Mail Order Bride - A Bride for the Miner: Eagle Creek Brides, #0

By Karla Gracey

Aidan O'Shaunessy has been working hard; down the mines by day and trying to get his land in order by night. But finally he has the money he needs to buy the dairy herd he needs to salvage his family's heritage. But he is lonely and craves the love of a good woman.

Meredith Lisle was born into privilege, but her comfortable life has been ripped from her grasp by the tragic deaths of her beloved parents. Courageous to the last, she takes her future into her own hands, but can she banish the ghosts from Aidan's past?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Karla Gracey Books
• Release date: Jun 28, 2016
• ISBN: 9781393423478

Book preview

Mail Order Bride

A Bride for the Miner

Eagle Creek Brides: Book 0

Karla Gracey

Contents

Character List

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Copyright

Character List

Aidan O’Shaunessy

Meredith Lisle

Siobhan Kelly / Abigail Crawford

Ansell Cross, prospector

Father Timothy

Aston Merryweather, postmaster

Henry & Sabina Lisle, Meredith’s uncle and aunt

Caleb Winslow, cattle driver

Michael & Greg, Caleb’s cow hands

Ethan Hayter, owner and editor of the Helena Gazette

Mrs. Harper, owner of the boarding house in Billings

Mrs. Whitchurch, housekeeper

Edwin Graham, town carpenter

Tom Greening, rancher

Prologue

Deadwood, South Dakota, 1875

The saloon was busy. Aidan O’Shaunessy sat at a table by the piano, nursing a beer while most of his friends downed shot after shot of bourbon. They laughed and catcalled at the dancing girls up on the stage and grabbed at the girls serving them drinks. Aidan disapproved, but had learned that it was easier to keep quiet than to try to stop them. After weeks and even months alone up in the Black Hills, men wanted their pleasures – no matter what their pastor or priest might say about it.

You should be celebratin’ more’n any of us, Ansell Cross shouted at Aidan. He grabbed the bourbon and poured a generous measure, then pushed it across the table to Aidan. Ansell worked the seam next to Aidan’s. He was the closest thing to a friend Aidan had made in this wild land. No man here has been as lucky as you.

My claim has been surprisingly fruitful, Aidan agreed, taking the glass and sipping at it gingerly. He’d never developed a taste for hard liquor, probably because his old da, back home in Ireland, had imbibed a little more than he should. Aidan didn’t like to feel out of control, nor did he like to have a foggy head, and he found that alcohol offered both in plentiful supply.

So, when d’you think you’ll have enough? Ansell asked him.

Enough for what?

You still want your little plot of land, your cows, right? A wife and little ’uns?

Oh, that, Aidan said with a smile. He’d forgotten that he’d confessed his dreams round a campfire on a cold and starlit night. I could go tomorrow if I wanted. I’ve got all the gold I could ever need.

When you go, can I take over your seam? Ansell joked.

Sure, Aidan said, surprising the man.

You’re not going to hire someone to prospect for you? Ansell asked. If I’d got a seam of gold as lucrative as yours, hell, I’d employ ten and get fat off their work!

I’ve got what I came here for, Aidan said, knowing that few men there could ever understand why he would leave when there was still gold to be had. Prospecting has made me my fortune – but it is no life for a man.

I’ll still be chasing wherever the gold rush takes us next, even when I’m old and gray, Ansell said with a grin. I don’t ever dream of anything other than riches.

You’ll change your mind one day, Aidan said softly. He pushed his chair backward and got up from the table.

You ain’t leavin’ already? Ansell demanded. There’s a new actress tonight, and we’ll be back on that mountain, alone, soon enough.

I’m tired, and I don’t mind being up there on my own the way you do. I like it, Aidan admitted.

All night, he’d been glancing over at the table where some of the other prospectors were seated. A new girl had been serving them, and Aidan had been struck by how young and innocent she looked, especially to be working in a place like this. Deadwood wasn’t a safe place for the innocent – and she looked as though she’d suit a convent better than a saloon, with her wide green eyes and polite Irish brogue. Aidan had heard her lilting voice and thought about home.

As the evening had worn on, the poor girl had been subjected to the increasingly lecherous behavior of men who’d drunk too much. She seemed to be coping with it. But out of the corner of his eye, he’d spotted that she was becoming more flustered by the men’s attentions. Her cheeks were blushing bright pink, a stark contrast against her pale skin. Her dark curls had come unpinned and were in disheveled disarray. She was batting her hands ineffectively against the chest of Manny Delano, who was trying to grab her and plant a kiss on her cheek. She looked utterly petrified as Ol’ Hinchcliffe grabbed her around the waist and tried to force her to dance with him, his leathery old hands wandering to places they had no business going.

Besides, Aidan said, nodding to Ansell as he picked up his hat and pointed it toward her, I think there is a fair maid in need of rescuing.

Ansell chuckled. She’s a saloon girl. She knows what to expect. They don’t all need saving.

That may be true, but I get the feeling that this one just might.

Aidan strode toward the table. Ol’ Hinchcliffe was still trying to force the young woman to dance. Aidan pushed the old goat back into his seat. Didn’t your mammies teach you to have better manners? he asked, glaring at each man around the table in turn. You don’t take what you want, you wait until it is offered.

