Historical Cowboy Romance Two Book Box Set - Mail Order Brides (11 page)

Tessa snuggled closer. “I know. It’s all
right. It’s very hard to recreate something like that.”

Dean cleared his throat. “Let’s see. They’re
cold, of course.”

“Winters generally are,” Tessa said with a
laugh.

“The storms can come on real quick. We
usually get at least one blizzard each winter. It can get down
below zero sometimes and we have to make sure the cattle don’t
freeze. When we see a blizzard is coming, we string a rope between
here and the barn so that we don’t get lost going out to feed them.
You can’t really see where you’re going because the snow comes down
so thick and fast,” Dean told her.

Tessa was puzzled. Dean was giving a general
description, but nothing like what his letters had described. As a
writer and a student of writing, she recognized that the voice was
not the same at all. It was as if someone else had written those
letters. Maybe it was just because she had put him on the spot. She
had an idea.

“Yes, and you said that the clouds become
dark gray, like dull metal,” Tessa said.

Dean nodded. “Yep, I did.”

Tessa tensed beside him and raised her head
so their eyes could meet. “Your letter said no such thing. You
didn’t write those letters, did you?”

Dean knew his goose was cooked. “Look, I’m
not good with words, so I had Marcus help me out.”

“Marcus? He wrote them?” Tessa moved away
from him. “Did he read the letters I wrote back?”

“Yes. He had to so he knew how to answer
them,” Dean said. It seemed reasonable to him.

Fury blurred Tessa’s vision for a few
moments. “I said many personal things in those letters, Dean.
Things I didn’t think anyone else would ever read! How could you do
that? How could you lie to me?”

Dean propped himself up on an elbow. ‘I
didn’t lie. Everything in those letters was true.”

Tessa got up and brushed grass from her
skirt. “How would you know?” she shouted. “You didn’t write them!”
She turned and headed for the house.

Dean rose and went after her. He caught her
arm and turned her back around. “Everything in them was true.
Marcus only wrote what I told him to write. He just said it better
than I can,” he said.

“Did you approve them before he sent them?”
she asked stiffly.

Dean scowled. “No. I figured he knew what he
was doing.”

Tessa looked down at her arm. “Kindly unhand
me. I don’t care to be touched by someone I don’t know.”

“What? You can’t be serious. Not after the
past few days,” Dean said.

Tessa colored because she knew he was
referring to their lovemaking. “Yes, well. That won’t be happening
again. That was when I thought I knew the man I married.”

“Tessa, you do know me,” Dean insisted. “And
I know you. I read every one of your letters, over and over. And
we’ve spent so much time together over the last couple of months.
How could we not know each other?”

Tessa ripped her arm out of Dean’s grasp. “I
said let me go. I came here based on what was said in those
letters. You don’t even know what was in them. I fell halfway in
love just from what they contained. I think I married the wrong
brother.”

She whirled and entered the kitchen. Tessa
marched to their bedroom and packed up her belongings in her
suitcases. Dean watched silently as she finished.

“I’m not leaving the house. I’m moving back
upstairs. I don’t want to leave the children and I’ll do my wifely
duties, all but one,” Tessa said giving him a meaningful look. “I
can’t share a room with a man I don’t know.”

Dean began to get angry. “This is ridiculous.
You’re blowing this way out of proportion.”

“Really? Am I?” Tessa’s eyes blazed with pain
and anger. “I don’t think so. Now, if you’ll move out of the way,
please.”

Dean could see by the stubborn set of her jaw
and stiff posture that she wasn’t going to budge. “Fine. Have it
your way,” he said and left the house.

Only when she was in her old room upstairs
and had deposited her things on the floor did Tessa let the tears
come. She shut and locked the door and lay down on her bed. She
sobbed quietly into the pillows. Tessa was hurt because Dean had
essentially lied to her and he couldn’t see it. He didn’t think it
was a big deal, but to her it was. Had it not been for what was
said in those letters, she would have never left home to come west.
She would not be married to a man who had deceived her and thought
she didn’t have a right to be hurt.

Suddenly, she wanted her mother just like she
had when she was a little girl and had suffered some kind of hurt.
She needed her mother’s strength and comfort, but could not have
it. Tessa cried herself to sleep as she realized how alone she was
and how foolish she had been to come to Montana all alone.

When Lydia and Charlie brought the kids back
a few days later, Lydia could tell that something was going on with
the newlyweds. She waited until after Sadie and Jack had a chance
to visit with them before asking about it. Charlie had gone out to
the barn with Dean and Sadie and Jack had gone upstairs so Lydia
took the opportunity to bring it up.

“Is everything all right?” she asked
Tessa.

Tessa smiled. “Of course. Things are
fine.”

Lydia cocked her head. “I’m your friend,
right?”

“Yes.”

“Then tell me what’s wrong,” Lydia said
kindly.

Tessa bit her lip, undecided if she should
talk to Lydia about it. It was true that they were friends, but she
was family to Dean and Tessa wasn’t sure who Lydia would side
with.

Lydia appeared to read her mind. “Tessa, I
can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.”

Tessa said down at the table. Her shoulders
slumped in dejection. “He lied to me, Lydia. Dean lied to me.”

Lydia’s brows drew together and her brown
eyes held puzzlement. “About what?” Dean was one of the most honest
people she knew and it was hard to believe that he’d been dishonest
with Tessa. However, she also knew that Tessa didn’t lie, so she
was ready to hear Tessa out.

“You know that we exchanged quite a few
letters,” Tessa began.

“Yes.”

