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

  Meri frowned. “George Pickering, George Pickering. Where have I heard that name before?”

  Bonnie’s lips twitched. “Rev. George Pickering, pastor of Haskell’s church.”

  Meri’s eyes popped wide, her mouth forming an O. “Rev. Pickering?”

  “Yep.” Bonnie nodded. “Just Georgie back then. He was determined to work his way through every girl in Flo’s establishment. And after one or two, word got around that he was exactly the sort you wanted working his way through you. The girls were lining up to entertain him.”

  Meri pressed a hand to her chest and swallowed. “Rev. Pickering?”

  “He was young and stupid back then too,” Bonnie smirked. “Well, my turn finally came. I won’t lie by saying I wasn’t looking forward to it. It was a busy night, the kind where I’d be likely to entertain two or three men at least before I could go to sleep. George liked to take his time, though.”

  “You didn’t—” Meri turned positively green.

  Bonnie paused before saying, “We hadn’t been in my room for more than five or ten minutes. Enough time to get cozy, but not much else. I smelled smoke, but a lot of men brought their cigars or pipes into the place. Only, it wasn’t tobacco smoke. A fire had broken out downstairs.”

  “Oh, my.” Meri’s eyes went wide.

  “Not just any fire either,” Bonnie explained. “Flo kept a lot of alcohol on the premises, and it caught.” She shook her head. “It didn’t just catch, it exploded like a shell on a battlefield.”

  Meri gasped, slapping a hand to her mouth.

  “The whole place was alight in no time. It was chaos.” Bonnie shivered at the horrific memory, hugging herself. “It’d been a dry summer, and nothing they could do got that fire under control. There were screams everywhere, men and women caught on upper floors, trapped, burning.” She swallowed hard, eyes unfocused as she remembered. “By some miracle, George and I were able to get the window of my room open. It was a long drop to the ground, but he urged me to go, said he’d lower me to the ground so I wouldn’t get hurt. But I couldn’t leave the other girls. Their lives had been tragic up to that point. I couldn’t let their deaths be tragic too. So instead of fleeing, I ran deeper into the house to try to save some of my friends.”

  Meri was silent. Bonnie took a deep, shuddering breath, trying not to get lost in that night.

  “George rushed to help me instead of saving himself. Together, we managed to rescue five other girls before the fire raged too far. Then we were in trouble. The floor started to burn under us.” She paused, smelling the smoke, feeling the heat, the panic. “I don’t actually remember much for a while at that point, but I know that working together, George and I managed to get out, get to safety. We spent the night together, but there was no funny business between us. The good people of Denver didn’t care much one way or another what happened to a whorehouse and its inhabitants. No one came to help. They didn’t even try to put out the fire, only to stop it from spreading to respectable businesses.”

  “That’s horrible.”

  Bonnie focused on Meri, pulled back into the present. “It’s mighty kind of you to say so. Few people think like that, in my experience.”

  “Well, more should.” Meri nodded.

  A faint smile quirked the corners of Bonnie’s mouth. “That right there is part of the reason I do what I do.”

  “Which is?” Meri prompted her.

  Bonnie sighed and dove back into her memories one more time. “George and I made it through that night, but we were both changed in so many ways. All I could think about was that I had to help the girls that no one else would help. George, on the other hand, had a more religious experience. He told me that God had spoken to him that night, telling him to put aside his wicked ways and serve Him. I don’t doubt that He did.”

  “So he became a minister?”

  Bonnie nodded. “He made a promise right then and there to spend the rest of his life serving God and helping His people. He hoped that I would turn over a new leaf and tread the straight and narrow too. He even gave me money—a lot of it—to start a new life before heading back East to go to seminary.”

  “How wonderful of him.” Meri brightened.

  “George is a wonderful man, through and through. He just needed to do a little growing up. We both did. That night would make even the smallest-minded person grow. George and I parted as friends and stayed friends all through his seminary years. We wrote to each other as often as we could.”

