An Adventurous Life: Four Historical Romances

By Beth Overton

Mail Order Bride: Rescuing Her Kidnapped Sister With The Help Of Her Detective Fiancé - Two sisters from London set out for America to become mail order brides, but not together. One follows the other on a ship that set sail the previous day, and then meets up with her supposed mail order husband who is a Pinkerton detective. They set off for Nevada for any sign of the woman’s sister, who they believe is being held against her will.

Mail Order Bride: Accident Prone & Headed For Her Tall Cowboy - An overweight and accident-prone woman from Boston decides to make her way to Oklahoma, and to a tall cowboy with a checkered past. She doesn’t know that, and when she finds out, has almost decided to return to Boston when a few odd incidents drive any thought of returning home right out of her mind.

Mail Order Bride: The Bostonian & Her Prisoner Fiancé - When a woman gets off the train from Boston to meet her intended, she’s met instead by a federal marshal who tells her that her beau is in prison while possible treason charges are sorted out. After returning to his ranch and almost immediately, a strange series of events occurs and they are all centered on a tintype photo that her fiancé had sent to her, with a cryptic message engraved on the back.

Mail Order Bride: The Bostonian Divorcee & The Western Rancher - A woman from Boston, used to the high society there, decides to head west to the wide open spaces of Texas in order to be with her new fiancé and unknown to her, his very difficult and stubborn mother. She does her best to work with the mother but finally, things come to a head and she makes a difficult decision.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Beth Overton
• Release date: Apr 25, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310685965

Beth Overton

Beth Overton lives in Northern California with her husband and three cats. Besides writing romances, she loves to read everything she can get her hands on, as well as cooking up gourmet delights for her entire family.

Book preview

An Adventurous Life: Four Historical Romances

By

Beth Overton

Copyright 2016 Quietly Blessed & Loved Press

Mail Order Bride: Rescuing Her Kidnapped Sister With The Help Of Her Detective Fiancé

Mail Order Bride: Accident Prone & Headed For Her Tall Cowboy

Mail Order Bride: The Bostonian & Her Prisoner Fiancé

Mail Order Bride: The Bostonian Divorcee & The Western Rancher

Mail Order Bride: Rescuing Her Kidnapped Sister With The Help Of Her Detective Fiancé

Synopsis: Mail Order Bride: Rescuing Her Kidnapped Sister With The Help Of Her Detective Fiancé - Two sisters from London set out for America to become mail order brides, but not together. One follows the other on a ship that set sail the previous day, and then meets up with her supposed mail order husband who is a Pinkerton detective. They set off for Nevada for any sign of the woman’s sister, who they believe is being held against her will.

Amelia looked at the empty room, wondering where Mary could possibly be. There was nowhere out there for her to be at this hour and yet, she was nowhere to be seen. She wasn’t in the house. Their father was going to kill her if he found out that she was gone. Amelia didn’t like this. She didn’t like it one bit. Her sister was going to get the both of them in trouble if she didn’t stop the reckless behavior that was making her parents insane.

Well, they would be insane if they ever found out. Their daughters were supposed to be civilized and regal women that didn’t do things like sneak out late at night to explore London while they were visiting for their father’s trip.

There was something about being Mary’s twin that had always given Amelia a hard time. Mary used to say that Amelia was the one who was as pretty as a painting and just as boring. Amelia resented the way she treated her, saying that looks weren’t everything and a brain was worth twice as much.

She was the kind of person who would say hurtful things to Amelia and not think anything of it, but Amelia had always known when her sister had crossed a line and gone too far. There was something inside of her that called to her when Mary was doing something that was regrettable and completely irresponsible.

That feeling was going off insanely powerful as she looked around the room.

Outside, London was incredibly dreary and morose toward the residents of the fine city, but Amelia was growing sick of it. They had been living with their aunt and uncle for what felt like an eternity with no signs of going back to their home in the north anytime soon. Business was going well with their father, which meant that it was more boring strolls through the elegant places in London with their cousins while time just kept passing them by.

The rain pattered against the window and Amelia felt truly alone. Her sister had left her here and that was something that she was never going to forgive her of. She had abandoned her to their boring, wretched cousins. Darby and Clive were about as entertaining as a bowl when it came to the world of London.

