A Fall From Grace. Mail Order Bride Western Page 18

She took out a razor and removed the hair. She did the same to the hair under arms. Gretchen had never heard of such a thing. Next Fiona pressed cream on her arms. She made Gretchen raise to her feet. She massaged the cream all over. Her back. Her buttocks. The backs of her legs. Gretchen felt like a pampered princess.

  Merla and Fiona helped her onto a towel and the two of them worked to powder her from head to toe. Fiona fetched a wedding dress. Gretchen put on her underwear and stepped into the wedding dress. It was a little on short side but otherwise it fit her perfectly.

  Merla squeezed the water out of her hair before combing it out. They plaited and wrapped her hair around her head so it was tight against her skull. They fitted her veil. Merla carefully arranged it and applied the slightest bit of lip rouge to her mouth.

  “You look so beautiful,” Merla declared.

  Gretchen looked at the woman who was supposed to be her sister. Even though the facts seemed to confirm that they were related, deep down, Gretchen wasn’t. Merla was a lovely person but Gretchen didn’t feel that connection. She was grateful nonetheless for all the trouble she took.

  Fiona and Merla presented Gretchen outside. There waiting for her was Donny who had been scrubbed as she had been. He was in a suit and tie and flanked by two of his brothers and the marshal.

  Gretchen called to the marshal.

  “I don’t remember my pa,” she said. “But I’d be honored if you gave me away?”

  The marshal didn’t hesitate. He left the wedding party to take Gretchen by the arm. Fiona and Merla took their places and all eyes watched as the bride and the Marshall approached.

  Once their vows were said and the preacher officiated, Fiona finally smiled. The party boisterously broke and they all took their places around the table. Fiona was anxious to feed them. Marshal helped her. Gretchen leaned against her very married husband.

  “Is Ben sweet on your ma?” asked Gretchen.

  “Ah, yes ma’am,” said Donny. “Me and my brothers have duly noted. We’re thinking of rustling him and setting the two of them before the preacher. Just like he did us.”

  “Donovan McElroy,” she gave him a playful sock. “Are you saying you were rustled?”

  “Oh yes ma’am,” he replied dreamily. “You kidnaped my heart the moment I saw you.”

  Chapter Seven

  The family cleared out of the main house and bunked in with Merla and Mac in the house that the brothers built for them as a wedding present. The big house was so empty. Gretchen had never experienced it quite this way. She hadn’t realized until it was just the two of them how noisy and busy the house had always been.

  Donny set Gretchen on the end of the bed. He kissed her forehead as he covertly pulled the pins from her hair. The action on her scalp unleashed the most amazing, doping tingles throughout her. She could hardly keep her eyes opened. He knew what he was doing.

  Donny’s large hands roamed her body as he nuzzled the sensitive dip in her neck. She stomped her feet trying to withstand the luscious torture. She panted. He captured her lips, nibbling them with just enough bite to make her arousal grow.

  Gretchen was brave. Her hands explored clumsily. Her fingers found his erection. Donny quickly lowered his pants and placed her hand around him. He showed her how to touch him. She was unsure. She had no clue but the connection of her palm to the soft skin covered hardness set her on fire. She wanted more.

  He placed his hand on hers and moved it up and down. Gretchen had the strongest urge to put him in her mouth but she wasn’t sure if that was done. Instead she kissed him. She plunged her tongue to tangle with his, eagerly.

  Donny was even harder in her hands as she kissed him. She was learning. He pushed her backwards on the bed, dragging her hips to the edge. He tossed up her skirts and drew down her bloomers. Gretchen was bare and dressed at the same time.

  The pressure of the mattress edge and the frame sweetened the friction as Donny entered her. His body covered hers as they were half on and off of the bed. His powerful arm snaked beneath her back and the bed holding her firmly as he drove into her.

  He was not as easy going as he had been the very first time. He let his passion animate him. Gretchen thought of him as a majestic stallion with his shaggy flowing around his wondrous face. The way he stood up now as he pumped into her, in and out, hungrily chasing pleasure.

