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  Tramp’s Bride

  Mail Order Brides of Texas Book Four

  Kathleen Ball

  Copyright © 2018 by Kathleen Ball

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  This book is dedicated to Heather Crispin, Leeanne Turley and everyone else at the Livin’ Large Farm. It’s really become my home away from home. A big thank you to all the authors in The Pioneer Hearts Group on facebook. And to Bruce, Steven, Colt and Clara because I love them.

  Contents

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  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Epilogue

  The End

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  Mail Order Brides of Texas Book Five

  About the Author

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  Chapter One

  Urging Jack, his bay quarter horse, forward until they reached the spot he’d yearned for, Tramp Hart then pulled on the reins slowing his mount, to a stop. From his location on top of a hill, he could see the expanse of the ranch, a ranch he’d helped to build. He’d been gone over a year, and he wasn’t sure what type of reception would be waiting for him.

  The ranch looked great. Better than great. There were plenty of cattle and a few more houses on the property. Cinders always seemed to have a magical touch with both horses and cattle. Tramp felt bad the way their friendship had ended. He sure hoped he’d be able to mend fences. He needed to be home.

  Taking a fortifying breath, he loosened the reins and pointed Jack in the direction of the main house. One of the new houses on the property was the design he and Cinders had planned for his home. He did own a quarter of the ranch and had been foreman until he’d left. A smile spread over his face. Cinders must have known he’d be back. But despite the smile, the lump in his throat remained.

  He dismounted, tied Jack to the wood railing, and slowly walked up the steps to Cinders’ house. He hesitated before knocking taking a moment to close his eyes and hope he’d find himself welcomed. He knocked and waited but no one answered. In the old days he’d have just walked in but not now.

  With hat in hand he walked across the yard to his house. He opened the front door and it surprised him to see it furnished. Cinders had always been a generous friend. He’d take a quick look around and then brush down Jack. Taking his hat off, he nodded, admiring the workmanship on the house. He walked farther inside and stopped short. There in the kitchen stood a willowy, dark-haired woman. She wore her hair up but a good amount of it had escaped, and a few enchanting ringlets hung down. She was busy making candles. He couldn’t help but notice how lovely she was.

  She jerked her head up and her mouth formed an O. “Listen mister, I don’t want any trouble with you. I have a shotgun and I ain’t afraid to use it.”

  Tramp peered around and didn’t see a gun let alone a shotgun. “What are you doing in my house?” he asked annoyed at the way she stared at him.

  “Your house? I think you have the wrong idea cowboy. The bunkhouse is just to the left of my house. So, if you don’t mind, I have to finish dipping these here candles and hang them to dry. Good day.” She went back to her candles making him feel as welcome as a polecat at a picnic.

  He ran his fingers through his hair and frowned. “I do believe there’s been some type of mistake made. This is my house—”

  “Nope, absolutely not. Now please leave.” She hung the candles she was working on to dry and the next thing he knew, he was looking down the barrel of a shotgun. “Git!”

  He instantly put his hands up. “Listen Miss— Heck, I didn’t get your name. I’ll just leave you be until Cinders comes back.”

  “It’s Ilene, Ilene Duffy”

  “I’m Tramp.” He saw a spark of recognition in her eyes. “See ya around.” Offering a polite nod, he turned and walked back to the door, grabbing his hat on the way out. Perhaps Cinders hadn’t wanted him to come back after all. He’d half expected it, but still his heart dropped.

  The last year had been spent soul searching and mourning his friendship with Cinders. They’d grown up together and they’d always had each other’s back until Charlotte. She was the prettiest gal this side of the Mississippi and he had loved her with everything within him. He tried to be happy for Cinders and Charlotte when they wed. Heck, he was even the best man. Some best man.

  Once his betrayal became known, he couldn’t face Cinders anymore and he’d lit out. It ripped out his heart and his soul. He never realized how much his friendship with Cinders meant to him. Charlotte’s grave was over yonder under a big cottonwood. He never could bring himself to visit it.

  He’d known he was taking a chance coming back but he wasn’t ready for the disappointment that coursed through him. He ambled over to Jack and untied the reins. “Looks like we’re going to have to go on for a few more hours.” He patted Jack’s neck.

  Cinders shook his head. He must be seeing things. If he didn’t know better he’d have thought the man at his house was Tramp. He watched from on top of his horse, observing as the man swept off his hat and ran his fingers through his dark hair. Cinders’ heart beat painfully against his ribcage. It was Tramp. He’d know that cowpoke anywhere. He had a different horse but the way the man moved was all Tramp.

  Spurring his horse, he kicked up dust as he galloped to the house. They came to a stop and he vaulted off the horse. “You old son of a gun!” Cinders ignored the hand Tramp held out and hugged him close instead. He’d worried about his friend every day and was relieved to have him home.

  “I’m glad you’re back.” There was so much he wanted to ask but for now he’d let it be. The troubled expression on Tramp’s face concerned him. “Well, come on in. Shannon will be thrilled to see you when she gets home. She’s over at Keegan’s place organizing some quilting thing. A bee I think they call it.”

