Minding Benji: Sweethearts of Jubilee Springs

By Sandra E Sinclair

Prudence Fairchild went from riches to rags. The world she knew was swept from under her with the death of her parents. Destined to a life of servitude, she realizes the struggles of being poor comes with the risk of being taken advantage of.

She uses everything in her, to ward off the advances of her employer. His threats to have her on his return from a business trip drives Prudence into action. She must get away and protect her virtue at any cost. It's all she has left. As a last resort, she answers an advertisement to be a mail order bride.

Austin Alwin is not happy about the condition placed on him in his uncle's will. If he is to keep the only home he's ever known, he must find a wife within a few weeks or lose it all. As time is of the essence, he forgoes all the usual protocols in obtaining a mail order bride and will only have a few short days to make up his mind once he meets her.

Both Prudence and Austin are about to have a life altering decision to make as they are faced with an unexpected addition to their pending nuptials.

Will this bundle of joy pull the couple together or tear them apart?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sandra E Sinclair
• Release date: Jun 22, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386067320

Book preview

MINDING BENJI

Sweethearts of Jubilee Springs

Book 5

SANDRA E SINCLAIR

Copyright © 2017 Sandra E Sinclair

All rights reserved.

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to

The hard-working authors of the Sweet Americana Sweethearts blog who provide the world with sweet/clean historical romances about North Americans between 1820 and 1929.

I’D ALSO LIKE TO GIVE a special mention to Kathie Hamilton who has managed to continue to support and encourage me with my writing. Even during times of great physical stress. As well as Amanda Hammond and many of the members of my fan group. They are too many to mention here, however, to all of them, I say THANK YOU...

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book is part of a multi-author series sponsored by the authors who write for the Sweet Americana Sweethearts blog. My appreciation and thanks go to those other authors who helped develop the fictional mining town of

Jubilee Springs along the Arkansas River in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

I also wish to thank my editor, Meg Amor, for helping to make this manuscript as accurate as possible.

DISCLAIMER

The town of Jubilee Springs, and all the characters described in this story are fictional. They are not based on any real persons, past or present. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and unintended.

Chapter 1

A re you sure this is what you want? Maddy asked.

I don’t know what I want. But I know what I need, and this isn’t it, Prudence said, pacing the room. Mr. Langton had gotten familiar with her for the last time. Prudence Fairchild wasn’t so desperate she’d welcome the advances of a married man just to get by.

She had to find a way out of this situation; and the matrimonial pamphlet Maddy had shown her was as good an answer as any. Because right now, she was all out of ways to avoid Mr. Langton’s roaming eyes and wandering hands.

I do know, Pru. Your place is here. I showed it to you as a joke so we could laugh at the desperation of some women. I mean, who wants to marry a man they don’t know?

You know what, Maddy, I do. I’m one of those desperate women you want to laugh at, because from where I’m standing, anything is better than this. She waved her hands out, indicating the tiny space they shared.

How can that be? We have a roof over our heads, warm food in our bellies, and a wage at the end of the week. We’re doing a lot better than most in our position. Besides, who’s going to finish teaching me to read? Maddy leaped off her bed and stood in front of Prudence, bringing her pacing to a halt.

Prudence stared at her friend with a wry smile. In another life they would never have been friends. Maddy would have been lucky if they had shared more than a sentence together. Now she wouldn’t change what they had for the world.

You don’t need me for that anymore, Maddy; I’ve taught you the basics and you’re doing fine. You managed to read the pamphlet all on your own—enough to find it funny and share your findings with me. And I’m grateful for that. Mr. Langton has—

Prudence stopped herself. She almost let slip her shame. Mr. Langton was constantly being inappropriate with her whenever he found her alone. The only thing that saved him coming to her room, was because she shared it with Maddy.

This last time was too much. He would have to explain the bruise growing on the side of his face to his wife in the morning. Prudence had to save herself, because the next time he got that close to taking advantage of her, she would end his miserable life and then her own.

Maddy’s squeal startled Prudence. Oh my goodness, I did, didn’t I? I was so caught up in the reading of it. I didn’t even realize I did it all on my own. She threw her arms around Prudence and began to jump up and down, jiggling Prudence’s body so much she was forced to jump with her.

Quiet down now, Maddy, you’ll wake the whole house. Then where will we be? Prudence asked, standing firm the moment her feet were on the ground again, and stilling Maddy’s trajectory.

I’m sorry, though, I suspect no one will ever hear us up here in the attic, even if we screamed, Maddy said.

That was exactly what Prudence was afraid of—no one would hear her screams if Mr. Langton attacked her up here.