  He leaned down momentarily to place her fingers on herself. He showed her how to move them. Gretchen immediately recognized the desired effect and continued. She had never done such a thing but now she knew that she could.

  She learned that as before, when she moved not only did she give him pleasure but herself as well. She lifted her feet up and down from the floor as she was half off of the bed, creating lovely tightness and tingles for herself.

  Then she shifted to that climb of the ultimate, explosive pleasure. Once she locked onto it if she kept moving, she knew she would reap the reward. And age-old instinct drove her to find it. She did not let up until she felt the tremors roll through her.

  “That’s my girl,” praised Donny.

  It was if her pleasure gave him permission to let go. His body tensed. His movements jerked, were less fluid. His breathing rose like the beginnings of a tornado. He canted over her moving until the last as his cries filled the main house. He sputtered atop of her.

  Gretchen filled with warmth, perhaps taking the deepest satisfaction in pleasing him so.

  Later as they lay in bed, a properly married man and wife, Gretchen was plagued by a worry.

  “Donovan,” she began.

  He took her hand.

  “Yes love,” he answered groggily.

  “I am not sure,” she said.

  That got him up and awake. Donny propped himself on his elbow and demanded an explanation.

  “What?” he asked.

  “I am not if I am her sister,” she said. “I don’t want to be untrue.”

  He stroked her hair.

  “Aw,” he began. “Has that got you worried?”

  “I don’t feel what a sister should feel towards her. She’s a wonderful woman. I know that. I could not have asked for a better friend to help me get all fixed for my wedding.”

  Tears rolled across her cheeks.

  “But I just don’t know. I don’t want to be false,” she said.

  Donny took her hand and held it to his lips.

  “Sweet, you’re married to me. Merla’s married to Mac. So you are sisters. There’s nothing false about it. It takes time sometimes for two people who are related to feel something for one another,” he said.

  But his words had another meaning for Gretchen entirely. She thought he might be speaking about them. She was devastated for she was pretty clear. She had already fallen in love with him.

  “It does?!” she demanded.

  “No,” he laughed gently.

  His hands crept around her middle and pulled him closer to him.

  “Not always. Sometimes, I believe I said. You and me is man and wife. We got a whole lot of forces on our side making us close. You and Merla will be fond friends. That does take some time. Plus you got history that makes a body want to forget, not remember. Just be patient,” he said.

  “But what I am confused about is how can she have known about the things in my treasure box? I did know someone named Merla. I did have a man who was not my uncle, make us call him uncle. I did live in Wichita. I worked as a nanny and Merla worked at the orphanage,” she said.

  “Leave it for now,” her husband said wisely. “We can talk to marshal in the next few days to see what he thinks.”

  Chapter Eight

  After McElroy’s Bend was restored to things as usual after the whirlwind wedding, Donny and Gretchen rode into Dodge to consult with Marshal Ben about the puzzle that was Gretchen and Merla’s past.

  “I don’t want her to know this,” said Gretchen. “I don’t think she’s my sister.”

  “You do favor each other, you know that,” said the marshal.


  “I realize that. It’s a feeling I can’t shake. I don’t want to come to this family a liar,” she said.

  “Well no one thinks that of you,” said marshal. “I can inquire. I am not sure what will come of it. But I can inquire.”

  “Can we buy you dinner, marshal? I realize you don’t take pay but it would be our way of showing you our appreciation for all you done for us,” said Donny.

  The Marshall accepted and along with the newlyweds strolled down towards Delmonico’s for a meal. Timing was once again incredible. For as they passed the first saloon, they side-stepped a drunk getting evicted. The poor fellow landed hard and reeled with the pain.

  “Rafe?” called Donny with alarm.

  The marshal and Donny dashed down to fetch him. He was such a huge man, it took the two of them to hoist him.

  “He’s busted up,” said the marshal. “Let’s take him to the jail.”

  “Is he under arrest?” asked Donny.

