Unwanted Bride by Flora Dare

Unwanted Bride by Flora Dare

Author:Flora Dare
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: christmas romance, historical western romance, marriage of convenience, victorian romance, wild west romance, mail order bride romance, american frontier romance
Publisher: Flora Dare


Chapter Five

Christmas Eve

Heloise stood in shock in front of the stagecoach. Jonathan looked at her, puzzled. A good looking, blond man stepped down and straightened his coat with a flourish. He looked up and saw her, and bowed.

"Why Heloise, I had no idea you would meet me!"

Heloise felt Jonathan stiffen next to her.

"How did you find me?" Heloise was horrified, they had just reconciled, and Albert could ruin everything.

"You wrote to Anna, who is a delight, but not very sneaky. It was fairly easy to acquire your address." Heloise leaned toward Jonathan, gaining strength.

"So, trickery. Why on earth have you come? And where is Lavinia?"

"You must have gotten my telegram, why else would you be here, waiting?"

"Absolutely not. My husband and I were in town, coincidentally."

"Your husband?" Albert's face stiffened and he said, "clearly you did not receive my telegram, which should have beaten you here."

"As I said, I had no idea you were coming. Now, where is Lavinia? Have you abandoned your bride already?"

"Why on earth would I know where she is? Luckily for both of you, the Judge clued me into your little plan. Leasing that property out from under me? If I couldn't have the property, why would I have your sister?"

Heloise gasped and said, "You didn't marry Lavinia?"

"No you silly woman, I didn't." He put his smooth face on, the one he'd used to court her initially. Heloise had never noticed the cruel cast to his features before. "I was sacrificing love for the family, you know how my father is about the land. But if I couldn't have the land, then I had to have you, not that sister of yours."

Heloise sniffed at the ridiculousness of the situation. Apparently her previous passive behavior made him think her daft or perhaps he just thought her stupid. She drew herself up and looked down her nose at him, instead of the passive mask he was expecting, she put as thick a regal air as she dare.

"Albert, I am very happily married. This is my husband, Jonathan Cushings. Jonathan, this is Albert Stampton, who I told you about." The men eyed each other warily, like bantam roosters, when Heloise said, "I'm afraid you have come a very long way for nothing." She nodded to him, and took Jonathan's arm. "Even if I were not married, I would not be available for courting. You should take this coach, there won't be another one for some time." She started walking away, but saw the coldness in Albert's eyes.

He said, "Oh, I think I'll be staying."

~ * ~ * ~

Jonathan helped Heloise up onto the wagon, and they drove away, while Albert watched them, it wasn't until they were out of sight and he let his anger ooze out and said, "Did you get a telegram from him? Is that why you came to town?"

Heloise snapped around to him, grabbed his arm, and said, "Don't be ridiculous. Did you see his smarmy face? I can't believe I ever believed him. Besides, don't you trust me?"

Jonathan hung his head, his heart pounding.



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.
Categories