  “Keegan got his own place?”

  “Yes, and he’s done well so far. Even snatched himself a wife. He has two children now.”

  “Twins?”

  Cinders laughed. “No his filly already had a little filly of her own. They had a son they named Ryan about six months ago.”

  “What else have I missed?”

  “Come on in and have some coffee. I’ll catch you up.” Cinders went up the porch steps and into the house with Tramp right behind him. “Careful not to trip over the baby things.”

  “Baby?”

  Cinders went right to the cook stove and grabbed the coffee pot. He poured two cups and gestured for Tramp to have a seat. “Yes a baby,” he said as he set the coffee in front of his friend. “Her name is Olivia. She’s a week older than Ryan.”

  Tramp cleared his throat. “I missed an awful lot.”

  “You are planning to stay aren’t you?” Cinders took a swig of coffee.

  “Yes, no. I’d love the answer to be yes but I don’t want to intrude. You seem happy enough without me. The ranch is thriving,” Tramp said with a strange hitch in his voice.

  “This isn’t about being happy without you. You’re family, and you’ve been missed. I put away
a quarter of the earnings for you. I figured you’d need it sooner or later. I’d really like it if you could stay. The job of foremen is taken, but the job of partner isn’t.”

  Tramp looked away and seemed to stare at the wall for a while. He took a deep breath and turned back to Cinders. “I’m still ashamed about my part in Charlotte’s and your unhappiness. I still can’t fully understand why I did it. I drove her to her lover’s house and drove her home. I covered for her. It ate away at me but when you found out, it became a burden I couldn’t carry.”

  “She had a lot of people fooled. She’s gone now. I’m committed to Shannon, and she tells me she loves me every day.” A smile slid across his face. He couldn’t help it. He had everything he ever wanted. A loving wife, a beautiful daughter, and a prosperous ranch. “Let’s just put it behind us.”

  Tramp’s shoulders relaxed and he momentarily closed his eyes. “Thank you. I had hoped to stay. I see you used the plans to build a house for that Ilene gal.”

  Chuckling Cinders nodded. “I built it so you’d have a home here. Ilene came out as a mail order bride. She grew up in the same building in New York City Shannon did.”

  “Oh, who’s the lucky guy?”

  Cinder’s body tensed and he drew a steadying breath. “She was another of John Hardy’s victims. He lured her here too and expected her to become a saloon girl instead of a wife. Oh, he ended up in jail, and someone killed him.”

  “Good riddance. Is the saloon closed now?”

  Cinders laughed at the pained expression on Tramp’s face. “It’s still open. Noreen is the owner now.”

  Tramp’s face relaxed and he almost smiled. “I always did like Noreen best. What else has been happening?”

  “We have a new sheriff, Shane O’Connor and he recently got married. I know I’ve probably forgotten a heap of details but you’ll be around. Dang, it’s good to see your ugly mug!”

  “It’s surely nice to be welcomed. When will Ilene move out so I can move into my house?”

  Cinders frowned and shook his head. “I really thought she’d have been married to another fella by now. We can wait for Shannon to come home.”

  “Why didn’t Ilene go to the quilting tea?”

  “Bee.” Cinders frowned. “I think it’s called a bee, but tea does make more sense.”

  Ilene couldn’t help but peer out her front window at the handsome stranger. While she always thought Cinders to be the most handsome, with his blond hair and blue eyes Tramp was more pleasing to her eye. His dark, wavy hair hung down past his collar, and his brown eyes were ringed with amber. She thought him to be taller and wider than Cinders. Shaking her head she berated herself. He was a threat to her; he wanted her house.

  Not that she had any claim to the house but she’d been living in it almost a year. Somehow she’d come to think of it as hers. Turning away from the window, she looked around the front room. Little by little she had exchanged pies and other baked goods for furniture and a bit of coin. None of the furniture had been new but she cleaned them up. Her favorite was a settee where she liked to sit and watch the sun go down. It’d been terribly torn up, but she’d covered it with canvas that she had dyed red, using the plant Indian paintbrush to create the dye. The red color had turned out well, and the results gave her a fine sense of accomplishment.

  A chill went up her spine at the thought of losing it all. She’d had a few proposals, and now it looked as though she should have said yes to one of them. She never wanted to marry, but right now she’d have to put aside her wants and deal with the harsh reality. There was no doubt Tramp wanted his house.

  Fear clutched her heart. Why hadn’t she made more friends out here in Texas? Shannon had invited her to Addy’s quilting bee, but she didn’t feel adequate. Maybe comfortable was a better word. She’d always been shy, and people thought her standoffish. It wasn’t something she could change. Lord knew she’d tried.

  Life was full of disappointments, it was a lesson ingrained in her. Anytime she had made a friend, they all ended up pulling away, leaving her lonelier than ever. It was best not to get too close. How would she go about finding a place to live? She barely went into town. The trip always made her anxious and edgy. It was easier to just give Cookie a list of things to get at the mercantile.

