Authors: Ruth Ann Nordin
Tags: #romance, #comedy, #lighthearted, #bride, #virgin hero, #historical western, #kent ashton, #woman pursues man
Catching Kent
Catching
Kent
Ruth Ann Nordin
Catching Kent – Smashwords
Edition
Published by Ruth Ann Nordin at
Smashwords
Copyright © 2013 by Ruth Ann
Nordin
All rights reserved. No part of this
book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
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any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the copyright owner.
This is a work of fiction. Names,
characters, places and incidents are either the product of the
author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance
to any actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is
entirely coincidental.
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Cover Photo image of background at
Dreamstime.com via Daniel Raustadt. All rights reserved – used with
permission.
Cover Photo image of woman
at iStockphoto.com via
BigWest1. All rights
reserved – used with permission.
Cover Photo image of man at
iStockphoto.com via jsteck. All right reserved – used with
permission.
Already Available: More Books with Kent
Ashton
Coming Soon: The Stagecoach
Bride
Coming Soon: Bride by
Arrangement
List of Romances by Ruth Ann
Nordin
Dedication
Dedication: To Jennifer
Karonika Kominczak
for inspiring “Kent
Ashton’s Backstory” which led to
Catching
Kent
. Because of you, Kent got his second
chance.
Chapter One
July 1907
Kent Ashton’s heartbeat
picked up when the Statue of Liberty came into view. Why did he
think returning to America would be easy? He gripped the rail of
the ship and took a deep breath. As long as he didn’t go to New
York or Virginia, he should be able to start a new life. This was
his chance to be the man his uncle wanted him to be; it was his
chance to be the man
he
wanted to be.
“
Ain’t that a beautiful
sight?” the man next to him asked. “It’s a land of opportunity. A
place to start new. There are no limits here.” He turned his gaze
to Kent and smiled. “You can be anything you want to be. Me? I’m
going into business. Going to make shoes. And I’ll give my family a
better living than they ever had back in Ireland.” He rubbed his
hands together and laughed. “I can’t wait! My wife and children and
I… We’re going to Boston. Where are you going?”
“
California.”
“
What’d you going to do
there?”
Turning his gaze back to the Statue of
Liberty, Kent took a deep breath. “I’m going to be as far from my
father as possible.”
***
A week later
“
Rose, must your head
always be in the clouds?”
Rose Larson shifted onto her side in
the hammock so she could face her twin sister. Harriett blew a
strand of blonde hair from her eye and juggled the pail of water in
her arms.
“
Put that pail down and
join me,” Rose said, her blue-green eyes twinkling. “We can pick
out things we see in the leaves.” Gesturing to the two trees above
her, she added, “I just spotted a young maiden holding a
butterfly.” She glanced back at the leaves overhead and saw them
rustle in the breeze. “She’s gone. Now I see a wagon.”
“
You’re no longer a child.
Why don’t you act like you’re eighteen? The truth is, you can’t see
anything in those leaves.”
“
But I do! They form
different shapes depending on how the wind blows them
around.”
“
It’s not windy. It’s
breezy.” With a sigh, she added, “I wish it were windy. I hate
summer. Summers are much too hot.”
“
Oh, Harriett,” Rose began
as she sat up. “You must take a few moments in the day to sit in
the shade and rest.”
“
Ma needs water and she
needs it now.”
Before Rose could reply, her sister
headed for the house. As much as Rose wanted to linger in the
hammock, she knew she better get back to the chores. She swung off
the hammock and landed on her feet. Slipping her hat on, she
lowered the brim so the sun wouldn’t hit her eyes and skipped
toward the barn, humming a song she heard a week ago. It was too
bad she didn’t remember what it was called. She couldn’t even
recall most of the lyrics. The melody was catchy,
though.
She almost bumped into her older
brother as she entered the barn. Laughing, she gave a playful jab
in his chest. “You ought to watch where you’re going, Adam. You
nearly knocked me over.”
“
Who’s knocking who down?
You came barreling in here and didn’t watch where you were going,”
he replied, his slight grin betraying his good humor. “What
mischief are you up to?”
“
None. I thought I’d check
the crops,” she offered. “You know, make sure everything is growing
as it should.”
“
You could check for bugs
on the corn.”
“
Oh, yes. I suppose there
is that.”
“
But…?”
