The Christmas Mail Order Bride (Holiday Mail Order Brides, Book One) (2 page)

Summer sto
od and prepared to leave.  “It’s a relief to know.”  She took a deep breath and turned to the door. She stared at it a brief moment before she squared her shoulders and closed her eyes in resignation. In a matter of weeks she would start a new life as Mrs. Clayton Riley from Nowhere. She just hoped this Mr. Riley was as gentle and kind as Mrs. Ridgley said.

Nowhere, in
the Washington Territory, November 1870

Clayton Riley quickly pulled back his fist, “You did
what?
” 

His brother Spencer reeled
from the blow Clayton delivered, landed on the desk behind him, and rolled off it onto the floor.  He quickly scrambled to his feet and held up both hands in front of him.  “I thought it would do you good!” He argued.

“How could you do such a thing?” Clayton yelled.  “Are you plumb out of your mind? Get
your sorry hide over here so I can hit you again!”
Spencer was smart enough to keep his distance at this point, especially when he unexpectedly laughed which wasn’t going to help the situation. But, the situation in question
was
funny!

“I can’t believe you would do this to me!  Of all the low down, idiotic …” Clayton lamented as he began to chase his yo
unger brother around the only desk in the Sheriff’s office.

The
ir one prisoner watched from his cell and chuckled as the two brothers, one on either side of the desk, bobbed and weaved to dodge each other’s fists.

“This is getting you no
where Clayton, you might as well face the music and get hitched!”

Clayton’s eyes narrowed to two dark
, green slits.  He loved his brother, really he did, but right now, he wanted to kill him.  “Get hitched?  Get
hitched
?  “I’m not the one that sent away for a mail order bride! 
You
did!”

“With your best interest in mind and because I love you!  What else am I supposed to do? Ma thinks you ought to be the one to get married first, not me!  And you wouldn’t want to break our mothe
r’s lil ol heart now would ya? Besides, I thought it would make the perfect Christmas present!”

“Christmas present?
  It’s not even Thanksgiving yet!  Besides, when you asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I told you I needed a new pair of boots!”

“But isn’t a bride so much better?”

Clayton’s eyes narrowed further as he slowly reached across the desk.  “I’m going to kill you now,” he said evenly.

“But Clayton!  You can’t!” Spencer all b
ut chortled as he jumped out of range.

“And why not
?” Clayton said through clenched teeth.

“Because the stage is pulling up
at this very moment and she’s on it!”

Clayton’s mouth dropped o
pen in shock.  Their prisoner took one look at him and burst into riotous laughter.  Clayton, his mouth still hanging open, slowly turned and glared at him.  The drunken cowboy laughed even louder.

With lightening speed Clayton dr
ew his gun and pointed it at the cell.

The cowboy immediately pressed his lips together and
raised both hands in the air.  It was all he could do to stop the several snorts of amusement that still managed to escape.

Clayton sneered
, turned, and aimed his gun at Spencer instead as the sound of the stage reached his ears.

Spenc
er casually looked at the door behind him, then to the gun in Clayton’s hand.  “I bet she’s pretty.”

“I don’t care what she looks like!  Get out there and fix this!”

“She’s expecting to meet and marry one Clayton Riley, not his poor, nothing of a little brother Spencer!  You can’t disappoint her!”

“Watch me!”

“But Clayton!  Think of ma!  She’ll be so upset!”

“How can she be upset
? Don’t tell me she knows about this too?”

Spencer flashed a brilliant smile.

Clayton groaned and hit his forehead with the butt of his gun.

The cowboy in the cel
l, unable to hold it together any longer, fell into complete and utter hysterics once again.

Clayton glared at him
but it didn’t do a lick of good, the man was now doubled over and gulped air as tears formed in his eyes.  Clayton growled low in his throat and again faced his brother. “Fix this Spencer or I’m sending you to Uncle Harlan’s in Clear Creek!  You can be
his deputy
and I’ll tell ma she’s just going to have to get along without her baby boy.”

Spencer’s amused face suddenly sobered.  “Clear Creek?  Oh no!  I
’m not dealing with that bunch of loons!  They’re plumb loco in that town! I don’t know how Uncle Harlan puts up with it. No, I’m afraid you’ll just have to get hitched and then everyone will be happy!”

Clayton began to suck air through his nose.  His face red, he took a deep breath and yelled, “Get out there now!”

Spencer’s brow puckered.  “So pushy.  All right, I’ll take care of it. Just don’t be so angry.  I really did have your best interest in mind.  You’re the one that’s been sulking around town since last winter like a lonely coyote.”

“I have
not
been sulking!”

“You’ve been beyond cranky too…”

“Spencer!”

