Regency Romance: A Duchess in Disguise (Historical 19th Century Victorian Romance) (Duke Fantasy Billionaire Romance) (12 page)

Chapter Two

The three women were laughing by the time the train pulled into the station. They all stood up when the attendant came through the car, announcing their stop. Joy had taken to knitting the last hour, so she hurriedly put her needles and yarn into her sewing bag and gathered her things. When they had left Virginia, it had been a little
cool
, so they all had jackets,
scarfs,
and gloves. These
were stripped
off as the day wore on and they reached the warmer side of the country.

They stepped off the train, whispering to each other and giggling about whether or not their men would be tall, handsome, kind.

“All right, ladies, here we
go,
” Robin said, spotting three men coming directly at them. “That’s probably them. I wonder who is who?”

“We are about to find out.”
Cathy murmured as the men got closer.

The men reached them and stood a few feet away for a moment as they all looked at each other, unsure how to introduce themselves.

“You are the ladies from Virginia?” One of them asked.

They all
nodded,
but Robin stepped forward. “I am Robin
Foreman,
” She said holding out her hand. The man who had spoken first took it and brought it to his lips.

“How do you do?” He said, smiling at her and moving his eyes to the other ladies. “I am Joseph Cooke. These are my brothers,
Victor,
and Benjamin.” He held out his hand to indicate who was who.

Robin looked at Victor. He was taller than
her
that she was
glad of
. He was muscular and looked strong and formidable. She could immediately picture herself getting into arguments with him and was saddened by her thought. She hoped it didn’t show on her face. She bowed her head to him and moved to stand in front of him. “You are the man who sent for me?”

Victor nodded and smiled. “Hello. Please allow me to take your bags. Shall we go in and get the rest of your luggage? I believe they are removing it from the train now.”

“That would be
fine
.
This is
Joy and Cathy.”

The men nodded at them.

Joy smiled shyly at Benjamin. He was not as tall as his brothers, appeared to be the
youngest,
and she thought he was very handsome. His skin was tan from being outdoors. His hair was dark brown, short and curly. His blue eyes were kind and gentle. She immediately liked him. He smiled back and kissed her hand when she offered it to him.

“Hello,
Joy,
” He said. His heart was thumping in his
chest,
and he was sending silent prayers of thanks to God for the woman he was seeing in front of him. She was beautiful and looked like she would not be combative in any way, unlike his brother’s
potential
wife, Robin. He was glad Robin
was not chosen
for him. He disliked a lot of action,
noise,
and confrontation. He hoped his relief didn’t show on his face.

“Hello, Ben.” Her voice was soft and light. He liked that, too.

“Shall we?” He held out his hand
toward
the building, never taking his eyes
from
her face.

“Yes.” Joy
nodded,
and the two of them followed Victor and Robin into the building, leaving Cathy and Joseph behind.

“I guess that leaves
us,
” Joseph said, lifting one side of his lips in a half-smile.

“I
guess
it does.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Cathy.”

“And you, as well, Joseph.”

“Please call me Joe. There’s not need to stand on formality if we are to be married. Let’s go in. No sense in standing out here staring at each other.”

Cathy smiled. “I agree.” She was anxious that he would disapprove of her. She had not seen a spark of interest in his eyes, not like she had seen between Ben and Joy, who were obviously a good match for each other. She was nervous about Joe seeing her limp and finding her unattractive because she was not as pretty as the other two. No matter what she did, she would not be able to hide the limp.
She
began to walk next to him, completely self-conscious of herself. She saw him cast a side-glance toward her and knew that he had seen the flaw.

She tried not to look at his face because she was afraid of what she would see there. He
looked
like a nice man. He had wavy brown hair, brown
eyes,
and tan skin. It was obvious he spent a lot of time working with his hands. She had noticed when he took hers to give it a soft kiss that his hands were rough and calloused. She wondered what he was thinking but didn’t want to ask.

Joe was trying not to be disappointed by the woman who had responded to his ad. She was pretty enough; he didn’t mind that. But he didn’t feel an attraction like he had hoped he would. He wondered if she felt an attraction to him. He hadn’t seen anything immediate on her face.

They approached the others from behind, watching as the men picked up the bags indicated by the women. Joe turned to her.

“Which one is yours, dear?” Joe asked her. A feeling of peace warmed her
chest,
and she looked at him.

“These
two
are
mine,
” she said. He smiled at her and picked them up.

