Mail Order Bride Leah: A Sweet Western Historical Romance (Montana Mail Order Brides Series Book 1)

Mail Order Bride Leah: A Sweet Western Historical Romance (Montana Mail Order Brides Series Book 1) Read Free Page B

Book: Mail Order Bride Leah: A Sweet Western Historical Romance (Montana Mail Order Brides Series Book 1) Read Free
Author: Rose Jenster
Ads: Link
hope,
Not-Ophelia
    She signed the letter with the little nickname he’d given her in his letter, thinking it might form a link between them, a personal connection of some sort. Impetuously, she kissed the letter and sealed it. She dreamt sweet dreams of far-off mountains that night and awaited his next message. Though she had indicated she would only check the post every few weeks, she kept a faithful vigil each day, hoping unreasonably for a letter even before hers could have reached him. One day her expectation was rewarded with one that must have been mailed before hers was even received.
    Dear Leah,
    I have not yet heard from you. That is not meant as a reproach, as I know the mails take much time to reach across this great mass of land. It is only that I am anxious to hear from you. Not anxious, I think, but expectant, perhaps excited, if that were not a juvenile impulse unbefitting a man of business. Therefore if I were excited I would certainly not own to the fact.
    There is much I do not own to here. The postmaster knows that I subscribe to the lending library but no one else does. I take the agricultural papers as a matter of course so I may keep informed of the events concerning my fellow citizens but it is of no interest to me in itself. I order some titles by mail to own. It was the last time I filled out a catalog form to secure the newest of Mark Twain that I wondered why might I not order a bride with the same spirit, as other men have done? Select a volume I would like to read again and again as I have Mr. Twain’s Roughing It. Does it seem arrogant to suggest I may shop for a wife in the same way? I do not mean it as an insult, only I am sometimes flippant, careless in my speech and I revere books, so do not think me irreverent in my discussing you as just such a wished-for item I might order.
    Reading is not a pastime much approved in this region. So much of life out here is rough and uncivilized. Men, if they have leisure time, will spend it whittling, smoking, hunting for extra game. Physical strength is valued, as well as piety and modesty, so outside ideas and new philosophies are not welcomed with zeal. I keep my reading to myself, but I may talk of it with you. I ride around the countryside. I have a favorite mount, a stallion I call Dionysius, that I bought at auction two years ago for a bargain after being told he was unrideable. The owner had tried to break him but failed, only managing to injure his mouth with a large bit. I trained him myself and I ride him bareback, as it seemed he was most frightened of the bridle and saddle. I will not expect you to ride without a proper ladies’ saddle, though. Apart from Indians, I am the only man in Montana, I believe, who rides bareback…men around Billings think it too risky.
    I debated with myself three nights altogether as to whether it would distress you to receive another long letter from me before you had an opportunity to reply to the first. Ultimately, I decided that if you were to bear with one such as me for any time at all, you would have to be more robust in your sensibilities than to be prim and proper about my waiting a decorous interval before writing again.
    A bit about my life here—I have made it sound restrictive, I fear, as if Montana were populated by ignorant ruffians. That is not the case at all. The Northern Pacific Railroad has made Billings a major rail hub, so many people who are moving West come here. My inn has prospered as a stopping place for those visiting relatives or needing a place to rest before traveling further than the rail line goes. I sell and rent horses and wagons as well, which is a booming business.
    In the next year, I expect to build on to the inn—a large front room and a kitchen to serve as a restaurant. With the shortage of womenfolk, the men eat whatever they can fry up in a single pan and would gladly part with their hard-earned money for a genuine home-cooked dinner. I see a great deal of opportunity

Similar Books

Deadly Secrets

Jaycee Clark

Death In Hyde Park

Robin Paige

The Distance Between Us

Masha Hamilton

Valley of Ashes

Cornelia Read

THOR

Sasha Gold

Hammer

Jessie Lane, Chelsea Camaron