  A curious look passed over Meri’s face. “Was there ever anything…romantic between the two of you?”

  Bonnie smirked over the loaded question and shook her head. “I may have been a whore, but I was a married woman. Business was business, but my heart remained faithful to my husband.” A wave of deep grief washed over her with those words. She had remained faithful to Rupert in her heart…up until Rex. But the story hadn’t gone that far yet. “George might have had ideas about me. He didn’t know I was married. In fact…” She sighed, then shook her head. That was a whole other kind of pain.

  She sat straighter and cleared her throat. “Some people’s idea of turning over a new leaf and leading a better life is different than other people’s. I gathered up the girls who had made it out of Flo’s. There were only seven of us total. We pooled our resources at first, putting our heads together. George’s money was generous, but if we spent it all, it wouldn’t take us very far and we’d be right back where we started. We decided that the best way to ensure our safety and security was to start our own establishment. Not in Denver, though. Somewhere quiet and cozy. Somewhere with a lot of men who had money to spend, but weren’t dirty or deviant. Somewhere that was growing.”

  “Haskell,” Meri guessed.

  Bonnie nodded. “I’d heard all about Howard Haskell in Cincinnati, before ever leaving the East. He was legendary. I don’t know what made me think to look for him, but I told the girls to sit tight for a bit and headed out to search for Howard. When I found him, I asked for his advice. Turns out he thought it would be a good idea to set up a whorehouse in his budding new town, because all the ranch hands that were coming through there had been pestering local girls and getting into trouble. We struck a deal, I bought a building on Main Street, and sent for the girls. We keep the lid on all that young, male energy, and Howard makes sure his men know that just because a girl is a whore doesn’t mean she can be abused.”

  “But…do you…” Meri swallowed.

  Bonnie shook her head. “I own and run the place. I don’t entertain. Well, except Rex.”

  “Rex Bonneville?” Meri ventured.

  “One and the same. We have an arrangement. I pose as his lady friend, letting everyone think he’s as virile as a lion, and in return, he gives me all the money I need to keep my Place up and running. And—”

  “Wait, you pose as his lady friend?”

  Bonnie smirked. “It’s been years since Rex has been able to kick up his heels, if you know what I mean.”

  “You mean he’s…”

  “Soft as an uncooked biscuit.”

  A short, guilty giggle escaped from Meri before she forced her expression to be grave. “Oh, I shouldn’t be laughing at that at all. It’s an unfortunate problem, a health problem.”

  “Yes, well, as it turns out, it’s my problem, because now he’s demanding I marry him and produce a son, an heir.”

  Meri frowned. “But wait, if he…if he’s incapable, how does he expect you to give him a son?”

  Bonnie’s expression darkened. “I haven’t asked that far ahead. To tell you the truth, I think I know. But my Place… He’s…well, it’s my own damned fault, really, but he’s more involved than people think. I can’t lose the Place. I do good work,” she assured Meri with a sudden burst of intensity. “It’s not just about keeping the men of Haskell satisfied and docile. I educate those girls. I teach them, help them improve. This year we started a program for the ones who want to settle into new lives. But that requires new cl
othes, money for lodgings, travel, all of that. George isn’t the only one who saves souls, and saving them costs a pretty penny.”

  “But you’re willing to do what you have to in order to save them,” Meri finished her thought.

  Bonnie nodded. “Which is why I’ve come to Everland. I need Rupert to sign divorce papers so that I can marry Rex.”

  Meri fixed her with a doubtful look. “I know Rupert, and even though I didn’t know he was married, I think you’ll have a hard time getting him to do that.”

  She was right. “I have to try. Those girls are depending on me. Their futures depend on me.”

  Meri frowned and thought about it all for a moment. “Surely, there must be some other way, some other source of capital? Could you ask Mr. Haskell for money?”

  Bonnie shook her head, “Howard is helping out so many people in town in so many ways. His funds are stretched to the limit. I couldn’t ask for more.”

