Mail Order Bride: Ruth & Thomas’ Story (A Clean Western Cowboy Romance)

By Doreen Milstead

An English woman, recently widowed and pregnant, decides to head for a farmer in Montana that she’s been corresponding with. The only problem she foresees is how he’ll react when he hears the news, as she’s delayed telling him for a while. Also, there’s a cowhand on the farm who appears to be jealous of her marriage with his boss, because he looks at her as an intruder in her own home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Susan Hart
• Release date: Aug 31, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310994272

Book preview

Mail Order Bride: A Clean Western Cowboy Romance (Ruth & Thomas’ Story)

By

Doreen Milstead

Copyright 2015 Classic Western Romances Presents

Synopsis: An English woman, recently widowed and pregnant, decides to head for a farmer in Montana that she’s been corresponding with. The only problem she foresees is how he’ll react when he hears the news, as she’s delayed telling him for a while. Also, there’s a cowhand on the farm who appears to be jealous of her marriage with his boss, because he looks at her as an intruder in her own home.

According to her doctor, she would start to show in another month. But it would not matter one bit. She would be far away. Far from clucking tongues and idle chatter. Far from the looks of pity. Far from the constant rain and gloom. Tucked away somewhere at the foot of the Rocky Mountains - with a husband.

From what she could tell from the grainy photographs he had sent her, he was a ruggedly handsome fellow. He was a rancher now, but had started out, as so many men had, as a gold prospector. After he had his fill of an up and down existence, as he had put it, he decided to either leave the state and go back home to Boston, or stay and put down roots. He had decided to stay and spent what little money he had left after the boom and bust times on a ranch and small herd of cattle. He had sent her a photo of the house.

It looked so peaceful set in among a stand of spruce trees.

It was hard for her to imagine how it was going to be living so far from other people. She worried about missing the contact. His nearest neighbor was two miles away. She was accustomed to London and the crowds of people - the stores and all conveniences near. In Montana, they had to take the horse and wagon into the nearest town to do shopping for essentials. The town was twenty miles away. It would take a full day to get there, shop and return at night in time for evening chores.

Well, she thought to herself, if he could do it, then so can I. In the back of her mind, she couldn’t help wonder what had made him leave a comfortable home and a career in law in Boston. From what she could make out from their correspondence over the past fourteen months, he was a refined, well-educated man from a family of means and standing in New England. It was this part of his background that had drawn her to him.

There had been countless proposals sent by the marriage broker. Many were interesting, some were downright disgusting, but he stood out from the crowd as one of a kind. It was hard to imagine a lawyer riding a horse and rounding up cattle.

Oh, horses! That was the other attraction. Her departed husband, Clive had loved horses and they had kept a small stable with several mounts just outside London. They would make weekend trips to the country to ride, and she loved it. The stable and horses had been sold to settle the death duties after her husband had passed away and she so missed the weekly escape from London.

Her parents kept a cottage in the country and had often offered to take her out. She had refused. At first it was just too soon after Clive’s passing – and then her doctor had given her the news that she was to be a mother. It