Sharing Amelia

By Samantha Madisen

Amelia puts on a brave face as she arrives at what will be her new home, ready to meet the man she is to marry. But instead of just one man, there are two waiting for her, both intent on marrying her.

After the initial shock wears off, Amelia realizes she has little choice but to do as the men ask and become a wife to both of them. When the two finally get her alone, she begins to understand what it will mean to be a Timber Creek Bride.

Colt and Bear have been saving for a mail-order bride for longer than they can remember. With the paltry sum they pay, the last thing they expect is the beautiful and innocent young woman that shows up.

They set about introducing her to what it means being married to not one, but two cowboys.

But trouble looms on the horizon in the form of the spiteful Angus Sneed who doesn't think much of the friend's lifestyle. Will they be able to find hapiness or will Sneed's scheming win out?

A steamy standalone novella with no cliffhanger and HEA.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ariel Lenov
• Release date: Apr 19, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386069836

Book preview

Chapter 1

Amelia

I don't normally speak this way but I can honestly say it was hot as sin in that stagecoach.

The noon-day sun was beating down through the wooden roof and with the driver trying to save the horses we weren't going nearly fast enough for a breeze, hot as it would have been.

My heart was beating fast enough just from the heat, not to mention that I would be at my destination soon.

I folded one hand inside the other in front of me. It gave me comfort, the way holding someone else's hand might. I sat a little more upright on the bench and looked out the window into the glaring light.

In the distance, a few houses or shops, whatever they were, had begun to dot the landscape. Seeing them sent a ripple of nerves trembling through me.

It meant we were close. It meant I was close to my destiny.

It had not been easy, leaving Boston and the familiar northwest and embarking into the unknown. I had been sure that father would have had something, some kind of legacy to leave behind after his death.

You can imagine my shock when Mr. Ellison, our family lawyer, told me the money father had worked so hard to earn had been gambled away in the last few years of his life.

He'd taken to the drink, father had, after mother had died. I'd said nothing because... well, because that was a man's business and not mine. He was still a good provider and I was only eighteen and though he loved me and never would have laid a hand on me it did not seem like my place to point out his vice.

I suppose I blame myself for his death. Perhaps if I'd said something, if I'd had more courage to say something, he might have stopped and still been alive.

None of that mattered now. What was done was done and best left in the past. Now all I could do was hold my head high and hope that everything would turn out alright.

The stage coach came to an abrupt stop. Peeking out the window I realized I'd become so lost in my thoughts that I hadn't noticed we'd come into the town and stopped in front of what looked to be a saloon.

I drew in a quick breath and not by my own choice. It was the sort of place one would see back home on the poorer side of town. A ramshackle clapboard structure whose outside had been ground down by the wind and the sand and the desert sun.

My heart skipped a beat as I heard the driver dismount. His footsteps crunched across the hot gravel sand and a moment later the latch turned and the door swung open letting in another blast of heat.

This'll be you, ma'am, the driver said, stooping to unfold the step below the coach.

I tried to swallow away the tightness in my throat. I'd thought of this moment countless times over the past months.

Born and raised in the city by two loving parents, upstanding members of their community and church, I could only imagine what a life in the harsh, hot desert surrounded by cowpokes and ruffians might be like.

I'd read a book or two as a child about the west. Snuck to me by Sunday school friend Agnes, of course, my parents never would have allowed me to read such a thing in our own home.

I remember the terror of imagining what the lives of women living out here must be like.

Now I was to find out first hand.

The driver offered his hand as I put my foot on the step. I took it, if only to steady the shake in my arm brought on by my nerves.

It had quickly become clear to me that this was the only option in my life. Well, there were other, more tasteless paths I could have taken. This, at least, would have the legitimate blessing of the Lord.

I would be properly married, in a proper church by a proper pastor, so I had been assured by the agency. Even if it was not the wedding I had always dreamed of, at least it would be that and not a dirty bed at a house of sin.

My hat offered a modest protection against the glare but none against the heat of the sun. Stepping onto the burning sand, I could feel it heating the soles of my shoes.

I straightened and glanced around as the driver rounded the coach to retrieve my small trunk.

The street, though it could barely be called that, was empty. In fact it seemed like there was no one in the town at all, so quiet were the surroundings.

I startled at the sound of the saloon doors swinging open and boots stepping out onto the porch.

Two men emerged.

One was tall and broad in the shoulders. He wore a black vest over a white shirt and black trousers along with a black wide-brimmed hat.

All that black made me hot just looking at him.

He did have the most striking blue eyes.

I looked away toward the ground and said a quick prayer of repentance for noticing such an earthly thing. His gaze drew me back.

His jaw was strong and he wore a light stubble on it.

My stomach fluttered at the sight of him, though I wasn't quite sure why.

His companion might have been a bear if he'd had more fur. He was a burly fellow with a barrel chest and a shock of red hair. Hair covered his muscled forearms and the rest of him was covered by a white shirt and brown trousers.

Surprisingly, neither of the men wore chaps or boots, as I had expected cowboys would.

They seemed to both be waiting for something or someone and my heart did another little dance inside my chest at the thought that one of them was waiting for me.

I wondered which one it might be?

Miss Amelia Anders? the dark one asked, stepping into the heat of the sun. He seemed not bothered in the least by it.

I folded my hands together in front of myself so tightly my nails dug into my palms. A bead of sweat formed on my forehead but I did not dare move to wipe it off. "Yes. I mean... I-I am Amelia Anders," I replied.

So this was the one. This man was to be my husband. This was the person I was to spend the rest of my life with.

Will that be all then, ma'am?

I turned at the sound of the driver's voice to see that he had removed my luggage, closed the door of the carriage and was waiting, hat in hand. It took a moment for me to realize what for.

A bit flustered, I fumbled to open my purse and pull my wallet from it when the gentleman in black and white stepped forward, hand cupped and dropped some coins into the drivers outstretched hand.

If my cheeks hadn't been red enough from the sun and the sand, they were surely red with embarrassment now. I felt as if my face might light afire, it was so hot.

Thank-you sir, the driver mumbled and retreated back up onto his perch. A moment later the whip cracked and the caravan rumbled to life, hooves clopping and wheels turning until it rolled out of view behind the saloon.

Then it was just I and the gentleman in black and white and the other gentleman still watching us from the porch.

And all I wanted to do was to crawl into a hole in the ground and never come out.

Ms Anders?

Yes? I muttered, avoiding his eyes.

My name's Colt Sparks. I'm to be your husband.

The words sent a thrill and a heat and a shiver rushing through me all at once. I swallowed back the urge to cry.

It wasn't even that I was so terribly sad, it was an adventure of sorts, after all. It's just that I hadn't envisioned any of this happening at all the way it was.

Now that I was standing there ready to seal my fate, I couldn't help but wonder what mother and father would have thought at how this had all ended up. Or pastor Thomas from back home.

I bit the inside of my cheek as hard as I could to keep myself from crying.

It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Sparks. Somehow I found the courage to look up into those piercing blue eyes.

One corner of his mouth curled, then cracked into a smile.

I dare say it put me at ease, the way he smiled at me. I suppose I'd envisioned a hard man, a man who barely talked and never smiled. This was... well, it was a relief.

I think, he began, then, glanced at his friend before looking back at me, considering the circumstances, you should call me Colt, he said in a friendly but firm way. And, may I...

It took me a moment to understand what he was referring to. I wanted to kick myself at the way my face lit up in another fiery blush. Of course. Of course, Mr. Colt, er, Colt. Please, call me Amelia.

His smile widened and moved into his eyes. Amelia, he said softly. "It's a