  “What about Mr. Gunn? I’ve heard stories about him. Doesn’t he help people too?”

  “He’s already helping as much as he can,” Bonnie said. “He’s instrumental in our relocation program.”

  “Oh.” Meri deflated. A moment later, she perked up. “What about Rev. Pickering? Does he still have money?”

  Bonnie let her shoulders drop. That was the last part of the story she had to tell. “He does, but he won’t give a penny of it to me.”

  “Not even for the girls?”

  Bonnie shook her head.

  “Why not?”

  “He doesn’t approve of the way I spend money.” When Meri just stared at her in confusion, Bonnie told the last bit of the story. “When George finished seminary and was ordained, he wanted to come back West. He said it was to minister to the heathens, the kind of man he had been. I suspected it had more to do with the fact that I still hadn’t told him I was married. Howard was looking for a man to take over the church in Haskell, so I mentioned that opening. The two of them made arrangements without me, which was fine. But when George showed up, when he saw that I’d taken the money he’d given me and opened a whorehouse—or so he saw it—he was livid.”

  “I suppose that makes sense, if all he saw was the whores and not what you were doing for them.”

  “Exactly. We had a row that rivaled the ones Rupert and I used to have. George was so hurt that I would use money he’d intended for salvation for a cause that he saw as sinful that he swore he’d never forgive me.”

  “But did he?”

  Bonnie tilted her head to the side. “I think so? He knows that I’m doing more with my Place than entertaining men. He preaches to my girls when he can and lets them attend church services when a lot of other preachers wouldn’t. But even though I’ve asked, he won’t give a cent to help support the place.” Before Meri could chastise George for that, Bonnie added, “I don’t really blame him either. His money is his to do with as he sees fit. Of course, I think he’d have cracked and given something to me when the bank…that is, when I ran into some trouble, if Rupert hadn’t showed up in Haskell four years ago. That’s when George discovered I was married.”

  “Rupert has been to Haskell? He knew you were there for, what did you say, four years?”

  Bonnie nodded, glancing down at her skirt again. “I didn’t tell him when I moved. As I understand it, while my life was moving toward Haskell, his moved here to Everland. Then one day about four years ago, he found out by chance where I was. He showed up on my doorstep, ready to argue me into coming back with him. But just as George did, when he found out I’d had a chance to live a different life but didn’t take it, he was furious. He thought—wrongly, I might add—that I was one of the girls, fooling around with men like they did, instead of being their mother hen, the one who watches out for them. George tried to set him straight, but Rupert wouldn’t listen. He thought George was more than a friend.” She sighed heavily. “Rupert stormed out of town before he calmed down, before anyone could explain things to him.”

  “And…and is that where things stand now?” Meri asked, a sliver of hope in her expression.

  Bonnie shrugged. “That’s where they are, if you consider that any place to be. Rupert thinks I’m a whore, George only half forgave me, and Rex has ideas about me having a baby that he can claim as his heir that require me to divorce Rupert and marry him.”

  Meri frowned. “Does Mr. Bonneville know that you’re still married to Rupert?”

  “No,” Bonnie answered definitively. “No one in Haskell does.” She paused and tilted her head to the side. “Well, that’s not true. I told my friend Honoria and her husband Solomon just before getting on the train to come here, but I trust them with my life. No one else in Haskell knows about Rupert, and I intend to keep it that way.”

  Silence followed as Meri digested the entire tale. A strange weight seemed to lift off of Bonnie’s shoulders now that she’d shared the whole ball of wax with another soul. But it was only a chip of the total weight she carried. There were still so many things that kept her mind and gut twisted up with worry. Unless things turned out exactly the way she needed them to, it was her girls who would suffer. Girls like Pearl and Della and Samantha, who had come from the bottom of the barrel through no fault of their own and worked hard to live a new life. She refused to let those girls down the way she had been let down all those years ago.

  At last, Meri sighed. “I still don’t think Rupert will consent to a divorce,” she admitted. “But I’m going to think about this for a while to see if there’s anything I could do, any way Everland might help.” She reached out and patted Bonnie’s hand.