She’s a saloon girl, Delano whined, uncannily echoing Ansell’s point. It’s their job.

What kind of an argument is that? Aidan asked him. Just because such behavior has come to be expected doesn’t make it right. You’ve got sisters, daughters even, some of you. Every one of you has a mother. Would you want them to be treated the way you’ve treated this poor young woman?

Shamed, each of the men bowed his head and muttered things under his breath – but not one of them argued with Aidan. He wasn’t one for fights, and he usually kept himself to himself, but every man working the Black Hills knew that he had a fierce temper and once riled was a skilled and fearsome fighter. Skirmishes with the local tribes and bandits trying to claim a man’s hard work were common, and everyone knew that Aidan would fight to protect what was his.

Aidan smiled at the girl. You alright? he asked her gently. She nodded. Don’t let them bully you. You let them know when they are going too far. You’re Irish, aren’t you?

I am, she said.

Aidan felt his heart melt at the sound of her accent. If he had to guess, he’d say she was from County Laois, judging by the melodic tones. Then think of what your mammy would do to any man trying to make her do what she didn’t want.

The girl laughed. She’d box their ears then spank their backsides raw.

You remember that, Aidan said. He gave her a wink, then made his way outside into the unusually quiet streets.

He’d barely unhitched his horse when the girl burst through the saloon doors. Sir, might I ask your name? she asked. It’s not often a knight in shining armor comes to a girl’s rescue.

Aidan O’Shaunessy, he said, holding out a hand to her. She really was very pretty, in a very Irish way, with her dark hair and flashing green eyes.

She reached out and shook it, smiling a little shyly at him. Siobhan Kelly, she said. You’re from Wicklow, am I right?

You are, Aidan said. Clearly, she had a good ear for accents, too. We’re both a long way from home. What brought you to Deadwood?

What else but a wicked man? she said with a rueful smile.

Ah, Aidan said. I hope no lasting damage has been done to you.

Not at all, she said. As you said, I’m an Irish girl. We’re made of stern stuff. I forgot that there, for just a moment. I let those drunken sots get the better of me. I’ll be more like me mammy, as you said.

They can do that, but they’ll be back up in the Black Hills soon enough.

And you? Will you be back in the Black Hills, too? she asked. I hear a rumor that you were thinking of leaving Dakota altogether?

It always surprises me how quickly gossip can travel, yet an important message may be delayed or never even reach its destination, Aidan mused aloud.

But is it true? she asked again, her eyes wide and pleading that it be so. If it is, please take me with you? I cannot stay here. I’ll go anywhere, do anything. Just please take me with you – away from this place and all these men who think it is their right to fondle and paw at me. I need the money, and there’s few enough ways a young woman can make a living in a place like Deadwood without handing over every last one of her morals.

But you don’t know me, Aidan said, moved by the vehemence in her voice. She was afraid, and she very obviously hated what her life had become. He could understand that. I could be as bad as the man who dragged you from your home and left you here alone to survive. I could be worse than any of those men in there.

But you aren’t, are you? Everyone talks about you here in Deadwood. You’re known to be strong but fair and kind. You’d not ever hurt a woman. From what I’ve found out from the other women here in town, you’ve never even passed an eye over them, much less risked their virtue.

Miss Kelly, I’m not going to take a young woman out of town with me, Aidan said firmly. I’m not going anywhere, anyway. Not yet.

Then I will make it my mission to get you to like me enough to take me with you when you do go, Miss Kelly said, beaming up at him. Unexpectedly, she stood up on tiptoe and pressed a kiss to his cheek before running back inside the saloon to return to her work.

Aidan raised a hand to his cheek and smiled. She was certainly a sweet little thing. She deserved better than the life of a saloon girl. But he wasn’t in a position to help her find another position – not here in Deadwood, or in Montana, which was where he intended to go next. As he made his way to his boarding house, he couldn’t stop thinking about Miss Kelly, though. He thought of those wide, innocent eyes and the long, shining curls that had fallen so alluringly down her back. She was sweet and unsuited for life in a place like this.

He let himself in and trudged up the wooden stairwell to his room, then pulled off his boots and sank onto the bed. The luxury of a straw mattress, clean linens, and a roof over his head was never wasted on him. Too many nights spent out under the stars with nothing but a bedroll and a campfire to keep him warm and safe made him value these simple, everyday pleasures more each time he returned to town. He stared up at the ceiling, his eyes following the lines of the beams and boards that kept out the wind and the rain.

As he lay there, he couldn’t help thinking of how desperate Miss Kelly had sounded. She was so obviously ill-suited to her work. Someone so pure should not be anywhere near Deadwood – and certainly should not be working in one of its saloons. He’d come to her rescue earlier, but she needed more than a champion to keep the wolves at bay. She needed to leave town. She needed a new start somewhere else. Yet, if she left with him, her reputation would be as sullied as it would if she stayed here. It was a dreadful conundrum. He could think of only one way to rescue her from her plight, and he doubted that even she would be that desperate.

******

When he was next in town, after a lonely month working his claim, Aidan made his way to the saloon to inquire after Miss Kelly’s lodgings. He