“They say lonely people die young…”

“
Spencer
…” Clayton warned.

Spencer inched his way to the do
or, put his hand on the knob and began to open it.  “All right, but if she’s pretty I bet you have a hard time sending her back!”

“Highly unlike …”

Clayton never finished his sentence.  His mouth dropped open like a falling brick, his eyes grew round as saucers, and for the first time in his miserable lawman’s life, he dropped his gun.

It fired.

The young woman in the doorway screamed in pain and shot to the floor like a stone.

“Good God!” Clayton hea
rd himself cry. He scrambled around the desk and ran to the woman as she writhed in pain on the threshold and clutched her foot.  “Ma’am! Ma’am are you all right?”

“Of course she’s
not all right!” Spencer snapped.  “You just
shot
her!”

“Spencer!”  Clayton barked. 

“Well I was just pointing out the obvious!”

“Spencer, for G
od’s sake get out of here and fetch Doc!”

“All right, all right!” He said then quickly bent to the pretty little thing in the doorway.  “
I’m Spencer Riley, I’m going to be your new brother in law!” he blurted before he jumped up, hurried past her, and ran down the street.

A crowd began to gather on the boardwalk outside.  Clayton ignored them as
he quickly scooped the woman into his arms, slammed the door shut with his foot, and carried her to the desk where he very gently set her down.  “I’m so sorry this happened.  Here, let me take a look at it.” 

Tears streamed down her face as she gritted her teeth agains
t the pain.  “I … I …” she stammered just before her eyes rolled back in her head and she completely toppled over.

Clayton grabbed her before she fell off the desk and held her to him. 

“She done fainted,” the cowboy stated matter of fact from the cell.

“I can see that!  Now shut up while I take care of her!”

“She sure is pretty!”

“Enough!”

But when Clayton looked down at the woman cradled in his arms, he could see it was true.  She
was
pretty, beautiful in fact.  So much so she took his breath away.  Of course, knowing he’d just accidently shot her did too, and as he stared at her unconscious form he heard his brother’s words echo in his mind. 
If she’s pretty I bet you have a hard time sending her back.

A br
utal blast of loneliness came from out of nowhere. The empty state of his heart screamed for recognition as he held the woman and waited for her to regain consciousness. Or for doc to get there, which ever came first, just so long as one or the other happened soon.  Like, that very instant!

He looked furtively to the door.  “C’mon, doc.  Don’t leave me here like this.”  For if he held her any longer, he was going to start listening to the
loud screaming of his heart.  Something he didn’t want to hear ever again.

Two

Summer forced her eyes to open. She’d lost consciousness of that she was sure and now fought to keep her wits about her.  How could this happen?  What would Mr. Riley think of her now?  Injured no sooner than she got off the stage!  But who shot her?  The man who carried her into the Sheriff’s office?  Was
he
Clayton Riley?

Oh good Lord!

 
If he was then they certainly hadn’t got off on the right foot! 
Oh dear …

Make that the left, as that’s the foot he shot.

He had her crushed against his broad chest and she managed to look up at him just as someone yelled out, “Got it!”

She tried to turn her
head but he held her so firmly against him she couldn’t move.  She weakly flayed an arm about to get his attention.

“Jumpin
’ Jonnys Clayton!  She’s lucky it’s just a flesh wound!” A voice cried.

The man w
ho’d plastered her against his chest pushed himself away a few inches, just enough for her to look up at him. A small whimper slipped out at what she saw.

His hair was thick and dark, his jaw square and strong.  He gazed at her with two dark green eyes that could have been emeralds.  She whimpered again, but not at the man’s striking looks, but at the horrible pain in her left foot. “It’s okay, ma’am.  Doc here just got the
bullet out and is gonna fix you up.  Hang on now, can ya do that for me?”

Tears began to fill her eyes as excruciating pain assailed her.  Did she have a choice?  Apparently she did, for she fainted dead away once again.

* * *

  “Doc!” Clayton cried. “Isn’t there something ya can do for the pain, she’s fainted again!”

“Settle down
now, son.  There’s nothing outside of a good faint to help her while I clean this up.  I’d be more concerned about how she’s gonna take to her future husband up and shootin’ his intended the moment he set eyes on her!”

Clayton sent a dagger of a glare to Spencer who stood watching over Doc Brown’s shoulder as he now cleaned the wound in the woman’s fo
ot.  Just as he said, the bullet had caused a flesh wound and thankfully doc had been able to cut her boot off and remove the bullet as soon as he got there.

“Will it heal properly?” Clayton asked concerned as h
e held the woman tightly to him once again.  She was in a sitting position on the desk, her upper body slightly turned and held against his belly and chest.  Clayton held her at the one end while doc sat at the desk and worked at the other.

