A Bride for Frank: The Prescott Brides, #2

By Cynthia Woolf

The Prescott Brides. A thrilling new series by USA Today Bestselling Author Cynthia Woolf!
Five outlaw brides. Five brothers. They take a chance and each find love.

You can only live through Hell once, or so it's said. Maisie would disagree, but now she has a chance to forget her past and have a promising future by becoming a mail-order bride. Will this marriage of convenience help her to forget her past and find love with her new husband?

He's faced heartbreak in his past but wants a family and is willing to face his risk heartbreak again to get it. Is this beautiful woman with a checkered past be the one to grant him his heart's desire?

Maisie has secrets that could get them both killed. To achieve their happily ever after, they'll have to trust each other. Will the greatest strength they each possess be the love they have…together?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Firehouse Publishing
• Release date: Mar 18, 2024
• ISBN: 9781954996892

Cynthia Woolf

Cynthia Woolf is the award winning and best-selling author of twelve historical western romance books and two short stories with more books on the way. She was born in Denver, Colorado and raised in the mountains west of Golden. She spent her early years running wild around the mountain side with her friends. Their closest neighbor was about one quarter of a mile away, so her little brother was her playmate and her best friend. That fierce friendship lasted until his death in 2006. Cynthia was and is an avid reader. Her mother was a librarian and brought new books home each week. This is where young Cynthia first got the storytelling bug. She wrote her first story at the age of ten. A romance about a little boy she liked at the time. Cynthia loves writing and reading romance. Her first western romance Tame A Wild Heart, was inspired by the story her mother told her of meeting Cynthia’s father on a ranch in Creede, Colorado. Although Tame A Wild Heart takes place in Creede that is the only similarity between the stories. Her father was a cowboy not a bounty hunter and her mother was a nursemaid (called a nanny now) not the ranch owner.   Cynthia credits her wonderfully supportive husband Jim and the great friends she's made at CRW for saving her sanity and allowing her to explore her creativity.   TITLES AVAILABLE   NELLIE – The Brides of San Francisco 1 ANNIE – The Brides of San Francisco 2 CORA – The Brides of San Francisco 3 JAKE (Book 1, Destiny in Deadwood series) LIAM (Book 2, Destiny in Deadwood series) ZACH (Book 3, Destiny in Deadwood series)     CAPITAL BRIDE (Book 1, Matchmaker & Co. series) HEIRESS BRIDE (Book 2, Matchmaker & Co. series) FIERY BRIDE (Book 3, Matchmaker & Co. series) TAME A WILD HEART (Book 1, Tame series) TAME A WILD WIND (Book 2, Tame series) TAME A WILD BRIDE (Book 3, Tame series) TAME A SUMMER HEART (short story, Tame series)     WEBSITE – www.cynthiawoolf.com   NEWSLETTER - http://bit.ly/1qBWhFQ    

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

May 6, 1880

Maisie watched as Warden Ezra Dean sat behind his desk and shuffled a small stack of papers. He was of average height, with graying brown hair, brown eyes and spectacles that were forever on the end of his nose, just as Ivy’s were. Absentmindedly, he pushed them back up. His uniform was the same dark blue wool as the guard’s except with two stars on the epaulettes.

His office was nothing special. Four gray walls with two windows that overlooked the prison yard. His desk, made of a dark wood, was simple in design, with two drawers on either side and a place for a chair in the middle.

Maisie knew it well enough having cleaned the office for almost three years.

If you women agree to become mail-order brides your five-year sentence will be commuted to time served.

She tried to pay attention to what he was saying but when she heard bride she froze.

Maisie? asked Warden Dean.

She looked over at her sister, whose blue-green eyes that matched Maisie’s own, were wide, pleading with her sister. Maisie knew the answer before she said her name. Lottie?

Lottie nodded. Please, Maisie.

She knew Lottie wanted to get married and have children in the worst way. Maisie could deny her twin nothing. Even after the bad experience of her own first marriage, she would do it all again so Lottie could have her dream. I’m going wherever Lottie goes and I know she wants to get married, so, yeah, I guess I’m going.