  “I couldn’t ask you to do that,” Bonnie was quick to correct her. “This isn’t savory business. I would never ask someone as upright and respected as you to get involved.”

  “Nonsense.” Meri brushed away her concern. “Furthermore, to prove that I don’t hold anything against you, I’d like you to come to my daughter Zelle’s wedding tomorrow.”

  Bonnie’s brow flew up. “Your daughter’s wedding? Oh, no, I couldn’t. You don’t want someone like me there.”

  “Yes, I do. And what’s more, I’d like you to come to the celebration we’re having tonight. It’s sort of a party after we rehearse for the wedding. It was supposed to be simple, but of course one thing led to another, and now the entire town is using it as an excuse to hold a dance. You should be there.”

  “I can’t impose on you that way.”

  “I insist.” Meri stood, squeezing Bonnie’s shoulder. “I won’t take no for an answer. Now why don’t you head back to wherever it is you’re staying and rest your foot. The wound isn’t so bad, so if you keep it clean and stay off of it as much as possible—which means no dancing at the party tonight—you’ll be good as new in no time.”

  “Mrs. Carpenter, I can’t thank you enough.” Bonnie stood, hesitated for a moment, then threw her arms around Meri in a hug. “I’ve met so few truly generous souls in this world. You make me think that there might be hope after all.”

  “There’s always hope,” Meri assured her. She smiled as Bonnie let her go. “Come to the party tonight and you’ll see that.”

  Chapter 5

  Rupert had to be dragged to the pre-wedding party for Dmitri and Zelle kicking and screaming. Almost literally.

  “There’s no point in me being around people who are trying to celebrate when I’m in such a bad mood,” he argued with Skipper and Max as they pushed him along the road toward the Carpenters’ house. Ahead, he could see lights and hear music, and he caught a whiff of something delicious cooking. But it didn’t change his mind one bit. “Just let me go home.”

  “No way.” Max shook his head and shoved Rupert in the back.

  “You can’t turn into a hermit just because you’re a little crabby,” Skipper added with a chuckle for his pun.

  Rupert glowered. He had a bad feeling his two friends were up to something. That feeling intensified when they stepped into the Carpenters’ yard—beautifully decorated for the pa
rty—and he was smacked upside the head with the sight of Bonnie. She stood somewhat to the edge of the revelers, observing rather than taking part. As always, she was beautiful and dressed in the latest fashions. She held a cup of something and her skirt swayed slightly to the rhythm of the music.

  Rupert pivoted and turned to go.

  “No, no, no!” Both of his so-called friends grabbed him and spun him around, pushing him back to the party.

  “You can’t go now,” Skipper argued. “You’ve already been seen.”

  Sure enough, Bonnie was now glancing over her shoulder, a soft, almost melancholy smile on her lips. She lowered her lashes fetchingly as soon as they made eye contact.

  “What kind of friends would we be if we let an opportunity like this pass you by?” Max chuckled.

  “What kind of friends are you to push me into this mess?” Rupert muttered.

  They didn’t listen to him. They each grabbed hold of his arms and marched him across the remaining space to Bonnie. Her expression changed quickly to good-natured flirting as she pulled her eyes away from Rupert and greeted the other two. “Why, good evening Mr. King, Mr. DeVille.”

  “You can call me Max,” Max flirted right back.

  Rupert scowled at him. It was one thing to drag him into a conversation, but to cozy up to Bonnie himself?

  “All right, Max then,” Bonnie laughed. The sound of her laughter sent shivers down Rupert’s spine, shivers that settled restlessly in his groin. “And I suppose I should call you Odysseus?” She turned to Skipper.

  “Skipper will do.” Skip grinned, then deliberately glanced into the crowd of dancing, chatting partygoers. “Oh look, Max, it’s Petronella, and she looks lonely.”

  “Oh no. We can’t have that,” Max replied like a bad actor.