Tame a Wild Bride, a Western Romance Read Free

family now.   Their best interests are mine as well.   We want them to grow up and be able to succeed in any endeavor they choose and they need schooling to be able to do that.”  
    “I agree.”   He looked surprised that she’d be thinking of the children, but he shouldn’t have.   She’d made it clear in her letters she wanted children.
    It was still light outside when they finished dinner.   Tom suggested they go for a walk and he’d show her the town.   Though she dearly wanted her bath she thought it might be best to spend the time with her new husband.   She asked Mary to wait on the bath.
    Creede was not large by any stretch of the imagination, but there was everything necessary for a farmer, rancher or miner.   Two hotels besides the boarding house, a mercantile and feed store, barber shop, bank, sheriff’s office, courthouse, two churches, ten saloons and several whorehouses, which she didn’t stop to count.   She supposed the miners, from the surrounding silver mines, had to go somewhere to spend their money and let off steam.   She doubted many of them did it in church.
    It took them about an hour to walk down one side of town and up the other.   They walked side-by-side, but Tom made sure to keep his distance and didn’t hold her hand.   She really couldn’t blame him considering the state of her clothes.   Twilight had settled on the town by the time they got back to the boarding house.
    Rosie was nervous.   There was no other way to put it.   Tonight was her wedding night and she had no experience, no real idea of what would happen and what was expected of her.   She wished they could wait for a while before they became intimate.   She didn’t think Tom would like the idea so she was surprised by his words as they walked up the stairs to their room.
    “Rosie, I know you’re nervous about tonight but you don’t need to be.   I’m not taking you to bed tonight.   Maybe not anytime soon.   But I will bed you, hell, that’s what a wife is for, but just so you know, there’ll be no more children.   I’ll see to that.”
    Even though she’d wanted to wait, she didn’t mean forever.   She was flabbergasted and hurt.   He was killing her dreams.   The one thing she wanted more than anything was children.   Her own children.
    “May I ask why?”   Her voice broke as she choked out the question.
    Tom was straight forward with his answer.   No beating around the bush for him.   “My wife left me for some sweet talkin’, low life peddler.   Then she had the good taste to go and get herself killed in a carriage accident.   I’ve got no use for a woman in my life.   My children do.   You’re here for them.   I love my children but I don’t want to be left to raise more when you leave.”
    Now she knew where the bitterness came from.   Not from his love for his first wife but the woman’s betrayal of him.   “Not all women are as shallow and self-centered as your wife was.”
    “You couldn’t prove it by me.”   His eyes blazed with anger.   “If you want an annulment, now is the time to say so.”
    He might as well have slapped her.   The pain would have been easier to take.   “I don’t plan on needing an annulment.   I made a bargain and I’ll keep it.   I appreciate your consideration in telling me, you might have done so in our letters.   Don’t expect me to be happy about it.   You lured me here under false pretenses without disclosing some pertinent facts.   You married me without giving me a chance to say no.   Your children are mine now, but I still want a child of my own.   I’m not asking for your love.   And I’ll never ask you for another thing.”
    She must have gotten to him.   He answered her, “You’ll never have my love or interest but I’ll consider what you’ve said.   As for now the fact we haven’t had intercourse doesn’t mean we won’t appear to be a happily married couple.   You will share my bed, for