A Bargain For A Bride: Clean mail order bride romance (Montana Passion Book 1)
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Authors: Amelia Rose
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****
A
MELIA
R
OSE
A Bargain For A Bride
Montana Passion: Book One
Dedication
To YOU, The reader.
Thank you for your support.
Thank you for your emails.
Thank you for your reviews.
Thank you for reading and joining me on this road.
Special thanks to the Whisnant family of Rain Crow Ranch for their help with my research.
Contents
The lord of the house seized the sheaf of yellowed papers in his fist, the rough ends of his fingers nearly tearing through the thin sheets before crumpling them in the middle. His rage—a common feature among the men of the Brennan household, as it was often the source of many raised voices among the family and nightmares among the staff—was clear on his face, his ice blue eyes practically burning as his nostrils flared in an effort to slow his breathing. That effort was wasted, and it wasn’t long before a pewter mug flew from the table, clattering to the floor by the oversized fireplace, spilling its contents across the stone floor.
Of all the servants lining the hall, not one moved to retrieve it or to clean up the mess. There would be time enough when the master’s anger had subsided or after he’d drunk himself calm again, though without his mug, there’d be little chance of that happening. The butler looked at the other servants warily, then filled another mug with ale from the sideboard and slipped it in front of Lord Brennan before jumping back to his position behind the master’s chair.
“Who does he think he is?” Ronan bellowed. “My father is in the ground two weeks, and already the wolves come calling, demanding a piece of his estate? I’ll not have it! Send word to Lord Macomby that the Brennan lands are not for sale, and neither is the Brennan family!”
Moira turned and looked sharply at her older brother. His strange order could only mean one thing: another marriage proposal. Her rod-straight back wilted only slightly. Her brother was a good man, and his recent bout with drinking was only the result of the strain of stepping forward to fill their father’s place at what should have been one of the most festive times of the year. With St. Nicholas Day already past and Christmastide looming, the usual bustle of the holiday festivities were absent this year. There were no decorations for the great hall and no gatherings planned, either for the townspeople the Brennan's watched over or the nobility who would have come calling if death hadn’t visited instead.
Now dressed in mourning, the entire household missed both their loving former master and the spirit of winter. There were no sprigs of greenery to liven up the rooms, no spice sachets hung from the doorposts to encourage good cheer. The rooms were as empty as their hearts now that the beloved master had passed.
“Yes, sister, it appears as though Old Man Macomby fancies himself a new wife, a much younger one this time. It obviously doesn't worry him that he is a hunchback and a cripple, so long as he has a pretty young woman on his arm in the day and warming him in his chambers at night,” Ronan spat in his fury, snatching up his new mug and nearly draining it in one long gulp. Moira pressed her hand to her mouth in revulsion at both the thought of someone asking for her hand while the entire countryside knew them to be in mourning, and at the thought of wedding and bedding the octogenarian.
It wasn’t like Ronan to be so vulgar, and prior to taking to drink the way he had, he would never have spoken to her that way. He’d have shot any man who dared voice such crude words, but she was able to overlook his brutish behavior and count it as the drink taking hold of him.
“Would you leave us?” she asked softly, looking up at the servants. One by one, they turned and gratefully fled the room, hopefully not to take their talk of the family and its woes to the great kitchen below. Moira hated the thought of them whispering behind their hands at the family’s misfortune, but hated the thought of them witnessing her brother’s recent struggles even more.
The butler saw the servants out then waited post by the door for further orders from his mistress. He wasn’t certain that she should be left unattended with a man in that angry, uncontrolled state, brother or not, but knew no household functioned without orders being obeyed. He waited until he met her eye, then waited for her to nod before leaving the room and closing the great doors behind him.
“Ronan, brother… what is the matter?” she asked gently, rising from her seat and coming to stand by his chair—their father’s chair, the seat Ronan had tried to avoid until he was cautioned by his uncle that orders for the household came from that place of honor, an honor that belonged now to Ronan whether it pleased him or not.
“It is as I’ve said,” he answered, trying not to slur his words. His bleary eyes didn’t even attempt to focus on his younger sister’s face, the face that had hovered over his bedside every time he’d been injured or ill. The face that was the embodiment of loving kindness and humility, that was the face he saw every time he even had a passing fancy of running into the city and drinking until there was nothing left of him. He shook his head. “Lord Macomby claims that you and he were betrothed before Father died, that Father was thinking of you even in his last months of illness. As though I wouldn’t see to a strong and beneficial match for you myself!”
