His Secret Bride (The Brides of Paradise Ranch (Spicy Version) Book 8) Read online

  His Secret Bride

  Merry Farmer

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Acknowledgments

  Copyright ©2016 by Merry Farmer

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your digital retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Cover design by Erin Dameron-Hill (the miracle-worker)

  Embellishment by © Olgasha | Dreamstime.com

  ASIN: B01M7YC90R

  Paperback:

  ISBN-13: 9781539887744

  ISBN-10: 153988774X

  Click here for a complete list of other works by Merry Farmer.

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  Created with Vellum

  For everyone who has made a mistake

  and sincerely regretted it.

  In other words, for everybody.

  Chapter 1

  Between Haskell and Everland, Wyoming – 1876

  There was only a short distance between Haskell, Wyoming and Everland, but every inch of the journey, every second that the train chugged along through wild territory, filled Bonnie Horner with dread. She’d known this moment would come. Known for years. She knew that she couldn’t keep her head buried in the sand forever, pretending everything was as it seemed and there were no secrets creeping under the surface. She just hadn’t thought everything would come to a head so soon.

  Everything had been fine, rambling along as steadily as the train, until Honoria Bonneville finally did what Bonnie had been wishing and hoping she would do for years. The brilliant young woman, her friend, had broken away from her family—the family that had bullied and belittled her for as long as Bonnie had known them. She’d followed her heart and married the man of her dreams, Haskell’s unique, black banker, Solomon Templesmith. Bonnie had cheered and helped the couple in every way she could, but all that help had come at a heavy price for her. The carefully constructed relationship she and Honoria’s father, Rex Bonneville, had developed—a relationship as artificial as it was beneficial to them both—had reached a crossroads. Honoria wasn’t the only one who had put her foot down. Rex had issued his ultimatum, and now Bonnie was stuck.

  “Are you all right, Miss Bonnie?” Lyle, the porter who worked the Wyoming train line asked. He knew Bonnie well, knew her because whenever the train stopped over in Haskell for more than an hour or so, Lyle jumped off so he could visit her establishment and spend time with her girls. He paid them generously and treated them kindly, so Bonnie approved of him.

  She sent him a weary smile. “I’m fine, Lyle. Thanks for asking.”

  Kind, if not exactly gentlemanly, Lyle sniffed and pressed on. “Because you look a might peaked.”

  Bonnie reached out to pat Lyle’s arm. “I’ll be fine.”

  She expected Lyle to move on, and, in fact, he swayed forward with the motion of the train. Then he stopped, his expression pained. “Um, congratulations on your engagement to Rex Bonneville.” It came out as more of a question than genuine felicitations. Worry clouded Lyle’s eyes.

  “I’ll be fine,” Bonnie repeated, softer, less convincing.

  Lyle nodded and moved on. Bonnie watched his back as he moved down the train’s aisle, checking on passengers. Then she sighed and glanced out the window. Would she be fine? That was a question she had yet to answer for herself. On paper, life as Mrs. Rex Bonneville would be a good one. She’d never lack for anything—except affection, kindness, and human decency. She would be one of the most well-placed women in the state, in spite of her scandalous background. Most importantly, she would have all the funds she needed to continue her work at her Place. The young women under her care could continue to be safe, learn, and flourish. They could escape the fate life had handed them, make something more of themselves. As long as Bonnie was willing to sacrifice everything.

  It all looked wonderful on paper.

  It was a shame that paper was her biggest problem.

  She let out another, painful sigh and smoothed her hand over the carpetbag on the seat beside her. The paper in question was tucked neatly inside, along with a couple of changes of clothes. Its corners were dog-eared, and it was beginning to yellow with age, even though the document was a scant four years old. She’d struggled to get the bloody thing—begged, bullied, and pushed it through all of the legal channels she could, expending more money than she should have in the process. And once the courts had granted her the blasted thing, what had she done with it? Nothing.

  Until now.

  The train’s whistle sounded, jerking Bonnie out of her increasingly morbid thoughts. “Everland,” Lyle shouted from the front of the car. “We’re approaching Everland. Get yer things in order.”

  The train began to slow. Outside, the wilderness gave way first to ranchland, then to the inexplicably lush farmland that had always mystified Bonnie. Wyoming, as far as she had traveled it, was mostly high prairie filled with scrubby bushes, grass, and rocks, but Everland was a different story. Things grew there. She’d even heard tell of a lake, Lake Enchantment. It was enchanted indeed if it was all the way out in the middle of the wilderness. Almost like a magical land in a fairy story.

  Well, she thought as she scooted to the edge of her seat, fussing with her carpetbag so that she’d be ready to disembark as soon as the train stopped, she could use a little bit of fairy magic right now. Because the task that awaited her was right up there in the category of curses that couldn’t be broken. And if she was being honest, it was a curse she’d hexed herself with almost ten years ago.

