ROMANCE: BIKER ROMANCE: Werewolf Rider (MC Shifter Pregnancy Romance) (New Adult Paranormal Romance Short Stories) (45 page)

Annabel furrowed her red brows together. Her face had become rather red as well. “I do not want to marry some stuffy Railroad tycoon,” she declared. “Why- Why he is nearly fifty years old!”

“Almost fifty years old, but very successful,” her father said, trying his best to appease her. Annabel was his little angel and it was due to his attempts to pacify her over the years that she had become so spoiled.

Her mother looked at her, becoming cross. “Annie, please,” she said. “This is for your own good, and your family’s. You will see in time that marriages can work out well when the parents carefully select the spouses. It was how your father and I came to know one another.” She picked up her pen and continued to write to that detestable old man, as though that was the end of the discussion.

Annabel stamped her little foot against the floor. “This is not for my own good! This is all for you and Daddy, and I hate it.” With that, she stormed from the room. She was no longer so concerned about which dress she might wear to the ball that weekend. The more pressing concern was protecting herself from a loveless marriage to a man who was old enough to be her father!

She dressed herself up in a modest, dark blue dress, tightening her bodice to the best of her ability. She was not used to tightening it herself – her mother usually helped her – but she did not want her mother’s help. Nor did she want her mother prying into her affairs and finding out where she was going.

Once she was dressed to go out, she left the house and got into a carriage. She rode to the nearest mail order bride office, blushing as she thought about what she was planning. Upon entering the office, she went up to the counter and dictated an advertisement, placing herself up for matrimony.

If she married a stranger, she wanted it to at least be a stranger she had chosen! Anyone who responded to her advertisement had to be better than that awful old Mister Hughes.

Miss Annabel Revere is eighteen years old and hoping to find the husband of her dreams
, her advertisement said. She was advised to describe the suitor she looking for in that way, because it served to butter up the men who were reading about her, and make them feel as though they might be filling a hole in her sweet young heart. She had wanted the ad to say,
hoping to find someone to take her away from her wretched parents
… But that wording was frowned upon.

As soon as the advertisement was written out to her liking, she paid the man behind the counter who had assisted her and went back out to find a carriage to take her home.

Jasper Daniels sat at a poker table amidst a cloud of cigarette smoke. Each time he downed his glass of whisky, a barkeep came and refilled it. He looked down at his hand of cards. A royal flush. He would not be losing tonight. He seldom lost at poker, which was why he played it so often with his friends in this bar. His reputation was that of a young man who thought he was better than everyone. He was also known for never shying away from a bet. Why should he, if he always won?

“Your move,” his friend Billy said. “I ain’t sitting here all night to watch you smirk at your cards.”

“All right, here’s my move,” Jasper said cockily, laying out his royal flush for all around the table to see. “’Fraid I’m not going to stop smirking tonight, Bill.”

Billy threw his cards down on the table, cursing loudly and clearly beaten. Everyone dropped their money into the pile and Jasper eagerly swept it all toward himself with his long arms. “Better luck next time, boys.”

Clayton looked at him and slowly shook his head. He was biting onto a toothpick that was little more than a splinter at this point. “You wouldn’t be so smug if you were up against a bet you couldn’t win,” he said in his slow, Western drawl.

“There’s no such thing as a bet I can’t win,” Jasper said, stuffing his wallet and pockets with the bills and valuables that he had won off the men. The very thought was ludicrous to him. He had been betting – and winning – against his cronies in this bar for years now.

One of the barmaids came by the table to refill his whisky. With one arm, he pulled her close to him. “Tell me, gorgeous, do you think I can lose?”

She smirked at him, blushing as though she was not the constant target of drunken flirtations. Most of the drunken flirtations even came directly from Jasper, but he could not keep the girls in that bar straight.

“All right,” Clayton said. “I have an idea that will put that theory of yours to the test.” He pulled a newspaper from his pocket and laid it flat out on the table over the men’s poker cards. He turned the pages until he found what he was looking for and, pulling his toothpick from his lips, he pointed it at an advertisement.

Jasper raised an eyebrow. “You want me to respond to a lady seeking sexual favors?”

Everyone laughed and he grinned mockingly at Clayton, who was the only one not amused. The advertisements that he was pointing at were well known by men in the west. They were used to find brides, and occasionally husbands. There were not a lot of decent, single ladies out west, so the cowboys, ranchers and coal miners took advantage of any opportunity to marry one of these would-be wives. Jasper, however, was not aiming to get himself married off so soon. He was only thirty years old and he already owned his own ranch. He had enough vigor and drive to be successful and rich without needing a nagging wife and a bounty of brats to keep him going.