Lottie squeezed her hand and then nodded at the warden. I’m going, too.

Gwen, Ivy and Fiona all said yes.

It seemed they were all about to marry the Campbell brothers…for better or for worse.

Maisie listened as Fiona looked over at the warden and gave him their answer. You’ve got five volunteers to be mail-order brides. Where are we headed?

Yes, where are we headed? Out of the Arizona Territory I hope. Someplace with cooler weather and less bugs. Maisie crossed her fingers then waved a fly out of her face. She hated the flies that were constantly around the prison, as was the hot weather.

Back to Prescott, said the warden.

Maisie almost groaned. Just her luck going back to Prescott…the place of their downfall. The town where the bank they robbed sat. The town that had been home to them all for a short time and was at least more pleasant in temperature than Yuma. How five Irish women came to be alone in a town like Prescott, she didn’t know. But they had and they’d all gravitated toward each other.

Maisie was working as a maid in the hotel, when she met Fiona who also worked there. Fiona introduced her to her friends—Gwen, who was a former prostitute and Ivy, who was a widow like Maisie. Lottie worked in the bank president’s house as a maid. He was wealthy and his wife refused to clean her own home.

Maisie snapped her attention back to the warden. You’re marrying the Campbell brothers of the Campbell Ranch, known as the Circle C Ranch. Your husbands are the five brothers who live at the ranch. You’ll all be married and move there the day you arrive. The five brothers run the ranch, inherited from their parents just last year. Ross is the oldest, followed by Clayton, Franklyn, Tucker and Brodie. Clayton and Ross are twins, but I’m told, Ross is older by about twenty minutes,. He pulled a small packet of papers from a file box on his desk.

I can’t tell you which man will marry which woman, I guess that depends on the men. He stood and strode around the desk. I have the background on each of them on these papers. He handed them to Fiona who was generally accepted as their leader. I also have stage tickets from Yuma to Prescott, for you. It’s a three-day journey and though more comfortable than the wagon that brought you here, it will still be a long, uncomfortable journey. He handed those to Fiona, too. Then he leaned forward on the desk, resting on his forearms.

Our stagecoach, not our wagon, will take you into Yuma. There are new clothes for each of you in your room. I was fairly sure what your answers would be, since your sentences will be commuted to the two-and-a-half years of the five-year sentence that you’ve served. The Campbells have provided you with the new clothes. Mrs. Dean helped me with the dress sizes. You each have a new dress, in various colors, so you don’t look like you’re from prison. Plus you have a skirt, blouse, traveling cloak and some underthings, too. Go change and then get on the stage. You’ll each find a reticule, as well. You can put your papers in it. It also contains money for traveling expenses provided by the Campbells.

Maisie hugged Lottie who held her sister tight.

The other three women laughed delightedly.

Then they all ran back to the cells they’d shared for almost three years. Lottie, Maisie and Gwen in one cell and Fiona and Ivy in another right across the hall. The warden hadn’t lied. On each bed was a dress, each a different color, a black bombazine skirt and a blouse in the same hue as the dress. Maisie’s dress and blouse were in pink, which happened to be one of her favorite colors. With her silver-blonde hair, pink was a very good color for her. Also on the bed were two pairs of new bloomers, two chemises, two pairs of cotton stockings with the ribbons to hold them up, a new pair of boots and a corset.

Maisie could have done without the corset. To her mind it was just a torture device for women. She couldn’t work in one, as it didn’t allow much movement. She’d probably be able to do the dishes, if someone else got the water. She decided she’d take it off at the first opportunity…after she’d married her husband.

The more Maisie thought about marrying again, the more her stomach churned. What if this man, this Campbell, was like her dead husband? She’d kill him before she would go through that pain again. She shook her head to clear the ghosts from the past and returned her gaze to her cot.

There was also a carpet bag on the bed to put everything in. Maisie placed her prison dress in the bottom, then the extra bloomers, chemise, and stockings.