“I’ve done plenty of these during the war.  This isn’t the worst I’ve seen, but any type of wound
can turn bad.  I’ll fix it up with a carbonic acid dressing and that should do the trick.  She’ll be off it for a time.  Hope you weren’t planning on marrying her right away cause I’m afraid your wedding will have to be postponed for a while.  Unless of course she don’t mind getting married while she’s convalescing in one of my patient rooms back at the house.”

Clayton shook his head.  “Don’t worry about any of sort of marrying right now. Will she be okay?”

“I just done told ya she would!  Now settle down, son!  This should heal fine.  In fact, you two outta be able to get hitched come Christmas.”

Clayton ran a hand ov
er his weary face.  Christmas?  That meant the woman would be in Nowhere for weeks!  So much for sending her back to where ever it was she came from!  He again glared at his brother who stood innocently behind Doc Brown with an all too silly grin on his face.  How many other folks in town knew of his so called
intended’s
arrival in town that day?  Sheriff Clayton Riley was about to find out.

* * *

Summer opened her eyes slowly, awakened by the throbbing pain in her foot.  She grimaced and squinted against the sunlight that streamed in through a nearby window.

“Ma’am?” a deep voice said
, heavily laced with concern.

She turned her head toward the sound.
Sitting in a chair in front of the window sat the dark haired man with the incredible green eyes. He was silhouetted against the winter sun, but not so much so that she couldn’t make out his features. She could tell he was tall even sitting and his shoulders were broad, his arms strong as his biceps strained against the shirt he wore. He looked like some giant guardian angel only without the wings, and if she wasn’t in so much pain, she might consider a good swoon. In fact she’d also welcome one if it meant she didn’t have to put up with the pain in her foot any longer.  So far swooning was the only thing that worked.

“Ah, come around have you
?” An elderly looking man asked.  He stood on the other side of the bed and held a glass of something in his hand.  “Now be a good girl and drink this down.  It’ll help you sleep.”

“Where am I?” she managed through gritted teeth.

“Nowhere,” the green eyed man said.

Something between a whimper and a chuckle escaped her and she looked to him.  “That explains a lot.  Who names a town
Nowhere?”

“Well it’s a long story
. You see, back in forty-five …” the elderly gentleman began.

“Doc, not now,” the other man said.

She looked at the green-eyed man just as he turned to her.  He was magnificent!  Never had she seen anyone so handsome.  In fact, she briefly wondered if he really
was
some sort of guardian angel and her intended was instead the elderly man who now tried to sit her up. Once he got her there, he motioned for her to drink whatever was in the glass.

She barely managed it, and with a cough and a sputter, turned once again to the guardian a
ngel sitting on the other side of the bed.  “I came here to get married,” she told him.

His expression changed from concern to …
was that
guilt
?  “I know.”

“Where is
Mr. Riley?  I have to speak with Mr. Riley …”

“Now you just rest and someone will be in later with your supper,” the elderly man said. 

“But …”

H
er guardian angel stood. “Quiet now, do as Doc says and get your rest ma’am.  I’ll see to Mr. Riley.” His eyes narrowed slightly at the name and she came to the conclusion she had yet to meet the infamous Sheriff Riley her intended.  But where was he?  Why hadn’t he met the stage when it pulled up one door down from the Sheriff’s office? After debarking she took a moment to look for a man with a badge.  As there was no sight of him she’d taken up her satchel and headed toward his office.  After all, a Sheriff was a busy man and perhaps he’d been detained.  Just as she was about to open the door, a man from the inside swung it wide and BANG!

She remembered holding her eyes tightly shut against the pain as large hands grabbed her, lifted her up into strong arms and carried her inside, and then …

“Oh … you … are you…”

The big man’s back was to her as he headed for the door.  He looked bigger and broader now that he stood.  He turned his head over his shoulder toward her, but didn’t look at her.  “Sleep now.  We’ll sort this out later when you’re feeling better.”

He left, his spurs jangling across the wood floor and down the hall.  The elderly gentleman tucked the blankets around her, put a hand
to her forehead and looked down at her with a smile.  “The wife will be home soon.  Took a basket out to the Colson farm.  Mrs. Colson hasn’t been feelin’ too good lately and she’s expectin’ a baby.  As soon as she gets back she’ll start supper.  You rest until then, ya hear?”

“But Mr. Riley …”

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head about Mr. Riley.  He’ll be around.”  He winked at her then quietly left the room, closing the door behind him.

Summer tried
to relax and let herself sink more deeply into the pillows.  Her body had a floating sensation and she closed her eyes to let it take her where it would.  He must have given her some laudanum and she was grateful.  If she were to fall asleep her foot wouldn’t pain her so.