“I want you to respond to this ad here,” Clayton said, jabbing his disgusting toothpick at one advertisement in particular. Jasper read over it.
Annabel Revere.

“Jesus Christ, Clayton, she’s nineteen!”

Clayton rammed the splinter of wood directly into the newspaper, breaking it into even tinier pieces. “She sounds young and spoiled, and no fit match for a cowpoke like you. I BET YOU that you can’t get her to marry you and learn from you how to be a proper little homestead wife.”

Jasper waved him off with a hand. “I could do all that with my eyes closed,” he said.

He clearly was not threatened enough by the magnitude of the bet for Clayton’s liking. “I also bet,” Clayton added, “that you can’t do all that without taking her to bed with you for two months. If you can do all that, I will give you eight hundred dollars.”

There was a hush over the room at that. Aside from his gambling and being a general egomaniac, Jasper Daniels was famous for his womanizing ways. He had broken a lot of hearts in Jefferson County, Colorado. That was just the way he liked it. To marry this young woman without bedding her…that would be a challenge.

Jasper liked challenges. They made winning all the better.

Instead of saying anything to Clayton, he asked the barkeep for a piece of paper and wrote jotted out a quick response to the girl.

Dear Miss Revere,

I found your advertisement in the paper, and I am indeed interested in making your acquaintance. I was surprised to see a girl so young seeking marriage. If it can be true and you really do want to marry someone, then I am your man. My name is Jasper Daniels and I am a cattle rancher in Colorado. I will wire you the money necessary for you to come out here and join me on my ranch.

I hope you like horses and getting your hands dirty.

Regards,

Jasper Daniels

A maid came into the room and handed Annabel her mail. Her parents had dismissed most of their domestic workers, but they kept one of their maids. Annabel was thankful that they had kept her favorite one, though she supposed it soon would not matter. Just as she had hoped, letters came pouring in responding to her advertisement. She leafed through them, giggling and blushing at each man’s attempt to woo her with words.

When she found one from Jasper Daniels, she let out a complete guffaw. “What is it, Miss Anna?” the maid asked her curiously.

“I am going to be married to a gentleman out west,” she told her. “And I think this is the one.” She waved the letter, amused by the cowboy’s joke. Getting her hands dirty indeed. He must surely know that a lady such as she would not allow her hands to get even the slightest amount of dirt on them.

She read over his name again and again, liking the way it felt when she said it aloud. “Mrs. Jasper Daniels… Mrs. Annabel Daniels.”

He must surely be a suitor that was more suitable, someone who was young and dashing and fun to be around, not some old bore who was all money and no personality. Yes, she was going to marry this Mr. Daniels and show her parents that she knew exactly how to take care of herself.

CHAPTER TWO

A Bride As Described

As soon as Annabel received a notification in the mail that money was waiting for her at the local cash office, she dressed in her modest, outing outfit again and went to collect it. Mr. Daniels had indeed been generous. He had sent along enough money for her to take the train to Colorado and perhaps even have some left over. She was amused and pleased by his thoughtfulness, because she knew that she would not be able to just ask her parents for the money. Most likely, they would tell Annabel that they did not have a train trip in their budget.

When she arrived back home, her mother appeared flustered. “Where have you been?” she demanded. “Mister Hughes has invited you to dine with him! You must get dressed at once.”

“Oh, who cares about old Mister Hughes, Mother?” Annabel said, scoffing. She dug into her purse and pulled out the letter from Jasper Daniels. She handed it over with a smug look on her face. “I am engaged to marry Mr. Daniels from Jefferson County, Colorado. He wants me to join him there right away.”

Her mother’s eyes widened. “What on earth are you talking about?” she asked, reading over the letter as though it might be something Annabel had fabricated to get out of her commitments. “You cannot marry some strange man all the way in Colorado.”

“I can,” said Annabel. “And I shall.”

With that, she went to her room to begin packing up her things.

After a little while, a father knocked on her bedroom door. “Pumpkin,” he said. “You cannot seriously be planning to leave us… A marriage between you and Mister Hughes would help all of us.”

She opened the door so she could talk with him, though she immediately looked away. She did not like being upset with her daddy, but he had put her in this unfortunate situation in the first place. “I am going away to marry someone that I have chosen,” she said. “There are plenty of worthwhile husbands in the west. Perhaps he will send money along for you and Mother after we are married, so that you can stop your worrying. I cannot marry Mister Hughes. I just won’t.”

Sniffling, she brought a handkerchief to her face.

“All right,” her father said. “There’s no need for you to cry… But will this man take good care of you?”