  There was one restaurant in town. In fact, it was newly rebuilt after a fire, and she’d heard nice things about it. The man who owned it, Eats, was a big burly man. She didn’t have a choice; she’d have to ask him for a job.

  Cinders and Shannon wouldn’t put her out, but she couldn’t live on their charity. There was nowhere else she could bake and make a bit of money. She hated growing up in the city but now she wished she’d never left. It’d been a huge leap of faith coming west as a mail order bride and it turned out to be a disaster. Imagine a man proposing in a letter, sending money for passage, and then expecting her to be a soiled dove. A shudder went through her.

  As she shook her head, her eyes teared. There was nothing to say. That wouldn’t be her future, after all. It happened to plenty of women down on their luck. The thought of lying with a man sickened her. There had been little to no privacy in the tenements she had grown up in, and she’d heard her mother suffer more than once. No, she was in no hurry to do any wifely duty. She’d postpone marriage as long as she possibly could.

  When was Shannon going to be home? She’d have a solution to her problem, she always did. Ilene’s eyes widened; she relied too heavily on Shannon. It was time for her to stand on her own, but how? She should have made a plan a long ago instead of living on Cinders’ ranch. People loved her baking, and perhaps she could sell enough to keep herself housed and fed.

  A lone tear fell, and she quickly dashed it away. She wouldn’t have a place to bake. She’d go and talk to Eats in the morning and see about a job. Clasping her shaking hands she peeked out the window again. Cinders’ horse was out front with Tramp’s. She waited and waited but they didn’t come out. Not a good sign for her.

  Shannon might want her to stay. She helped with all the ranch chores. No one could ever say she wasn’t a hard worker. Her shoulders slumped as she turned from the window. She had candles to make, and she needed to get them done.

  The weight on his heart lightened considerably as he talked with Cinders. A full partner, imagine that. He frowned. “You’re not doing this whole partner thing to keep me here are you? I haven’t earned it.”

  “Yes you have, or rather you will. You don’t have to.”

  “What?”

  “The money I set aside for you is more than enough to buy in, and I really want to breed horses too. The army pays a lot for prime horses. It’ll take money to do it.”

  “Just round up some mustangs. That’s free,” Tramp suggested.

  “Already done that, I need some good quarter horses to breed too. Even saddle broke, mustangs are a bit unpredictable. I know it can be a success. Besides you always liked horses better than cattle.”

  “You’d want me to take over the horses? It’s a good idea, and we have more than enough land on the ranch.”

  “So, you’ll stay?”

  “I want my house.”

  Cinders nodded. “Understandable. I’ll need to make arrangements for Ilene. You know, she’d make you a fine wife—”

  Tramp raised his hand with his palm facing Cinders. “Wait right there. Every bad decision I’ve ever made was because of some dang blamed female. No sir, no wife for me.”

  Cinders smiled. “I think all cowboys think that way at first.”

  “Well, those yahoos end up changing their minds at the first skirt they see. Not me.”

  “Makes no never mind to me,” Cinders said as he shrugged his shoulders. “You know the last time I saw you, you were escorting Polly, but a few months later Polly returned. I have to say I was surprised you weren’t with her. Disappointed too. I’m glad you’re back.”

  “Polly had a banker friend, or so she thought. He tried to get her to marry him. He only wanted he
r for her money. He stole the money in the bank for himself. Too bad, Polly really liked him.”

  “That is a shame. I haven’t talked to Polly since she’s been back. She’s never been nice to Shannon, and I don’t condone that.” He gave Tramp a pointed look.

  Heat spread across Tramp’s face. He hadn’t treated Shannon very nicely either. He was so certain she would cut and run, breaking Cinders’ heart. Maybe Shannon was the exception. He’d grown up in a whore house. He’d hated what his mother did with those men. He’d hated her lying cheating ways, and as soon as he was able he had run for it. Luckily, he was only on his own for a month before Cinders’ father found him and took him in. Most women couldn’t be trusted. It was the plain and simple truth.

  He nodded. “I know I haven’t been kind to her either. I’ll apologize to her and make it right.”

  “Make what right? Thank goodness you’re home, Tramp!” Shannon untied her bonnet, placed it on a wall peg and hurried over.

  He widened his eyes as she hugged him. For an awkward minute, he didn’t know what to do. Then he hugged her back. Cinders was a lucky man. Shannon too had been tricked into coming to Asherville, Texas as a mail order bride. The saloon owner, John Hardy, had sliced Shannon’s face with a knife, scarring her.

  Shannon took a step back. “You look good. I’m hoping this isn’t just a visit. You are planning to stay aren’t you?”

  “I have something to say first.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’m so sorry for treating you so poorly. You never did anything to deserve my contempt. I took every bad experience I’d had with a woman and put it all on you. It was guilt that made me so darn ornery. I took it out on you and told myself I was protecting Cinders. I hope you can accept my apology. I feel as weary as a tomcat walkin’ in mud.” He put his hands in his pockets and braced himself for a long tirade.