charlotte figured he didn’t hand his smiles out freely. Perhaps he was just selective of who he offered them to.
    “Do you have family close by?” asked Charlotte, breaking the silence.
    Thomas shook his head, though he didn’t dare glance at her. He had decided a few miles back that it was safer to just keep his eyes trained on the road. He reckoned a man could surely get lost in those eyes of hers. For a fella who had never seen the ocean before, he felt if he looked into the bottomless blue for too long, he would want to dive straight in without a second thought and start splashing about like a crazy person, never to return. “No, no family. I was raised by my grandparents after my folks passed away. I was just a boy. My Poppa left me his farm when he departed this world five years ago, I inherited it outright. I’ve been running the property all on my own since I was eighteen years old.”
    Charlotte was impressed. “What kind of crops do you grow?”
    “Not crops, Miss Charlotte. I run a thousand head of cattle. I’ve got a small vegetable patch beside the main house that keeps me fed most days, but livestock’s more my thing. There’s a few chickens too, mostly for the eggs, and a couple of ducks as well. Not to mention my Rosy.”
    “Rosy?”
    Thomas nodded as they continued down the bumpy road. “You’ll see.” He worried at first that Charlotte might think him a tad loco or something, but when he finally worked up the courage to look across at her, he found that she was smiling right on back at him.
    “That’s quite the accomplishment, Thomas. I mean to say, running a property and all. I’m sure your grandparents would be very proud of you. It’s a testament to your strength.”
    Thomas fidgeted in his seat. “Thank you, Charlotte.”
    Charlotte blushed as she watched Thomas from the corner of her eye. She’d never spent so much time alone with a man before, especially one she barely knew, and certainly not one as attractive as Thomas.
    She studied his profile once she was certain he wasn’t about to look at her again. For some reason Charlotte thought he was doing it on purpose, but she couldn’t for the life of her figure out why. She was enjoying the view just fine. His nose was a fraction crooked and his eyebrows were thick, but he had a sturdy jaw and the longest set of lashes she’d ever seen on a man. His silhouette was strong and masculine against the turning twilight