Annabel smiled at her father then, and nodded. “I believe so,” she said. “After all, he is rich.”

Her father gave her a hug. He did not like the idea of her leaving their house to go all the way to Colorado, but he was not going to hold her back if she thought it was the best thing for her. He wanted her to be happy, above all else. And, if this Mr. Daniels was rich, all of their worries would be over…

Once she had packed up the majority of her things, Annabel took out a pen and paper to write a quick reply to Mr. Daniels and let him know that she was planning to come to him as soon as possible.

For good measure this time, she included a flattering photograph of herself inside the envelope. She wanted Jasper Daniels to know that the bride he was getting was quality and worth his attention.

Dear Mr. Daniels,

Your letter – and your travel rations – brought me great joy. I would be delighted to join you in Colorado. Travel arrangements are being made now, and I hope to be with you in four weeks’ time!

Have a horse saddled up and ready for me.

Sincerely,

Annabel Revere

Jasper leaned back in his chair with his feet on the bar of the saloon, one of the dancing girls in his lap. “Do you reckon me for a husband?” he asked her. “Can you see me being tethered to a wife?”

The girl lowered her lids a little, used to the role of seductress in her place of work. “Is this a proposal?” she asked, jokingly.

Clayton and Billy were sitting nearby, enthralled by the act on the stage. When Jasper and the girl started kissing as though their lives depended on it, Clayton cleared his throat. “I hardly think your fancy fiancée would condone this.”

“Aw, come on,” Jasper said. “I have to be celibate forever now?”

Grinning, Clayton nodded. “Just until our deal has played out as I said. If she were to walk in here right now and see the way you are behaving, you think she would let you marry her?”

Jasper gently moved the girl off of his lap, smirking at her and silently cursing Clayton and his meddling. Just then, a mail currier came into the saloon to drop off letters at the bar. “Hey,” Jasper said, giving a high whistle to the get the boy’s attention. “Do you got anything for Jasper Daniels?”

The boy paused and looked through his bag. He pulled out a small envelope, yellowed by some kind of a stain. He handed it over to Jasper, who made a disgusted face. “Thank you. Glad to see our mail is in good hands.” He flipped a coin to the kid.

Miss Annabel Revere
, the envelope said. She had neat cursive handwriting that showed that she had received a good education. Although Jasper outwardly dismissed that as hoity-toity, he was actually impressed. He was not marrying some dumb rich girl from the city. He was marrying a rich girl with brains.

He hoped, for her sake, that she had the brains it would take to create a homestead with him and help him seal the deal of this bet of Clayton’s. Her excitement to join him was evident. No matter how much he hated to play the waiting game, he would be good and wait for her instead of chasing after every skirt he came across.

Eight hundred dollars was a lot of money, and the satisfaction of proving his friends wrong was worth even more than that.

After reading her note, Jasper attempted to push it back down into the envelope but something was in the way. He reached into it and pulled out the small daguerreotype of his intended.

He gazed down upon the portrait of the young, red-haired woman. She was dressed in a riding outfit, holding a crop at her side. “Very clever,” Jasper said under his breath, quite taken by her. He looked over at Clayton and waved the photograph at him. “I think she will fit in just fine here.”

Clayton and Billy looked at the photograph. “She is mighty beautiful,” Billy said, smiling at Jasper. “You’re a lucky man.”

It was apparent that Clayton did not have much faith in Jasper. “She is going to take one look at his ugly mug and return home.”

Jasper hooted. “The only danger in this bet is her not wanting me in her bed. You will see us married, boys. I can guarantee that!”

He continued to gaze at the portrait of Annabel, showing her off to anyone who was curious or happened to glance over his way. “This is my bride to be,” he would tell them proudly. “She’s on her way to marry me.”

As her carriage was fully loaded up, Annabel hugged each of her parents. The bitterness was still there between her and her mother, but at least her trip west had not been obstructed. “Are you quite sure that you don’t want to take Mary with you?” her mother asked.

The maid was their last domestic assistant and, although Annabel was fond of her, she did not like the idea of leaving them with no one to help them around the house. Besides, she did not know where Mary would fit in with Jasper’s lifestyle. She did not imagine that he was planning on another maid. A wealthy man like him probably had a staff of fifty household employees already.

“I don’t need a babysitter, Mother,” Annabel answered coolly, keeping her concerns to herself. “I will see to it, once I’ve arrived, that I get a personal maid. Don’t worry about that.”

Her mother kissed Annabel’s forehead. “Write to us, darling,” she said softly. “Take care of yourself.”