Unfortunately, she noticed that his smile didn’t reach his eyes and could tell he
was being
polite. It made her feel a little sad. His face registered no attraction to her. That was what she had expected. He picked up her bags and moved to walk with his brothers as they went back out the door, talking to each other. Cathy joined Robin and Joy. Joy looked elated. There was no trace of her
shy
behavior from the train ride. She was watching Ben walk, her eyes
wide
and happy. She gave Robin and Cathy a big smile.

“What do you think?” She whispered to them.

Robin’s face was disapproving. She looked down at Cathy and then back at Joy. “I think we should wait until we are alone this evening to talk about it.” She kept her voice
low,
but the other two women could tell she was less than pleased.

Joy looked at her sympathetically. “I’m happy that Ben chose
me,
” She said, sounding like a little girl with present no one else liked.

“You are lucky.” Robin murmured. “but we can talk about this later. Let’s
go see
what our new home looks like!”

She hurried a little to catch up with the men and touched Victor on his arm. “Victor?”

The three men made room for the women to walk beside them. “Are we all residing together?”

“Yes,
” Victor answered. “We have a large house that we’ve lived in since we were children. Our parents are
deceased,
and we took ownership of the house. I see no
reason why
we can’t all live there together. Do you?”

Robin shook her head. “No, I don’t. As you know, we three are new to each other, this state and our surroundings. I think it would be beneficial if we were to stay together so that we can offer support to one another after having left our families and homes behind.”

“I think that’s
wise,
” Joe spoke up. Robin looked at him and nodded.

“And where is your daughter?” Robin asked Victor.

“I left her at the house with a woman who has been watching her for me since she was born. My wife died in childbirth.”

“Is that why you sent for me?”

“Essentially.”

Robin nodded. She tried desperately to keep a look of irritation
from
her face. She hadn’t been called
to Nevada
to be a wife. She’d been called to be a mother. It was the last thing she wanted to do. She wished she hadn’t answered the ad. She kept the frown from her face and smiled instead. “I will be glad to meet her.” She lied.

“I’m sure she will love you. She is a happy baby, rarely cries or has any ailments.”

“That’s good to know.”

“I would like to offer to help with the
baby,
” Cathy spoke up, sending a wave of relief through Robin. “I am fond of children, having helped my sister raise her two
babies
from the time they were born.”

Robin saw how Victor’s face lit
up,
and he smiled at Cathy. “That would be
wonderful,
” he said.

Cathy smiled back at him.

“This is our carriage.” Victor stopped in the parking area, swiftly
slinging
the two bags Robin had brought with her into the back compartment. He came around to the side to offer his hand to Robin so she could easily step up into the carriage while his brothers put the other bags in the back.

When Victor offered his hand to Cathy so she could get in, they smiled at each other again. Cathy felt a flutter in her heart that she tried to ignore.
This was
not the man she
was assigned to
. She wondered if Robin was serious when she said that they would discuss switching who they
were with
. And there was no way to know if Joe and Robin would get along. Robin was a fireball. That might be what Victor would prefer.

Victor also held his hand out to Joy but Ben was by her side
quickly,
and he stepped in front of his brother. “I believe you are with me?” He smiled wide and Joy couldn’t help smiling back. He took her hand and helped her up before turning his grin to his brother. “Back off.” He and his brother
chuckled,
and Ben followed Joy into the carriage, settling in the seat next to her.

The ride to the house started out quiet. Eventually, Robin couldn’t hold back and asked the brothers, “May I ask what prompted the three of you to seek wives at this time?”

Victor responded. “I have
been thinking
since Minnie was born that I need help with her. It isn’t the only reason I chose to send for
you,
please understand. I do value a woman in my life. However, I…felt that it was too soon before now to seek out anything of this kind.”

“That’s why
he’s had
Hannah coming to care for her every day.” Joe put in.

“Yes, that’s right.” Victor nodded.

“May I ask why you didn’t choose Hannah as a potential bride?” Cathy asked.

“Hannah is Amish. She only came to help out because her father is a friend of mine.”

“You are friends with an Amish person?” All that Cathy knew about the Amish was that they
were separated
from everyone else. She’d seen them in town a few times but had never conversed with any of them.

“They are good
people,
” Victor said. “They are very driven by their beliefs, yes. We have a local community that lives not far from my ranch. There was an accident with one of their buggies, it was funny, really, and I stopped to help them and made friends with several of their men.” He saw the looks on the women’s faces and said quickly, “No one
was hurt
in the accident.”

“What happened?” Cathy asked.