Amelia had spent maybe a totally of five months in London in the length of her life, but she knew more interesting things about it than either of her cousins.

She walked into her sister’s room and saw the signs of a life that was more fortunate than others. This was a life that had never set well with Mary who was more adventurous and outgoing. She wanted to see the world and living in the shadow of her beautiful twin had never appealed to her. She would often hide in books and then run away from their villa, coming back with mud spattered on her dress and grass stains. She was a girl who was homely and driven to explore, something that made her feel warm was exploring and discovering.

Amelia had been born with the same drive, but her mother and father always felt that their gleaming, golden child should be the face of their family’s next generation. Smiling, beautiful, and always happy, Amelia was supposed to make it look like it was a pleasure that she was the heiress to her father’s bourgeoning empire that her family was so determined to build.

However, she wanted to run every second people were interviewing her father and she was forced to stand by like a statue, smiling in the finest clothing and the finest makeup that money could buy -- not that she needed it. She had been tired of all of it. She just wanted to be a person of her own adventure just like Mary always was.

Amelia might have been the pampered and pretty face of her father’s company, but she wasn’t a fool. She quickly went to the desk, opening the middle drawer where she hid everything that she wanted to keep out of sight and found exactly what she was looking for tucked away in the pages of her Bible that she never read. Leafing through the pages, Amelia found letters from men who were interested in her, none of them new or interesting. Amelia had no secrets to hide from her sister for this exact reason.

She no doubt had come into Amelia’s room, hunting for little hidden treasures, but Amelia kept herself clean and out of scandalous light, unlike her sister. As she looked through the pages, there was something that caught her attention.

It was a newspaper advertisement that she had torn out of their father’s newspaper and kept hidden. She would not have believed that this was what her sister was into unless she had found the piece of newspaper for herself. She looked at the advertisement and saw that this was undoubtedly the kind of sick and stupid plot that her sister was wrapped up in. She of all people would want to be involved with this kind of insane escapist fantasy.

The advertisement was for a mail ordered bride service and it was looking for beautiful and adventurous women who were looking to start a new life across the Atlantic in America with men who were paying top dollar to prove that they could provide for the women in their lives. The advertisement had a picture of a strapping, handsome American poised with a smile on his dignified and adventurous face.

There was something inside of Amelia that stirred at the sight of the advertisement and wondered if there was really something like this out in the world where women could simply sell themselves to a man and have a marriage, like some barbaric, arranged practice back in the Medieval times. It was horrid to think, but at the same time, it wasn’t that farfetched.

After all, her father was brokering deals with wealthy entrepreneurs every day for her hand in marriage that would benefit his industrial empire in India. The trading exports and such and such was something that her father obsessed about. She wanted to break away. She wanted to find a world that was her own just as much as Mary, but Mary had none of the pressure. What was she running away from?

The advertisement was tucked away in the Bible over a series of letters that she had been squirreling away for weeks now since they had been in London with their cousins. Amelia had often wondered what the letters were, but she had naively believed Mary when she had said that they were just from some friends of hers that were writing her from back home. Now, Amelia understood that it was something more than that. It was something completely different.

Amelia looked up from the Bible and stared at the mirror over the vanity and saw the perfect features of her face twisting with worry and frustration. How could Mary be so stupid? This was a horrible thing to think about. Her sister could be vanishing this very night to disappear into the mysterious cauldron that was the entire planet. She could go to America, but America was huge. There was so much about America that she didn’t know or understand and there was actual frontier there, lawless lands where no one really had any authority and that the police didn’t exist. What if she were kidnapped or attacked by the Indians that ran around murdering everyone? Or, what if some rebellious miner took off with her? The thought of all the possibilities in that strange, lawless land was too much for Amelia. She had to do something. She opened the first letter and scanned through the contents, finding anything that might give her a clue as to what her sister was doing.

As she read the first letter, she simply found that it was about her requesting to take part in this grand adventure to find a husband that will meet the desires of her heart. The man who was writing the letter asked her specifically what it was that she was interested in as far as living accommodations, lifestyle, and her various interests. The person also asked for a photograph of her. There was a sick, twisting feeling in the pit of Amelia’s stomach.