After promising to write and to send them money as soon as she was able to, Annabel got into her carriage and rode off to the train station. She turned down Mary as her travel companion but, as soon as she was situated in her compartment on the train, she longed for a friend to be there with her. This was going to be a rather long train ride…

Her mind was too excited, thinking about all of the new things that she would soon be enjoying and imagining the handsome young man that she would marry. She could not focus on reading the offered newspaper or writing a letter to anyone. All of her friends would be so jealous. They spent much of their time going to balls and parties in order to win the affections of young men, and here Annabel was, marrying a wealthy young man in a wonderful new place!

CHAPTER THREE

The Mister Missed Her

Jasper was feeling rather lackluster whenever he went to the bars and clubs that he so often frequented. Now that he was under the rules of the bet and the ever-watchful eye of Clayton, he found that he could not have fun. He still made wagers on things, and still delighted in winning, but it no longer held the satisfaction that it once had. Someday soon, Miss Annabel’s train would arrive and all of the things that he considered to be fun would be at an end. Sure, he might still be able to play cards with the boys and even take in a show or two, but at the end of the day he would have a wife to go home to, and a life that he was not so sure he was ready for.

Oh, but he could not have asked for a prettier wife to be shackled to. Miss Annabel Revere was a stunning looker. He amused himself by imagining going for rides with her. Maybe he could even teach her a thing or two about ranching, though nothing that would make her too skilled. He was happy that his wife would be bright, but he could not abide her thinking that she was smarter than him, particularly in matters of the land.

“You ought to go on home now and make sure your place is ready,” Billy advised. “Ladies like their places looking nice. From what I recall of yours, it’s going to take some work.”

He and Clayton laughed at that while Jasper frowned. “Oh, you boys are just jealous because I have a lady and you don’t. Come talk to me about how bad I am when you need my help later on with yours.”

With that, he trudged back home to his bachelor’s manse. There were clean blankets on the bed that Miss Annabel would be occupying; he did not see what else could matter. His furniture was organized, if a bit dusty. He did not spend a lot of time in his house, preferring to spend his time out and about with friends. If Miss Annabel was so particular, he figured that she would bring along a maid or some such to help her decorate her new home. Well, she could decorate her areas of the home anyway. He was not going to withstand the rearranging of his own spaces.

The next day, Jasper decided to forgo the bars and saloons for the first time in recent memory. Instead, he went to a local farm with the intention of purchasing a new horse for his new wife.

“My bride is familiar with riding,” he explained to the farmer. “She comes from a wealthy background, though, so it’s likely she isn’t used to riding the kind of horses that we ranchers ride… Do you have any more docile mares that I could see?”

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Annabel’s train pulled into the station. She was asleep with her forehead lightly pressed against the window, but she awoke as the train jostled her.

“Evergreen!” the train conductor called out. “Evergreen, Colorado!”

Annabel leapt up, nearly hitting her head against the ceiling in her compartment. “That’s me!” she called to any attendants who were nearby and could help her. “I need to get off here!”

As soon as she had her bags and had calmed down some, she stood on the platform at the train station, looking around at all of the lush landscape that she could see. The land in Colorado had been built up nicely, though it was still much more wide open and unsettled than everything she was used to back home in Massachusetts. She took a deep breath and looked around for any sign of Mr. Daniels, her intended. It was then that she realized he most likely did not know about her arrival time. How could he? She had only been able to supply him with a vague estimate of when she would be there.

Fortunately, Annabel was a girl with enough gumption to ask for help. She calmly strode up to a man with a cart who was idling nearby. “Excuse me, sir. Do you know a Mr. Jasper Daniels?” she asked.

The man lifted his straw hat at her politely and seemed amused by the question. “I reckon I do,” he answered.

“Could you take me to him?” she asked, moving her suitcase to her other hand so she could pull her wallet from her purse. “I can pay you.”

He looked her over. It was apparent that she was a well-to-do girl from the city. She had not exactly known what to wear that would make her blend in better.

“Five dollars,” the man said.

Annabel nodded. “It’s a deal,” she replied. She handed him a five dollar bill and he gestured for her to get in the back of his small cart. It was pulled by a donkey, but it would do. The man drove her into town and she admired more of the buildings along the way. When they pulled up outside of a saloon, she gaped in her confusion.

“Here y’are,” the man said, sounding mighty proud of himself.

“I think there’s been a mix up,” Annabel said. “I thought you might bring me to Mr. Daniels’s house.”

The man laughed. “This might as well be his house,” was all he said.

In a huff, Annabel got out of the cart and watched as it slowly moved away. “Thanks for nothing,” she said under her breath. She decided that it was better to go inside the saloon and look for Jasper Daniels, just in case, rather than standing out on the dirt road with the sun in her eyes.