“A wheel fell
off,
and Ezekiel only had three little daughters with him. Without help, he was at a loss. I saw him when passing and stopped to help. After that, we went to have dinner at their
home,
and they gave us a lovely tour of their community. It is a nice
atmosphere
though I would not be able to live under such strict conditions.”

“Do you attend church?” Robin asked.

“We do. All three of us.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” She nodded approvingly.

“Me too.” Joy finally said something and the others looked at her. “My father took me to church every Sunday and sometimes during the week, they would have social gatherings and parties he would take me too.”

“Did your mother go along as well?”

Joy dropped her eyes, a sorrowful look on her face. “No, my
mother
died of tuberculosis when I was twelve.”

Benjamin took her hand and squeezed it. “I am so sorry to hear that, my dear.”

When they looked at each other, everyone in the carriage knew that their match was a good one.

Chapter Three

When they turned into the long driveway that would lead up to the house, Robin couldn’t help leaning her head out of the window to look
around
her. The farm was quite vast. She could not see any other homes in the surrounding area.

“This is beautiful! Do you have anyone helping you take care of the house? As in housekeeping and cleaning?”

“We have a lady from
town
that comes in
every now and then
to
help,
” Victor responded. “But mostly we do the cleaning, cooking and maintenance on our own. We aren’t helpless children.” He smiled to let her know he was joking. She smiled back at him.

“I’m very glad to hear that!” She almost said that she hadn’t come to be a mother but bit back her words before they got out. “Now there will be more hands to add to the duties.”

“I like the sound of that.” Joe said. “Do you have any objections to any particular
type of
housework?”

Cathy and Robin shook their heads. Joy didn’t respond as she and Ben were talking under their breath about things they liked and disliked. It was
obvious
from the looks on their faces that they were enthralled with each other and apparently had a lot in common, as well. The other four ignored them, amused.

“We are perfectly willing to continue
helping,
” Victor said. “I must say Joe has become quite a cook over the years. He makes some delicious dinners.”

“I do hope you’ll continue to do
that,
” Robin said, looking at Joe. “I am a good cook, too. Perhaps you can teach me a few things.”

Joe smiled. “I would love to do that.”

Cathy, who was across from Robin, sitting next to Joe, saw the house through the window and her eyes opened wide. “Your house is enormous!” She exclaimed, prompting Robin to turn around, leaning her head out the window again. Her eyes grew wide when she saw the house. Joy broke from her conversation with Ben to look out at the house, as well.

“It certainly is!” She said, turning a smile to the men. They smiled back.

“We’ve done some revisions. Made it bigger over the years.”

The carriage stopped in front of the house. Ben got out first and held out his hand to let Joy step down. They all got
out,
and the women stood
gazing
up at the large house while the men got their bags from the back. Cathy was clutching her sewing bag to her chest, slightly intimidated by the size of the
house
. She would never have expected a farm house to be so big. The city had houses this size but on her trips to nearby cities and towns in Virginia,
she
had never seen a two story farmhouse that spread out so much. She could see where there were additions made.

“Do you all work here on the farm?”

Joe nodded at her, placing her bags on the top steps of the porch and opening the front screen door and then the solid wooden door behind it. “We all have our chores here on the farm, yes. We grow wheat and sell it in town. Shall we go in? Victor will give you a tour of the house while I prepare dinner but first let’s take your bags to your rooms.”

“That sounds wonderful!” Robin said, stepping up onto the porch.

The women followed the men into the house, looking around with wide, curious eyes.

“Follow us. You will have three rooms to yourselves until we decide
to formally marry
. We thought it would be a good idea for you to learn more about us before we continue.”

“Where is your baby?” Cathy asked.

Victor peered down the hallway next to the stairs before starting up them. “She is probably in the nursery with Hannah. It’s probably about time for her to take a nap.”

“I would love to see her.”

Victor nodded and gave her a smile. “You will. But let’s let her sleep for now, shall we?”

Cathy grinned. “Of course.”

Robin took the stairs before the others, moving
up
them at a rapid pace, her hand sliding along the railing. “I do hope the room I have has
a nice
view. You have a lot of
land
here.”

Victor hurried after her, catching up quickly and moving past her a little. “I hope you like it. We have not used some of the rooms up here for more than storage.”

“What were you storing in them?” Robin asked, allowing him to pass her and then following him as he went down the small hallway to the first door.

“Ben makes furniture. Did I tell you that before?”

“No.” The ladies smiled at Ben with admiring looks.