But
what did pain her was the elusive Sheriff Riley.  Where was he?  Why hadn’t he come for her?  What was she to do if he wasn’t there?  But he had to be.  The elderly gentleman said he was. 

Summer’s mind and heart gripped the thought and hung on.  He ha
d to be there, he just had to!  He was her only hope.

* * *

“What are you gonna tell that little gal when she wakes up, Clayton?  Don’t tell me you’re gonna load her up on a stage and send her packing?” 

Milly Brown’s eyes were like fire.  She glared at him li
ke she used to when he was ten years old.  She could be mighty scary when she wanted to be and the middle-aged matron gave him a look sure to scare the pants off of any misbehaved boy.  Clayton wasn’t ten, but sure as he could spit the woman
knew
he was misbehaving!

“Spencer answered the ad, not me!” Clayton said in his defense.  “What am I supposed to do?  Let
him
marry her!”

“Keep your voice down, you sidewinder!  She’ll hear you!”

“I hope she does!”

“No you don’t! Now think about what you’re doing!  I’ve got a shot up woman in there, no thanks to you, who thinks she’s here to marry one Clayt
on Riley!  What are you gonna tell her?”

Clayton tried to swallow but his mouth had gone dry.  He couldn’t get the girl’s pain-filled face out of his mind.  It was his fault she suffered so, his fault he was about to send her whole world cr
ashing down, his fault the entire town was now up in arms and gave him the ‘eye’ when he’d left Doc Brown’s place after getting the woman settled and headed back to the Sheriff’s office. He absently rubbed his jaw a few times as he tried to figure a way out of the mess Spencer had gotten him into.  Did the whole stinking town know?  From the looks he got earlier, he was sure they did.  But then how on God’s green earth did
he
not know until the last minute?

Clayton was just going to have to face it. He would hang for the murder of his own brother …

“Are you gonna answer me or you just gonna sit there wool gathering?” Milly pressed.

Clayton let go a long sigh as he belatedly remembered something.  He reached into his vest pocket and pulled out his badge.

“Oh, you didn’t!” Milly scolded.  “Don’t tell me you took that
star off while you were in with that pretty little thing!”

Guilt’s fist stru
ck hard and fast as he pinned the badge on.  “Milly… I…”

“Don’t you Milly me
!  You’re gonna take this soup in there and face her like a man! In fact, you’re gonna feed it to her!”

Clayton audibly gulped.  He didn’t know how the woman managed it, but he
suddenly felt like his ten-year-old-self that was about to be given a good whipping. Like the time Milly caught him steeling pears from Doc’s prized tree behind the house. Only the woman down the hall wasn’t a pear he stole, and her life couldn’t be so easily discarded like one.  No, Milly was right, he had to talk with this Miss James and get things straightened out.  The sooner the better.

“Give me the tray,” he said like a man about to have his last meal.

“Clayton Riley, look at you!  What are you thinking?  She’s beautiful son, and she traveled all this way to marry you!  If I were a man I wouldn’t be thinking about packing her up and sending her on her way!  I’d be thanking my brother for the blessing he done give me!”

Clayton rubbed a hand over his tired face a few times before he again held o
ut his hands. “Give me the tray Milly, and let me get this over with.”

“Fine!” She huffed and picked up the
dinner tray she’d prepared for their patient.  “But I think you’d be the biggest fool in the world if you sent her back! Just because you got your heart broken once, don’t mean it’s gonna happen again!”

Clayton froze and fought the scathing retort he had at the ready.  It was none of Milly’s business!  But … he reminded himself,
it was
.  Sarah had been Doc and Milly’s daughter after all, and therefore she was their loss too.  When Sarah died they all mourned.  His pain and heartbreak wasn’t any different than theirs had been.  They’d lost a child while he lost a wife.  It was the reason he’d quite apple farming and became the Sheriff.  Sarah had fallen out of one of the trees at harvest time and broke her neck.  Clayton could have cared less if he ever saw another apple again.  Unfortunately, the town was surrounded by them, acres and acres in fact.  The entire area was some of the best apple producing country around and his family had been in the apple farming business ever since they settled there twenty years ago.

Clayton remembered how he’d dragged Spencer into upholding the law
with him and made him his deputy. They then leased out part of the land to old man Johnson to keep the farm going.  Their mother hadn’t been too happy about it but they figured they could take better care of her by leasing half the farm out.  Besides, it was easier for their mother to manage this way and being as how their pa died not a year before Sarah did it gave her something to do.  Leona Riley loved her farm, loved her apples, and the land they owned.  She wasn’t about to give it up.