  “We’re going to let him sleep it off,” winked the marshal.

  Gretchen thought the marshal was a handsome man. As she looked on to her husband and he helping up Rafe, she hoped like anything that Fiona did end up marrying him. She was very surprised to see the marshal and Donny return to quickly from depositing Rafe.

  They ate their dinner.

  “Don’t get too used to coming in to Dodge for dining, wife,” said Donny with a smile. “This might just be the last of this part of our honeymoon.”

  “Honeymoon is in the heart, Donny,” said the marshal.

  “Yes sir,” said Donny.

  Before they left they stopped back by the jail to check on Rafe. He left before the wedding and had not been seen since. He was sitting on his jail cot when they arrived.

  “I wasn’t that drunk,” he said remarkably sober. “I was just a jerk.”

  “I don’t blame you,” said Donny.

  “For what it’s worth,” Gretchen confessed. “I am pretty sure I am not the girl you were looking for.”

  “But you said. You and Merla said,” said Rafe with confusion.

  “I have been putting together some pieces. They aren’t quite clear. But near as I can figure, Merla and I were probably living with the same ‘uncle’ for a piece and that might have been it. Marshal here is going to help us figure it out,” said Gretchen.

  “I got busted up for nothing?” he remarked. “Hmm.”

  “Well that might mean your dream girl is still out there,” said Gretchen with a faint smile.

  Rafe stood up with a new enthusiasm.

  “Hey Ben, can you let me out of here?” he asked.

  “You gonna behave?” asked the marshal.

  “I am. I going to put an ad and get me a bride of my own,” he said.

  “You’re not going back to Wichita to look for Merla’s sister?” asked Donny.

  “Na, Jake can if he wants. I am fine now,” he said nodding to Gretchen.

  Donny and Gretchen left Rafe in the care of the marshal. There was something incredibly strengthening riding in the arms of her husband amid the prairie to a place she knew was her home.

  “I like riding this way,” she whispered as arousal rose in her.

  The faint tickles of his breath on her neck and in her ear stoked the fire she seemed to always have burning for him.

  “And why is that?” he asked with a smile in voice.

  “Because I like your arms around me,” she said in a gruff voice.

  “Is that so?” he asked.

  “Yes. I like leaning against you,” she continued.

  “We do fit nicely together,” he remarked.

  “Donovan,” she said.

  “Yes Gretchen,” he replied patiently.

  “Whether I know if I am Merla’s sister or not,” she began.

  “Yes?” he prodded.

  “I know for true, I am your wife,” she said.

  They didn’t say much in words for the remainder of the trip but rode lazily and peacefully home.

  The End

  Unbridled Passion

  A Mail Order Bride Historical Romance

  By

  Brittany Dreams

  Copyright 2015 by Brittany Dreams

  Introduction: It is bad enough to have her first marriage end because her husband left her for her own brother, Faye Furlong is absolutely mortified to find that the letters she has been receiving from her intended as a mail order bride were faked. So when she shows up in Dodge City from Hays, poor unfortunate, but incredibly good looking Jake McElroy has no idea what she is talking about. Fortunately their delicious attraction and intense chemistry puts doubt to bed -- where they do everything but sleep. And Jake and Faye marry anyway.

  Unbridled Passion

  Chapter One

  It was easier than she thought. Faye Furlong, or the Widow Furlong as she had come to be known since her husband left her, placed an ad in the Matrimonial News and the letters started pouring in. Beautiful letters. Letters that promised her fidelity and sometimes even the moon.

  The letters were a bright spot in her otherwise dreary life. Wearing widows weeds for the past eight months to cover up for the fact that Lorkan Furlong took off with a nice chunk of change without a word.

  It wasn’t like Faye didn’t know it was coming. Lorkan Furlong had more interest in the Faye’s brother than he did in Faye. It was a loveless marriage to say the least. It was a bitter heartbreak for Faye, not because she had been in love with Lorkan, but because she had been so duped by him.