But I do get myself carried away sometimes. Maddy interrupted her thoughts. Do you need me to help with your corset? She turned Prudence around by her shoulders. I can brush your hair too, once you’re ready for bed.

Being too far away from the other household staff was Prudence’s problem. Mr. Langton had threatened she wouldn’t have Maddy in the room much longer, to save her from his wiles. And he was right. When Maddy married her fiancé, she would be moving out, and Prudence would be on her own. His parting words were, that he’d fix her business just as soon as he came back from his trip.

As he clutched his cheek and staggered his way back down the stairs, cursing her name, he said, I will have you, Pru Fairchild. You aren’t so uppity anymore, and when I do, you’ll be begging me for more. Mark my words.

I’d sooner be found face down in the Hudson River.

Don’t think I can’t make that happen once I’m done with you.

The words he’d uttered were cold and biting—although slurred—she’d heard them. The serious undertone was not missed by her either. He meant to make her pay for striking him. It was clear to her, if he ever got the chance to corner her again it would take more than a slap to get rid of him. She needed to get a gun or leave.

Prudence shuddered as Maddy began to unlace her. She could still smell the stench of alcohol on her person. The feel of his grimy hands against her chest and thigh. No amount of scrubbing would ever make her clean of him. He’d violated her with his disgusting tongue against her cheek. Were she surgically apt, she would be inclined to remove said cheek.

All she could do once Maddy had released her from the clothes she wanted to burn, was use a scrubbing brush to rid herself of what trace of him she could.

She stared at Maddy through the full-length mirror she’d been allowed to take with her from her old life, and wished she could tell her what was going on under everyone’s noses. But pride forbade it. She may be poor now, but the teachings of her past, growing up as a Fairchild, where they never spoke of embarrassing matters, had been ingrained in her. And being set upon by Mr. Langton definitely fell into that category.

It was not speaking that landed her family in this mess. Prudence and her older brother Benjamin hadn’t been aware of what was going on with her father and his business partner. If they had, it could have provided them with a clue with how to fight back and get what was theirs—after the mysterious murder of her parents.

They were both shot in the back on their way home from the theater, and left in the street to die. Nothing was taken, so it wasn’t a robbery gone wrong. It was an assassination, and the only one to benefit from their death was her father’s business partner, who claimed their father owed debts to the business.

He took everything they had and put Benjamin and her out onto the street. His college placement and engagement canceled due to their fall in status, Benjamin had dropped her off at the Langton’s and disappeared.

Mrs. Langton had been a close friend of her mother’s and took Prudence into her service, although, at the time, she’d told Benjamin she’d take care of Prudence as if she were her own child.

Undressed, Prudence left her clothes where they fell. She took the jug of boiled water behind the curtain in their room to pour some into a bowl and began to scrub at her skin.

She’d been living in the Langton house for over a year, and things in the household had gone from bad to worse. As soon as Mrs. Langton became aware of Prudence’s more industrious skills, she fired some of her staff and added their workload to the list of chores she had Prudence do.

Prudence sometimes wondered if Mr. Langton’s advances had anything to do with his wife. The woman loved to delegate just so long as she didn’t have to do it. Maybe she’d tired of her wifely duties and offered Prudence as a substitute; after all it wasn’t something she could ask of Prudence directly. But she’d hinted at the fact she was not as licentious as her husband.

The disclosure had puzzled Prudence at first, then she thought maybe these were the types of conversations Mrs. Langton would have with her mother. Now however, she was beginning to think it was Mrs. Langton’s way of telling her to prepare herself, to expect it without complaint.

Well, Mr. and Mrs. Langton could think again, if they thought she had nowhere else to go and therefore had to put up with their despicable ways. She’d show them she had options.

Rubbed raw, Prudence slipped on her nightgown. Drawing back the curtain she said, Where’s that pamphlet?

Chapter 2

The jerking against his shoulder startled Austin Alwin out of his slumber. His foot thudded to the ground as he drew his gun and pushed back the hat covering his eyes.

If you find my sermon so boring, why do you bother to attend?

Because it’s the safest place I know to get some shut-eye. It wasn’t your sermon I came for today, although I’m sure I’m going to get one anyway. It’s your advice I’m needing.

Pastor Jeffrey rolled his eyes. If you feel so safe, why did you bring your gun into my church?

Oh this. Austin looked at the pistol in his hand and slid it back into its holster. Sorry about that. I’ve been riding all night. I came straight here.

I can smell that. Pastor Jeffrey waved his hand in front of his face. Pushing his spectacles up his nose, he said, Well, little brother, how can I help you?

I need a wife, Austin said, smelling his underarm and grimacing, closing his arms tight against his side.

His brother arched his brow. "Oh, really? Is