Maisie thought about leaving the prison dress, but decided the garment could always be used to work in, as it had been for the last two-and-a-half years. If it could last all that time with only small repairs, it would be good for working around the house. It didn’t fit well anymore anyway, she’d lost too much weight, but it would make good rags, if nothing else. Then she dressed in the pink calico dress and packed the skirt and blouse in the bag. Her entire life in one carpetbag and it wasn’t even full…how sad was that?

After everyone had packed, Fiona handed out the stage tickets.

Maisie picked up her reticule and was surprised to find money. The warden wasn’t kidding when he said the Campbells provided for our traveling expenses. She held out her hand with ten dollars in coins.

Maisie watched as Fiona emptied her reticule into her hand and closed her fingers over the money. Well, we do have to buy food on the journey and it’s not enough to make an escape with. Not that we could anyway. I have no desire to go back to prison so I have to at least get married before I leave to find Billy.

Maisie went to Fiona and put an arm around her shoulders. You’ll get your son back. I just know it.

Fiona nodded but didn’t say anything.

Maisie knew she was on the verge of tears and gave her a quick squeeze before she put her ticket in her reticule and finished putting on her new boots. She couldn’t imagine being Fiona and having to ransom her son from his father.

Maisie picked up her carpetbag with the big yellow rose on it and filed outside with the other women. She climbed in the unmarked black stagecoach owned by the prison. Maisie was ready for whatever would come.

The coach was black inside. The seats were planks of wood covered in black leather with no padding of any kind. Leather curtains, that rolled down to keep out the dust, were over the windows and the straps above the windows for the passengers to hold were just pieces of raw leather with no finish. Maisie knew if she had to travel for four days on a plank of wood, she would barely be able to sit by the time they reached Prescott, but as Warden Dean said, it wasn’t the prison wagon and that was good.

The landscape from the prison to Yuma was dry and dusty. She didn’t even see a jack rabbit or other living animal. She understood why they put the prison there. No one could live in this desert and they didn’t pass any watering holes on the way to Yuma, just desert and more desert.

The stagecoach from Yuma to Prescott was very different inside from the prison’s stage. The padded seats were covered with green leather attached with brass brads. Each door had a finished strap above it on either side for the window passengers to hold when the going got rough. The windows, including the one on the door, were covered with leather flaps decorated with roses and leaves. Above the seats was a plain black material that covered the wood ceiling. That was the only similarity with the prison stagecoach.

The prison stage had gone by the time the stage to Prescott arrived so no one knew they were from the prison. It was nice to be treated without bias for the first time in years. She was happy to be wearing a real dress and not the black wool dress she’d worn for the last two-and-a-half years. She actually felt free. The money from the robbery would help her to really be free. No one to answer to and no man to beat her up whenever he felt like it.

Maisie watched the landscape out the window. Yuma was in the Sonoran Desert, and even so it was beautiful compared to the prison. Yucca plants and tall saguaro cacti dotted the landscape. The closer they got to Prescott, the more trees they saw. Prescott sat in a valley in the Bradshaw Mountains and was full of pine trees, blue spruce, fir trees and quaking aspen. The aspen would turn gold in the fall along with many of the smaller bushes and shrubs, which turn orange and red. It was quite the sight to see, one Maisie had missed.

Gwen was the smallest and sat in the middle for the first leg of the trip from Yuma to Prescott. At each stage stop, they rotated so no one sat next to the windows all the time.

After they’d been on the road for about an hour, but before the first stop, Fiona broached the subject that Maisie knew they’d all been thinking about. What about the money? You all know where it’s hidden. I will need my share to get Billy back. But first I have to find his father, Simon.

Gwen turned to face Fiona from the middle next to Maisie If you ask me, you should find someone to get rid of Simon and take Billy.

Fiona clenched her teeth. If I thought I could, I would. Then he couldn’t hurt Billy anymore.

Maisie couldn’t imagine what Fiona must be going through. Cruel men, just like her husband and Simon who was also known as the outlaw, Black Bart, should never become husbands or fathers. Would her new husband be a cruel man? What was she thinking? Weren’t all men cruel? Would she be better off finishing out her sentence rather than marrying some unknown man? Perhaps, but then Lottie might miss out on becoming the wife and mother she’d always dreamed of being. Maisie wouldn’t do anything to destroy