“But that is ridiculous! Surely the old man means one of his sons, not that I find them much more appealing than their father, mind you, but all three of his sons are older than I! He cannot mean for me to marry him in their stead!” The thought of being the new Duchess of Macomby while her stepsons were easily ten years older than she would have made her laugh if it weren’t so despicable to think about.
“That is as his letter states,” Ronan replied, holding out the offensive correspondence. Moira shook her head, unwilling to touch it long enough to look at it with her own eyes.
“Father would never have done such a thing, I’m sure of it, certainly not without consulting you in the matter, at least,” she replied adamantly, acquiescing to her brother’s anger. “And I fail to believe that our father would have even done so without speaking to me. It isn’t the custom, I know, but that was his way. We were the light of his life, and he would never have secured a match such as that man for me, and I know he would never have done so without speaking to me.”
Moira was near tears, not for her own sinking heart at the thought that her father had entered into an agreement with a veritable ogre, but that he would have done so without her knowledge. Her happiness and Ronan’s had always been important to Father, and an unthinkable blow such as this one couldn’t be what he had intended.
“I know this isn’t Father’s wish,” Ronan said, seething as he reached for his empty cup. He snapped his fingers for a servant to come refresh it, but finding the room empty, he fell back against his chair instead. “This smells strongly of our uncle’s doing. He’s been after the estate ever since Father even took to his bed, and no amount of rebuttal has kept him from insisting he is the rightful heir. Father’s will cuts him out almost entirely, largely because of his ambitious nature. If there was even a chance that Uncle and his kin would be content with an annual sum, I would gladly pay it. But he will not rest until we’re turned out and he inherits it all.”
“Oh, Ronan, that’s why I’ve urged you to marry! You must hurry and find a wife, one who will give you an heir of your own. We’ve money enough, she doesn’t even have to bring a wealthy dowry, just find her! Uncle will not let this rest until he has no grounds to say the family title isn’t secure.” Moira furrowed her brow as she thought about her brother’s answer. “But I don’t understand… what would Uncle care if I’m married? And to that old monster?”
“Who knows what that monster is thinking? Other than Macomby’s other suggestion… if you’re not to be his wife, he’s calling me out for a duel. And at his age and with the blame being on his failing eyesight, he has foregone the pistols himself and appointed his son—the younger one who has been serving in the British army these
six years
—in his stead. You are to pack your things and depart for Marcham to be wed, or I am to face off for your hand, dragging my coffin behind me.”
“Surely you cannot believe that Uncle wants to see you duel for your life,” Moira exclaimed. “He is our family!”
“And he is cut off from the inheritance, do you not remember? Everything passed to me; the estate here in Brennan, the home in London that Father kept for his visits to Parliament, even our family’s interests in India and in the Americas. Uncle and his sons will receive a modest annual salary off of the interests of the estate because I felt it only fitting, but having me cast aside would make them the immediate heirs to the entire Brennan fortune. Better men than Uncle have killed for far less, I’m afraid.” Ronan sank back into his chair and stared numbly at the fire, the effects of the ale wearing off in a most unpleasant way.
“I’m as good as dead already.”
“Don’t speak such a thing, brother!” she cried, racing to his chair and throwing herself down before him, clutching his hand in hers. “I’ll marry Macomby before I let that happen to you! It is not my wish, not by far, but if it keeps you from your grave…”
“I would dig that grave myself before I’d agree to promise you to that lecherous old man. Do you know how many wives he’s had, not to mention how many bastards he’s fathered besides?” Moira blushed deeply at the subject her brother broached, but she didn’t scold him for it. “If there was an ounce of goodness and generosity in him, he wouldn’t keep finding himself widowed. His wives have died in their childbeds for want of even a country horse surgeon, let alone a doctor, as he won’t spend a pound to spare them. The talk in town is that they slave away in the sculleries of their households alongside their servants while he rides the countryside, all because he claims they are kept in line by an honest day’s work. They serve him as lord and master until their countenances give out because of his harsh treatment. I won’t have that for you.”
Tears stung Moira’s eyes. There had to be a way to prevent both the ill-matched marriage and the duel, but if she knew of any answer, it was kept from her mind’s eye, prevented by the rush of emotions she felt at the horrendous news.