  Ten years ago, when she was nineteen, wide-eyed, stubborn as a mule, and as stupid as one too. When she’d thought the best way to spite her overbearing family was to answer Rupert Cole’s advertisement for a mail-order bride.

  The train’s whistle blasted again, and its brakes screeched. Buildings now slid past the windows. Bonnie stood, gripped her bag firmly, and marched up the aisle to stand next to Lyle by the door, waiting for the train to come to a complete stop.

  “So, uh, is it true that Honoria Bonneville up and married that negro…uh…” He cleared his throat, flushing. “That fine banker man, Mr. Templesmith?”

  “It is.” Bonnie smiled. “And they’re very happy.” Honoria and Solomon were happy, and all signs point
ed to them continuing to be happy. They had supportive friends who had rallied around them, and now they were expecting a baby.

  Her smile dropped as she wondered whether friends would rally around her after she married Rex. No one liked the man, not even the people who walked around ready to lick his boots. And as for a baby? Well, Rex might need to come to Everland to have the town work its magic on him if he thought he was even slightly up to the task, as it were, all his demands for an heir aside.

  With one final screech of the brakes and cry of the whistle, the train came to a stop. Bonnie sighed, spared one last, weak smile for Lyle as he opened the train’s door and hopped down onto the platform to help passengers disembark, and wondered once again how she’d managed to get herself tied up in this impossible knot.

  “Thanks, Lyle.” She nodded to the porter as she stepped down onto Everland’s station platform.

  “Hey, John!” Lyle hollered to the huge, dark-skinned man who seemed to be in charge of everything at the station. “Wanna come help Miss Bonnie here out?”

  John smiled, giving him the air of being a gentle giant, and started in Bonnie’s direction. “Sure thing, Lyle.”

  Lyle leaned closer to Bonnie. “That’s John Henry. He runs things at this station, and he’s good at it too. He’ll get you squared away.”

  “It’s all right.” Bonnie went to meet him halfway across the platform with a smile. “I only have this carpetbag. But if you could direct me to the nearest hotel, I’d appreciate it.”

  “That would be the Rip Van Winkle Inn,” John explained. “It’s right over—”

  “Ho! John! Come quick, I need some help!”

  John’s directions were interrupted by a porter further down the train who had tried to lift a trunk that was much too heavy for him. He looked as though he was about to be crushed or pinned between the trunk and the platform.

  “Excuse me, ma’am.” John rushed off to help him.

  Truth be told, Bonnie was relieved not to have to make further conversation. She’d come to Everland on a mission, and that was the only thing she wanted to focus on. Find Rupert, get him to sign the papers, go home, marry Rex, keep her Place. She was doing this for the girls, for their futures. She clutched her carpetbag tighter and headed for the steps leading from the station into town.

  Everland wasn’t quite as large as Haskell, but it was on its way. Several houses and businesses lined the simple streets, their architecture unique and almost whimsical. From where Bonnie stood, she could see a tidy mercantile, a book store, a restaurant, an old bank that looked to be abandoned or being made into something else, and several new construction sites. None of those buildings would help her, although the restaurant made her stomach growl.

  And there was no sign of Rupert. Well, it wasn’t like he was going to be waiting for her at the train station, pen in hand. He didn’t even know she was coming. She didn’t have the first idea how she would find him. If she could—

  “Can I help you?”

  Bonnie twisted to find a pretty, enormously pregnant woman with bright blue eyes approaching her. She had a basket over her arm and looked as though she’d interrupted her errands. It was a nice way to be welcomed in a new town.

  “Yes, thank you. I was told I might be able to find lodgings at the Rip Van Winkle Inn.”

  The woman’s smile widened. “You certainly will. Do you know where you’re going?”

  “No,” Bonnie admitted with a sheepish grin. “I was hoping you could tell me, Miss?”

  “Mrs. Crowne.” The woman held out her hand. “Ella Crowne.”

  “Bonnie Horner.” Bonnie introduced herself, taking Ella’s hand. “Lovely town you’ve got here.”

  “Thanks.” Ella blushed with pleasure at the compliment. “It’s a special place, that’s for sure.”

  “I can see that.” Bonnie glanced around at the quaint buildings, the smiling faces of the people on the streets, and even a few gardens planted so that everyone could enjoy them.

  “Here, let me walk you over to the inn, if you don’t mind waddling along with me.” Ella motioned for Bonnie to come with her. She rubbed her round belly absently as they walked. “Are you here on business or pleasure?”

  “Business. Definitely business,” Bonnie replied, trying not to sound too bitter.

  “It’s encouraging to hear that,” Ella replied, keeping up a good pace for a woman large with child as they headed through town.

  “Oh?” Bonnie’s brow rose.