She put her hands in the back pockets
of her pants and shrugged. “I wanted to get a view of the whole
field.”
“
In other words, you want
to ride a horse.”
“
Alright,” she admitted.
“I’ve been itching to go for a ride. Can’t I go for one? Even a
short one? I won’t be more than half an hour.”
“
I hope whatever you do,
you don’t become a farmer’s wife. You’d grow bored if you had to
spend all your time doing the necessary chores.”
Realizing her brother was going to let
her ride a horse, she kissed his cheek and hurried to Pink Lady’s
stall. She named the mare herself because she loved the color pink
and thought ‘Lady’ sounded like a suitable name for a horse with
such a lovely shade of brown. It was a deep rich color. She ran her
hand along the mare’s neck, admiring her beauty.
“
You’re going riding
again?” her thirteen-year-old brother asked as he came into the
barn with a bucket full of dead bugs.
“
Adam said I could,” she
replied as she tied the mare to a post.
“
Don’t worry about it,
Eli,” Adam told their brother. “She’s going to marry a wealthy man
and have servants do all the work for her.”
“
Ha ha,” she smirked and
picked up her favorite saddle. “Little do you know, I am capable of
hard work.”
Adam snorted. “When?”
“
When she’s not
daydreaming,” Eli quipped, “and she never stops
daydreaming.”
“
There’s nothing wrong with
daydreaming,” she insisted as she secured the saddle. “Why, I’ll
have you know that an active imagination prevents people from
becoming boring. It’s a shame both of you don’t try it
sometime.”
“
We’re not boring,” Adam
argued. “We’re sensible. Daydreaming doesn’t put food on the
table.”
Hopping up on the horse, she asked,
“You need to do more than put food on the table. You ought to find
a wife. You’re twenty-five.”
“
You’re eighteen and I
don’t see you accepting any offers you’ve had.”
She grimaced. “That’s because no one
interests me.”
“
And no one interests me
either. I want a marriage like our parents got. When I meet a lady
who’s as good as Ma, I’ll marry her. In the meantime, I’ll be a
happy bachelor.”
Their father came into the barn and
they grew silent. Glancing between them, their father asked, “Did I
interrupt something?”
“
Nah,” Eli said. “Rose is
about to ride Pink Lady through the fields.”
“
Adam said I could,” she
clarified.
“
It’s either that or have
her waste time on the hammock daydreaming again,” Adam
inserted.
“
Rose has a lot of your
uncle Joel in her,” their father replied and headed for the wagon.
“He was a daydreamer too.”
She caught her father’s smile and
grinned. “See? Pa understands.”
“
But I want you to help
your ma and sister when you get back,” her pa added. “Eli, you and
I are going to pick up some things in town. Adam, you stay here and
take care of the rest of the afternoon chores. We’ll be back by
supper.”
“
Alright, Pa.”
Eager for a ride on such a lovely day,
Rose bid her father and brothers farewell and directed the mare to
take her out of the barn. Once she was outside, she closed her eyes
and inhaled the fresh air. What could be more wonderful than a
pleasant summer day? “Come on, Pink Lady. I wonder how many flowers
we’ll see today?” Excited, she nudged the horse in the sides and
led her into a trot across the land.
***
Kent got off the train and stretched
his stiff muscles. The ride had been a long one, but it wasn’t over
yet. But he made it to Omaha, Nebraska. He’d start his new life in
California soon enough. Releasing his breath, he waited by the
train for his suitcase. He only brought one, but one was all he
needed until he reached his destination.
He rubbed his eyes and yawned. He’d
spend the night here, get a good night’s sleep and bath, and leave
in the morning. Pulling out his uncle’s pocket watch, he saw that
it was a little after two. Good. He had plenty of time to rest.
Even if he’d spent all his time sitting in a train, he relished the
idea of sleeping in a bed. A nice walk wouldn’t hurt
either.
When the baggage handler placed Kent’s
suitcase among the others, Kent approached him and handed him his
brass ticket. Once Kent had his suitcase, he wove through the crowd
and out of the station. Taking in the fresh air and sunlight, he
stood still for a moment, letting the breeze cool him
off.
“
Sir?” someone called out
to him.
He turned to face a man who was
heading in his direction. “Yes?”
“
I need help,” the men said
as he wiped his forehead with a bandana. “Got a son stuck in a
barrel in the alley.”