Moira had hoped the following morning would bring sunshine and a better outlook, but within only minutes of waking, she knew that something was horribly wrong. Her ladies’ maid, Gretchen, threw open her chamber door and raced to her bedside, dropping into a brief courtesy and whispering urgently, “My lady, please! Hurry, you must wake and prepare. There’s a man here to see Lord Brennan, and they’re discussing you! There’s no time, we must dress you!”
She threw back the covers almost rudely, but Moira knew the girl would never have been so callous if she weren’t frightened out of her wits. Gretchen’s hands shook as she helped Moira to wash her face, do up her curly brown locks, and change into a gown suited for receiving guests in the day time. They raced through the process before hurrying down the hall as fast as they could on silent feet, stopping in doorways to see that they were not discovered. Gretchen pinched Moira’s cheeks to bring color to them in case anyone noticed them, as the lady of the house did not ever look pale.
“You are a villain and a scoundrel!” a man’s voice bellowed from within her brother’s office. Even through the heavy oak door, Moira could hear the shouting as clearly as if she were in the room with them. Other muted voices murmured their agreement, their words obscured due to the lower volume.
“I’ll thank you to leave my house this instant!” Ronan shouted, equally outraged. “No man enters my home and brings this kind of news, then has the daring audacity to speak to me thus! If you have business claims to attend to, you may contact my solicitors in their offices. But my sister is not for sale!”
Moira and Gretchen looked at each other wide-eyed, their fears confirmed. She was the cause of the shouting within.
When the sounds inside the office turned to more shouts and even the scuffling of some heavy furniture against the stone floor, Moira could take it no longer. She threw open the double doors and stood dwarfed in the grand doorway, straightening as best she could to her full height. She held her head high, looking every bit the noble lady she’d been raised to be.
“I understand there is a disagreement in my house,” she began in a firm but steady voice, her mother’s lessons in composure and carrying one’s self coming to mind.
The effect was immediate, and intentional. The men in the room, five or six of them at first glance, all rose and turned toward her, bowing low in the lady’s presence, her brother included now that they had visitors. As they looked down, awaiting her word that she would receive them, she took the tiny opportunity to breathe deeply and clear her head for whatever unpleasant business lay ahead of them.
“My, such a loud conversation from so few gentlemen. I had expected to find your office filled to the windows, dear brother, what with all the shouting.”
“I apologize, Lady Brennan,” Ronan answered as the men stood upright again, using her formal title for the benefit of his most unwelcome guests. “I do hope we did not disturb you from your sleep at this early hour.”
“I must confess that I was sleeping when a commotion roused me. I was certain it was wild animals, and came to inform you that we must send out the guard to do away with them at once. Imagine how foolish I felt when I discovered it was merely our guests.”
The assembled men alternated between looking duly shamed for having upset a lady, and irritated at having been called animals by the one they were there to discuss.
“My lady,” one of the men began, a gentleman Moira had seen among her father’s associates. “We have come to discuss the pending marriage.”
“Really? You are marrying again, Sir Walbridge? Then you have my heartiest congratulations, although it is usually far quieter a conversation when a man chooses a bride,” Moira answered innocently.
“No, my lady, not my marriage, my wife is still quite well, thank you,” he stammered, covering his embarrassment at having to be the one to explain. He looked to Ronan for help, but the man just turned away. After all, his sister was putting the men in their place quite nicely without his help.
“Then I’m afraid I do not know to whom I should offer my congratulations,” she continued, looking around the small group. They each, in turn, averted their gaze as she looked at them, shamed by their discussion in front of her. “Who is getting married, my lord?”
“You are, my lady,” he finally answered, and if she hadn’t known better, she would have sworn that he sounded almost sad at having to be the one to tell her. “You’re to marry Lord Macomby by the end of the week.”
“And if I fail to comply?” Moira asked, her mask of confident unconcern still firmly in place. She stole a glance at her brother, who continued to watch out the window at some distant scene, his mind elsewhere as he fought to maintain his composure in front of his lady sister.
“I’m afraid, Lady Brennan, there is no choice in the matter. These gentlemen have come to escort you and your brother to the duke’s summer keep first thing in the morning. You are to pack your necessary items today.”
Her mind reeled with thoughts of escape, but she continued to play the role that had been carefully crafted in her since she was but a babe. She stood erect and unflinching, silently forcing the men one by one to look at her as she waited.
“And how many servants are to accompany to my new home? I will need to prepare their trunks as well as my own.”
Ronan turned sharply at what sounded like her resignation to be married, but she turned and left the room to prepare. The men barely had time to stand and bow again before she reached the doorway, her skirts billowing out behind her in her haste to get away.