  Ella chuckled. “My husband owns one of the stores in town, Crowne’s Mercantile. It’s encouraging to hear that people are coming to town for business purposes.” She paused, then went on with, “What sort of business are you in?”

  Bonnie sent her a wary sideways look before she could stop herself. She was in the business of changing the lives of unfortunate young women, giving them hope, but few people saw that as the purpose of a whorehouse.

  “I’m sorry, I was too forward to ask,” Ella corrected herself a second later. “Your business is none of mine.” She laughed.

  “It’s all right.” Bonnie smiled with her. “This particular business is of the personal kind.”

  “How interesting.”

  A little too interesting, if Bonnie said so herself. “It’s old business. Unfinished business.”

  “Then I won’t pry,” Ella said. “But if you need any help, you can call on me.”

  “Thank you.” Yes, Bonnie had a feeling Everland was the kind of place she would be comfortable in.

  “Speaking of help, if you need a bite to eat, you can always stop in at Spratt’s.” She pointed to the building they were passing, then turned to gesture further down the street. “And if you need shoes, there’s a cobbler over there. Of course, our mercantile is down that way.” She gestured to the establishment with a smile. “Mayor’s bookstore is down there, if you need a little entertainment.”

  Bonnie smiled and nodded at all of Ella’s suggestions. She doubted she’d find Rupert getting fitted for new shoes or enjoying a book, though. He was more the type to throw back a glass of whiskey with his pals. She craned her neck, searching for something that looked like a saloon, but the town seemed almost too pretty to have anything like that.

  “Ah, and here’s the Inn.” Ella walked her right up to the porch of a sturdy inn. An old man was snoozing on a chair by the door. “Mr. Van Winkle,” Ella called to him, raising her voice enough to wake the man up.

  “What? Huh?” Mr. Van Winkle blinked, yawned, rubbed his eyes, and focused blearily on Bonnie. “Oh.”

  “Mr. Van Winkle, this is Miss Bonnie Horner. She’s in need of lodging for the night,” Ella explained.

  “At least one night, possibly more,” Bonnie added. She hoped she could get the whole blasted business over with quickly, but there was no telling how Rupert would react.

  “Hmm? Oh. Yes. Right this way.”

  Mr. Van Winkle pried himself off of his chair and escorted Bonnie inside. Bonnie said goodbye to Ella and went about the business of getting a room. The inn was cozy and comfortable, and within no time Mr. Van Winkle had her set up in a room with a view out the back, looking out across the mysteriously lush landscape of Everland.

  How easy would it be just to stay there, to hide from the bed she’d made for herself? But no, she was well past the point where she could be selfish. None of this was about her now. This was about her girls. They came to her battered, lost, and destitute, but hopeful. In a way, she felt that she did so little for them. She couldn’t offer them a way out of prostitution, not entirely, not while they were still learning. But she could offer them an education, a safer clientele, and much better health. Just recently, she had actually stumbled on a way to give some of the girls a new life entirely. But all of those plans took money, and Rex was not only her cash cow, he’d led her into a decision that could make even money pointless.

  No, she couldn’t run, she couldn’t hide. She could only move forward.

  Once her room was in or
der, she headed back out again. She had to find Rupert, to do what she came here to do.

  “Excuse me.” She stopped another young woman, one with masses of dark red hair and a startling but beautiful red cloak as she crossed in front of the inn on some sort of errand.

  “Yes?” The woman paused and turned to Bonnie with a smile.

  “Do you happen to know a man named Rupert Cole?” Her entire chest vibrated with hope and uncertainty and long-dormant emotions that were supremely inconvenient for her current mission.

  The redheaded woman’s smile grew. “Of course I do. Everyone in town knows Mr. Cole, and his partner, Mr. King,” she added. “They’re responsible for Everland’s unique architecture.”

  Bonnie’s brow flew up. She knew that Rupert had taken up construction after failing as a miner, but she hadn’t realized he was capable of everything she saw around her. It made her heart thump harder, try though she did to stop it. She couldn’t let emotion get in the way of what she had to do here. She had to think of her girls. Her girls needed her. Or rather, her girls needed her to marry Rex with all that entailed.

  “Do you know where I might find Mr. Cole right now?” she asked, hoping she didn’t sound like a ninny.

  “Um…” The woman bit her lip, looking suddenly sheepish. “He’s probably at The Gingerbread Man.”

  Bonnie arched a brow. “The Gingerbread Man?”

  “It’s down that way, around the corner.” The woman pointed. “But it’s, well, it’s not exactly the most respectable of spots.”

  Bonnie couldn’t help but laugh out loud. If the woman only knew. And how typical of Rupert to find the most disreputable spot in an otherwise darling town.

  “Thank you…”

  “Rojita,” the woman answered. “Rojita Cutter.”

  “I’m Bonnie Horner.” She stepped over to shake the woman’s hand. “Thanks so much for your help.”