Mary and her had gone to a photographer not long ago and had the man take her picture. The man had praised both of the girls, but his pale blue eyes had been firmly planted on Amelia. Mary had nudged her angrily in frustration. She had always been jealous of Amelia, but it was becoming a serious problem as of late, a rift that Amelia couldn’t help but feel responsible for.

After all, it was her features and figure that made men look at her so and Mary was always jealous of that. There was no fixing this. It was simply who she was. Why would she always hold that against her? It wasn’t fair and it was cruel. Amelia had always tried to be the best sister that she had always been and Mary had thrown it back in her face. But as the man had stared at her, Mary had gotten angrier and angrier, but now it was Amelia’s turn to be angry.

She had gone with Mary to have the photograph taken for the two of them, for a bonding moment, not for her to mail it across the Atlantic for some stranger to look at. She checked the envelope and saw that it was hand delivered and that must have meant that they were nearby. She was sending these letters to someone locally and a courier was sending them back. If that were the case, then there was no way of her tracking them down by an address.

Amelia didn’t like that one bit.

The next letter talked about how the man was happy about her timely response. He requested that she identify which one of the two lovely ladies she was, a question that made Amelia feel extremely uncomfortable about. Why was Mary mixed up with all of this nonsense? The man praised her for her desire for an adventurous life and her willingness to be eager for anything that might come their way. He had also praised her for the idea that she was interested in a life out West, something that many of the mail order bride applicants weren’t too eager for, but was a lucrative world for anyone tough or brave enough to get what they needed.

As Amelia read the silver tongued words that were sent to her, she thought about all the stories of mountain men, savage Indians and outlaws on the run from the eastern law of America. What was Mary thinking? Was she trying to get herself killed?

All of this sounded like Mary was crying out for help and trying to get her father to pay attention to her in the way that he was always thinking about Amelia. The sound of it was something that made Amelia feel like they were beating the same tired, old drum over and over again. Mary was a spoiled child that was looking for trouble and she was going to get it if she didn’t turn her actions around.

Father was going to lock her away or send her to a convent, even if he wasn’t Catholic. Amelia looked at the half a dozen other letters that were tucked away in her Bible and she wondered what Mary was doing right now.

Was she meeting with this foul man? Was she going to a place to discuss this horrible arrangement with him? Mary grabbed the last letter to come, a letter that had arrived a day ago. She remembered the messenger smiling at her when he handed Mary the letter. Mary had rolled her eyes and stormed off while the messenger tipped his hat to Amelia and watched her all the way to the door closing, taking in every little glance of her that he could get. It was something that Amelia was used to as well.

The last letter was what looked to be the final correspondence between Mary and this strange man who always signed his name as John at the end of every letter. Amelia highly doubted that his name was even John. He said that the arrangements had been made and that they had found a suitable candidate for her to marry that was willing to provide a standard of living that she was comfortable with, as well as being able to prove it through payment to the company. Everything was in order for her to depart, if she were ready.

As she read the words, there was a sinking feeling in her stomach. She read where Mary was supposed to meet him and discuss the final matter and before she could figure out what to do next, she was rushing from the room, heading down the stairs and making her way for the door. She had to find Mary before she did something absolutely stupid. She had to stop her from ruining her life.

She had to do something.

Where are you headed? Darby asked her, looking up from the newspaper that he was reading, pressing his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he examined Amelia. Clive turned from the book that he was reading and stared at Amelia as well, crinkling his nose and furrowing his brow, as if he could hardly make out who it was that was standing before him. The sight of him staring at her so ridiculously made Amelia nervous. Something clicked inside of her as she stood just inches away from the door.

London was not safe late at night, especially for a panicked young woman looking for her sister. If she could go with her two boring, bumbling cousins, then she might be a little safer and a little less terrifying if she was being entirely honest with herself. Amelia considered herself brave, but she wasn’t stupid. There was no way that she was going to get herself into something that was going to be too much for her to deal with. It would be good to have others with her on this little adventure.

I’m thirsty and want something less pungent than what your father carries, Amelia said, trying to mask her true intentions so that she wouldn’t rouse any kind of suspicion or alarm from the others. She didn’t want to tell them anything that would get back to her father and have Mary sent to live somewhere where she’d never see the light of day again. No, if she could get Mary back safe, then everything would be perfectly fine. Care to join me?

At this hour? Darby