He smiled back. “I haven’t made anything new in a few
months,
” He said. “But for a few years, I was working on
something, at least,
every day. I hope to start a new piece soon.”

“What do you plan to make next?” Joy asked, her soft voice happy and excited.

“I’m not sure. Perhaps a baby crib.”

Joy blushed furiously, causing the others to laugh. “Oh.”

“Come along. Let me show you to your room.” Joy followed Ben to a door just down the hall to the left and Victor gestured
with his head
to show
Robin,
which room was hers. Joe was last to come up the
stairs,
and he smiled at Cathy with that
joyless
smile he had given her before. It made her feel
bad
that he was obviously resigning himself to something he wished he hadn’t signed
up for
. Her room was the first after the stairs ended, the only one to the right of them. She opened the
door
because Joe was still carrying her bags and peeked inside.

The room was
fairly
plain, with a neat looking bed, made up nicely with two fluffy looking pillows and a white stitched quilt. A dresser for clothes and a table at which she could brush her hair and apply make-up also took up space in the room.  There was a large red shaggy rug on the floor, which she liked very much. She also noticed the men had taken the time to put a bouquet of flowers in her room. They were red roses and brightened the place up quite a lot.

She nodded in approval, going in and sitting on the edge of the bed to test its firmness. It felt comfortable
under
her. She smiled at him. “I like this, Victor, thank you.”

He nodded at her. “I will let you get
settled in
. Meet me downstairs when you
are done
?”

“I will do that.” She nodded back.

He left the room, giving her another smile before he closed the door.

About ten minutes later, after she had explored the room, opening the drawers of the dresser and gazing at the pictures hung on the walls, she heard a knock on her door.

“Come in.” she called out.

Cathy opened the door and put her
head in
.
“Robin,
” She said. She pushed the door open more and Joy followed her as she came in.

Robin and Cathy sat on the bed while Joy stood in front of them.

“What do you think, Robin?” Cathy asked.

Robin shrugged. “It’s a
nice
room and
a nice
house. The men are very
nice
, too.”

“You don’t seem overly thrilled.”

Robin shrugged again, a look of resignation on her face similar to the one Cathy had seen on Joe’s face.

“Oh Robin, you don’t look happy.”

Robin sighed. “Well, you know I thought ahead and didn’t get my hopes up too much. The men back home were unattractive on the outside and the inside. Here, well, these men seem to be attractive both on the inside and the outside but
…
I don’t know if I am going to be happy here.”

“I hope you are!” Joy said, her soft voice still excited. Her face was bright and glowing with new love. “I am very excited and happy to be here.”

Robin looked at her. “That’s because the man you
were assigned
to is very attracted to you and you feel the same way about him.”

Joy blushed and lowered her eyes. “Yes, I suppose that’s true.”

Cathy smiled at her and took her hand. “I am so glad for you, Joy. You two are a
very good
match.”

“I wish we could say the
same,
” Robin grumbled, laying back on the bed abruptly and spread her arms out from side to side. “I was
really
hoping for a change when I came here. But I don’t know if I’m going to find my happiness here.”

“Do you want to
go see
the baby?” Cathy asked.
She herself
was very excited to meet the little one. It was the first thing she’d wanted to
do,
but she didn’t
want
to push it when the men were bringing up the bags.

“Where do you think they will be?” Robin asked. “They were supposed to give us a tour.”

“I’m sure we’ll find them. I gather they didn’t wander far off. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ben
were
waiting at the bottom of the stairs for Joy.”

She and Robin laughed while Joy blushed even harder.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he was waiting outside the door!” Robin stated,
laughing
more. Joy’s face was
a bright
red.

“Oh stop!” She said without much force. That made the other women laugh harder.

“Oh, we are only teasing you, Joy. Let’s go.” Cathy stood
up,
and the other women followed her. Joy went out first with the others behind her. Cathy looked up at Robin. “I’m sure everything will work out okay, Robin. We have to give this a chance. We just got here. Besides, if…if Victor turns out not to be the one for you, perhaps…
perhaps
we could switch.” She tried to hide a smile. Victor was a handsome man. Joe was a handsome man, too. She was fine either
way
though she felt Joe would probably be more pleased to have Robin on his arm than her. That left Victor’s desires out of the equation, however, and she had no idea how either
men
felt about either of the
woman
they had chosen. It was all up in the air at that point.

“We’ll
see,
” Robin said bluntly. She wasn’t about to leave. One way or another, she was determined to make this work.