  She was pretty sure her brother and her husband cooked this whole thing up long ago. It was a mercy that the family lawyer saw it for what it was and took pity on Faye. With his help and for a fee, he created a rumor that Lorkan had been killed out west, prospecting. Lorkan and her brother were declared dead, Faye inherited everything. Under the advice of her lawyer, she kept the house in trust for her brother if he were to appear and contest the division of the estate.

  “All we have to do is go before a judge and suggest your husband and your brother were, ah, together, and he’ll get nothing,” said the lawyer.

  So that was how at twenty eight, Faye became a widow; an old widow.

  While she was supposedly free, the sting of what had happened to Faye pained her daily at some point. It wasn’t like she was looking for it. It just happened. So the letters became such a salve on her battered spirit. That darn thing was, she could not shake that they felt like they were written by a woman.

  The moment of truth was upon her. Faye had accepted a proposal from a Jake McElroy of just outside of Dodge. The words he used to describe himself painted a very handsome picture. Though he didn’t come right out and say he was a gorgeous man, Faye daydreamed about him immediately.

  He had three other brothers and all of them were married. He was the hold-out bachelor, as he called himself. There weren’t a lot choices in Dodge and he wanted to settle down before he got too long in the tooth. Faye was warmed that she and he were in the same boat. They were both pushing thirty, childless and unmarried.

  She wrapped up her affairs in Hays, rented the house to her lawyer to watch over everything until further notice, and shipped herself off to Dodge City. She had some back and forth with Jake about paying for her passage. But she couldn’t wait and Faye had the sinking feeling he was having a hard time coming up with the money. The lovely thing about having a small family fortune, Faye was able to marry for affection and not out of desperation. It didn’t matter if Jake was poor. She had enough money for the both of them.

  Faye posted one last letter and set out for Dodge where she booked a room in the Dodge House. She could not stop her heart from racing. She felt like a school girl complete with the sweaty palms and skipping heart, anticipating her first meeting with Jake McElroy. The clerk at the hotel desk said he would notify her as soon as Jake was located.

  Faye awaited word in her hotel room, smoothing her hair and her dress so that she looked just so when her intended arrived. Finally came a knock
on the much-awaited knock on the door.

  “Miss Furlong,” the clerk called. “I have Mr. McElroy in the lobby.”

  Faye was a little put off by the fact that she had to come to him rather than he to her but maybe that was the way they did things in Dodge. She took a deep breath and walked the hall to the head of the stairs. She gazed down to the lobby. She picked him out immediately.

  He was a tall man with an incredibly strong physique. He wore a shirt with a vest over it and jeans. He had his hat in his hand. The clerk tapped Jake on the shoulder and he looked up at her. His face went wide with surprise and it made her a little self-conscious. Was he disappointed? Was she too old after all?

  Faye had been completely honest about her circumstances. Hard as it was to admit she was twenty eight years old, she figured it would be harder for her to face his reaction if she had not been. Once she was in the lobby and facing him, there was something strange she could not pinpoint in his demeanor.

  He was neither happy nor unhappy to see her. It was strange to her.

  “Miss Furlong,” he said with a slight nod.

  “Mr. McElroy. It’s nice to meet you,” she said sweetly.

  “Likewise,” he said. “What can I do for you ma’am?”

  Faye tilted her head with confusion.

  “Well I’ve come to Dodge to be married,” she said.

  “Who’s the lucky fella?” asked Jake politely.

  Faye thought she would drop in a faint before him.

  “Why you, Mr. McElroy,” she gasped.

  Chapter Two

  Tears moistened the corners of Faye’s eyes. She tried hard not to fall apart right there in the middle of Dodge House.

  “To me?” he asked and looked to the hotel clerk.

  Faye wavered. She felt her knees buckling. His big strong arms braced her.

  “Here now,” he said gently. “Why don’t we take a seat over here and sort this out.”

  “I don’t want to sort this out,” she whispered, thoroughly humiliated. “Your letters --”