Mail Order Prairie Bride: (A Western Historical Romance) (Dodge City Brides Book 1) by Julianne MacLean Read Free Book Online Page A

getting into this mess in the first place. Not just with Briggs. All her problems had started when she’d met Garrison. She wished she had listened to her instincts then. Something about him had made her uncomfortable from the start, but his behavior had always been impeccable. Too impeccable. He’d said all the right things and looked the part of a gentleman. Handsome and wealthy, he had wooed her well and ruined her life in the process. Now Briggs thought the worst things about her, and he deserved a way out.
    She reached the wagon and climbed onto the seat, realizing wretchedly that Briggs had every right to judge her the way he had. She was a liar.
    But what did it even matter now? Their marriage was over. It was time to move on.
    * * *
    From the corner of her eye, Sarah saw Briggs approach the wagon, but she resisted the urge to acknowledge him. She sat with dignity, her backbone as straight as a steel skewer while he vaulted himself onto the seat, making the vehicle bounce, squeak and wiggle.
    He’s going to turn this old wooden box back toward town, and that will be the end of it .
    Sarah gripped the side of the wagon in preparation for its sudden lurch, but nothing happened. Briggs held the reins in his large, sun-darkened hands, as if thinking.
    She had been brave and strong a moment ago. Where had those feelings gone? Now she was uncertain and more than a little intimidated. She could do nothing but wait for his decision.
    After another agonizing moment, he slapped the reins and the horses plodded forward. They flicked their ears back and forth while Sarah held onto the wagon seat, waiting for them to shift direction and turn back toward town, but they did not alter their course. The horses lumbered along the straight and narrow road, lightly jingling their harness.
    “We had an agreement,” Briggs said coolly. “Whatever you did in Boston is your business and I’d rather not know about it. But you assured me you’d be a good worker and that much I hope is true. The rest doesn’t concern me. Like I said, we had an agreement and I plan to stick to my end of it.”
    Surprised and hopeful, she snuck a glance at Briggs, but was disappointed to find all traces of tenderness gone from his face. The word “agreement” held less allure than her dream of a real marriage, but at least it was something, however miniscule, to cling to.

Chapter Five

    It was late afternoon when they finally approached a homestead. Sarah saw a barn built of sod and roofed with hay, a noisy chicken coop, a vegetable garden, acres and acres of tall green corn to the west and golden wheat to the east, but no house. Perhaps it was over the next hill, she thought, then wondered why anyone would build a house so far from the animals.
    The muffled sounds of moos and snorts from inside the barn interrupted the constant roar of wind as they drew closer. Sarah inhaled the scent of fresh manure and animals, and strangely, she found the smells agreeable. She realized how accustomed she had become to the city smells of sewage and rotting garbage.
    She sat forward in her seat, feeling like her behind had been battered with a washing board. Stiff and sore, she wanted to ask if this was to be her new home, but hesitated when she glanced at the scowling face beside her.
    “Darn,” he whispered.
    Briggs pulled the wagon to a hard stop and hopped down. A wandering hen clucked and flapped his wings, scurrying out of the way.
    “What are you doing out here?” he asked a pig. The swine was licking the cuff of a pair of work trousers hanging from a clothes line strung across the yard. “How’d this happen?”
    Sarah waited in the wagon while Briggs strode toward the barn door. “Darn dog,” he said, barely loud enough for Sarah to hear. He flipped the door latch with his finger, then called out, “Shadow! Come out here!”
    Sarah felt a nibble of concern as she imagined what he was going to do to this poor animal who had let the pig out of the pen.