Tender Is the Storm by Johanna Lindsey Read Free Book Online Page A

East. If he ever gets the notion to find out what your dealings are, well, that’ll be the end. You have to get his eye off you right now, and marriage is the way.”
    He didn’t want a wife. So what if, when he watched Billy and his wife, Willow, together, he sometimes got a yearning to have his own woman? It was just that life on a ranch was lonely. He wasn’t used to staying in one place, and an isolated place at that. He was used to having women whenever he needed them. When this was all over, he would want to move on, but how could he if he had a wife?
    So Lucas had hedged. Instead of looking around the area for a woman who would know what she was letting herself in for, he had written his lawyer and had him place notices in the Eastern papers for a mail-order bride. It was his hope that the Eastern girl would be horrified when she saw what she was up against. He wanted her to insist he send her back—and he gladly would, after a reasonable time. That was the problem. He had tokeep her there long enough to finish what he had started.
    Having a preacher who came through town only every month or so would help. Just so long as Samuel Newcomb believed he was getting married, he had solved his problem.
    He hadn’t told Billy that he had no intention of marrying the girl. With Billy and Willow there, and old Mack, too, the girl would be decently chaperoned, and no one could say anything about her staying at the ranch with Lucas before the preacher had his say. She might not like it, but then, Lucas figured, anyone desperate enough to turn herself over to a complete stranger couldn’t be too choosy. Besides, he intended to pay her well for her time and trouble. He meant for her leaving to seem entirely her own idea, so no one was going to be hurt by his deception.
    He took the picture out of his pocket once more. If he’d realized how often he had done that in the last weeks, he would have been furious with himself. His eyes passed right over his intended “bride” and went to the other girl in the picture. That one posed regally, her shoulders thrown back, her small breasts pushed out. Her height gave her a queenly air, and there was a haughtiness to the set of her features. She looked skinny as a reed, yet there was something about her that had captured his interest from the first time he looked at the picture.
    Lucas had just about settled on a girl from Philadelphia when Miss Hammond’s letter and picture arrived. He knew immediately that she was justwhat he was looking for. The clothes had done it, the quality of the clothes the three people in the picture were wearing. Those clothes spoke of wealth, and Lucas knew from experience that pampered rich girls knew absolutely nothing about hard work. Therefore, a rich girl would balk at the life he offered. He wasn’t at all disappointed that the girl happened to be the most beautiful of all the applicants he had considered. He couldn’t help wondering why a girl of Miss Hammond’s charms would be a mail-order bride.
    He wouldn’t mind having a pretty face around for a while. But he had no intention of taking advantage of her, lovely or not. If she arrived a virgin, she would return East that way. Even if she wasn’t, he wanted no entanglements with her that might put ideas into her head, make her think she was honor-bound to accept him.
    Lucas realized he was staring at the picture again, and he quickly put it away, annoyed with himself. He moved to the door again, but there was still no sign of the stage. He wondered what the city-bred Miss Hammond was thinking about the Arizona Territory, where the sun could bake you through and through, where you could ride for weeks without seeing another soul. He grinned. The trip had probably already decided her on going back. The time of year was on his side, for it was the middle of summer. The poor girl had no doubt fainted half a dozen times already from the heat. No, a wealthy, gently bred New York City girl definitely