Bride School: Mary (The Brides of Diamond Springs Ranch 4) Read Free

Carnegie was in town, Fontaine made certain the woman's orders were followed to the
letter. When Mrs. Carnegie was out of town, Fontaine was as prickly as a
porcupine, always nervous that something would go wrong while she was in charge
of the ranch. But hopefully, those worries of hers would keep her from looking
too closely at faces.
    Mary moved to stand in front of the long mirror
and had to look twice to know for certain it wasn't Alexandra Campbell standing
there with a freshly reduced bosom.
    “Alexandra.”
    Mary turned to see who had entered the room, but
found only Alexandra sitting on the bed behind her.
    “That’s you, my dear. You’re going to have to
answer to my name for the rest of the evening. I promise to stay tucked in this
room until you return. But you must make an effort to be convincing.”
    Mary took the woman’s hand in both of hers and
gave them a squeeze. “I promise, Fairy Godmother.”
    They laughed for a bit, and then Mary took a seat
in the chair beside the door to wait for the clock to strike the half hour. All
around them, Stoddard house grew eerily quiet, like snow falling in the
woods—there were living, breathing things out there, but none of them moved
about.
    “Look!” Alexandra moved to the side of the window
and Mary joined her there, grateful for anything that might distract her from
the twisting of her own stomach. “It is snowing.”
    Mary smiled at the notion that the sound of snow
falling had put the thought in her head. She listened closely, trying to hear
it again, then laughed when she realized how impossible it was. She was content
to stand still and watch the white flakes grow fatter until a hulking carriage
rolled into view. Then another.
    Alexandra sighed. “I’m pleased to see Fontaine
hasn’t canceled the dance on account of the storm, after all that work on your
hair.”
    Mary shook her coiffed head carefully. “I’m
certain the storm wouldn’t dare cross the Mighty Fontaine. She’ll give the
clouds one sour look and they’ll suck up the snowflakes and flee. We’ll have
dry roads if she ordains it.”
    The wide brim of Fontaine’s hat rose in their
direction and the pair of them gasped and stepped away from the glass like
naughty children. When they giggled, they did so quietly.
    Alexandra helped Mary don her fur-lined cloak of
Scottish wool and carefully lifted the hood over the little hat. “Be wary,” she
said. “Look straight ahead. If you move your head to either side, the cap will
twist your hair loose.
    Mary nodded once.
    “And don’t nod, for heaven’s sake.”
    “All right.”
    “And don’t speak when you’re near Fontaine. Once
you’re inside the town hall, you may do as you please.”
    “All right,” she whispered.
    “Load up!” Fontaine’s bellow boomed from the
hallway. The woman wouldn’t have dared summon them in such a manner had Mrs.
Carnegie been about. But everyone was willing to forgive her, knowing as they
did how important it was to Fontaine that things run smoothly. It nearly made
Mary feel guilty for the ruse.
    Alexandra gave her a scowl. “I know what you’re
thinking, Mary, and you can cease such thoughts this instant. This has nothing
to do with you wanting to dance. You’re doing me a grave favor, and that’s the
truth of it. Don’t you suffer a moment’s guilt for taking my place. I’m certain
Fontaine herself would have agreed, had we explained things to her.”
    Mary was just as certain Alexandra was wrong. With
the gunslinger as nervous as a cat, she likely would have locked Mary in a
closet and horsewhipped Alexandra all the way to town if she’d had been let in
on the plan.
    But it was too late now. There was no going back,
not after the Scotswoman had spent so much time on her hair. If Mary tried to
renege, no doubt it would be herself being horsewhipped all the way to Sage
River, in the snow, and Alexandra wielding the whip.
    No choice now. No sense torturing myself. May
as well enjoy