Victorian Ladies Out West (A Pair of Historical Western Novellas) by Susan Hart

Author:Susan Hart
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mail order bride, historical romances, christian historical romances, christian western romances, christian mail order brides, victorian romances, western romances
Publisher: Susan Hart

By

Susan Hart

Copyright 2022 Susan Hart

Synopsis: A former ballet dancer from England becomes a mail order bride to a Texas rancher and a caretaker for his young daughter; but when she arrives, she realizes that the hot and dry weather may be her undoing.

Lili stared through the dusty window at the landscape sliding by. Shades of brown bled into reds and oranges until they all faded into the distant horizon. Bedraggled trees slouching beside narrow streams interrupted the drabness from time to time. London may have been a crowded city of dirt and noise, but at least one had the option of getting out to the green countryside now and again.

Here, any hint of green seemed swallowed by the vast expanse of bare earth. What wouldn’t she give for a glimpse of her native green hills and cool mists of England? She had dampened her handkerchief at the last stop, but the fine linen now lay clenched within her fist, brown and dry like everything else around her.

“Amarillo, next stop, Amarillo, Texas.” The conductor made his way through the swaying car. Seeing her eyes on him, the man touched his cap politely. “I believe this is your stop, Miss. We will be here for some time so there is no hurry. You will find it more pleasant if you allow the coach cars to empty first.”

“Thank you, sir.” Lili hated how small her voice sounded. She wasn’t a child to let a strange place and even stranger people to scare her. She straightened her shoulders as Madam Taglioni had taught her and offered the old man a slight bow. “I’m sure I will be well.”

An artist never lets the public see the pain. As a girl, Lili would have done anything to please the former ballerina. Now, Madam Maria Taglioni was far away and surely, there was no one here who knew anything of art. The ache of Leon’s betrayal went far deeper than the bruised and broken feet that the dance demanded.

Bah, you are a fool to weep over such a man. To leave the dance to bury yourself in the wilderness . . . it is an outrage! The lilting music of M. Taglioni’s Italian accent came to her over the clattering wheels of the train. Lili feared her instructor was right, but now it was too late. The papers had been signed, an agreement made.

Within days, she would wed a stranger.

Lili fought back the shiver that defied the appalling heat. True, this was a business arrangement, nothing more. She would wear her treasured wedding dress for the benefit of a rough farmhand rather than the elegant Leon d'Mille. It was Charlotte Grisi who would be twirling and leaping across the stage in his arms tonight. It was Charlotte who would feel the warmth of his kisses and drown in the depths of his gaze.

Hot tears pricked the backs of her eyes. Lili blinked furiously to control them. The faithless Leon would not claim one more of her tears.

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