“His letters were wonderful. He told me about
Montana and your lives here in great detail and it was wonderful.
We discussed so many things and I first began having feelings for
him based on those letters or I would have never come here,” Tessa
said.

Lydia smiled. “I can understand that.”

Tessa sent her a sad smile. “I came to find
out a few days ago that he didn’t write them. Marcus did.”

Lydia’s smile faded as Tessa’s words sank in.
“He didn’t write them? Marcus wrote them? Why?”

“He says that Marcus writes and speaks much
better about things, that he doesn’t describe things the way Marcus
does. So he read my letters, told Marcus a basic way how to answer
them, and then just let the rest up to Marcus. Marcus read my
letters, Lydia. My privacy was invaded. I said things in those
letters that were meant for Dean alone. He never even looked at the
letters Marcus wrote back to me. That’s how I found out that he
didn’t write them. I was asking him questions about what he’d
written and his answers didn’t add up. I confess that I tricked him
a little. I’m not proud of it, but at least I know the truth,”
Tessa finished and took a steadying breath. She didn’t want to have
the children come into the kitchen to find her crying.

Lydia was stunned. It was something she never
would have expected of Dean. She saw both sides of the issue. She
knew Dean had trouble talking about his feelings and that neither
he nor Seth had Marcus’ head for reading and writing. Lydia could
understand why Dean would get Marcus to write the letters, but he
could have handled things differently.

“You think I’m being silly, don’t you?” Tessa
asked.

Lydia laughed. “No, I don’t. It’s
understandable that you’re hurt. He should have asked your
permission to have Marcus help him. Dean should have explained the
situation, but that’s male pride for you, Tessa. I’m sure you’re
used to dealing with men who have a lot of education, but out here,
it’s different. As you know, we don’t have a school near here, so
it was a good thing the boys’ father was fairly well educated. My
mother was a teacher, so I was lucky, too. Marcus was a natural
born student, much the same as Sadie, but Seth and Dean were not
and had to work at it.”

“I see,” Tessa said. “I sometimes forget that
it’s not as settled here, but it’s the principle behind it. He
doesn’t understand why I’m so upset about it. I feel as if I was
brought here under false pretenses. I wanted to connect with
Dean
and no one else and I feel as if that didn’t happen. I
moved back upstairs. I couldn’t sleep in the same room with
him.”

Lydia put a hand over her mouth. “Oh, my. I
would ask that you don’t do anything rash, Tessa. It might take
some time, but do you think that there’s a chance of
forgiveness?”

“I don’t know. That might be up to him,
Lydia. I’m just so hurt right now,” Tessa said.

Sadie came back into the room then and the
subject was dropped.

Seth let out a low whistle. “Boy, you really
stepped in it, Dean.”

Dean’s face took on a stubborn scowl. “I told
her why and it didn’t seem to matter to her. I wasn’t trying to
lie. I just didn’t want her to think I was stupid.”

“Hmm. Seems like that’s what happened
anyway,” Seth said with a smile.

“This isn’t funny, Seth. She moved back
upstairs.”

Seth said, “Well, I can’t blame her in a
way.”

“Why?”

Seth shifted in the rocking chair on the
small porch of his bunkhouse. “Dean, the only woman you’ve ever
been romantically involved with before was Sarah. You two knew each
other as youngsters and fell in love early. She was a sweet woman
and I loved her very much,” he said. “But take it from someone
who’s been, uh, involved with a lot more women. There are things
that matter most to women and honesty is number one. Even if they
don’t like what you’re saying, if you’re honest, they respect you.
You weren’t completely honest with her and she thinks that
everything was a lie.”

Dean sighed. “It wasn’t. Everything Marcus
put in those letters was what I told him to write. He just says it
better, that’s all.”

“Yeah, he sure does. He’s like Pa that way.
Ma was smart woman, too, don’t forget, just in a different way,”
Seth said.

“I know. Tessa comes from a whole other
world, Seth. How was I gonna compete with that?” Dean said.

“Yep, I get that, too.”

Dean shot Seth an exasperated look. “You get
it, but I’m still wrong somehow. That’s what you’re saying. She
wouldn’t even listen to me or try to understand.”

Seth chuckled. “Well, that’s typical. When
anyone’s feelings get hurt, it’s hard to listen to reason. You know
what that’s like. Maybe just give her some time and let her temper
cool.”

Dean said nothing. He may not be a man of
many words, but he was a man of action. He was danged if he was
going to let this go on. Dean wasn’t going to let the woman go on
thinking the worst of him.

Tessa was walking along the road that ran
adjacent to their property picking some raspberries that had just
ripened. Sadie worked along the other side. If they were able to
pick enough, Tessa wanted to make a couple of pies. She heard Sadie
singing and smiled. Sadie had a sweet voice and Seth especially was
always getting her to sing.

The sound of carriage wheels came to Tessa’s
ears. She looked up to see one in the distance. They didn’t get a
whole lot of traffic on the road so she was curious about who might
be approaching. It was a large carriage pulled by two horses. Sadie
stopped picking berries and came to stand with Tessa as it drew
closer.

The driver pulled the reins and the carriage
came to a halt at the entrance of their ranch.

“Hello, miss. Do you live here? Is this the
Samuels place?” he asked.

“Yes,” Tessa said.

One of the carriage doors opened and a man
alighted. Tessa’s face paled and she gasped as she recognized
him.

Sadie looked from Tessa to the man and asked,
“Tessa, who is he?”

“My father.”

Geoffrey stood on the dirt road in his fine
clothes and looked at his daughter. He knew it was her, but she was
dressed as he’d never seen her. Her emerald dress was pretty
enough, but there were far less petticoats underneath. Her hair was
done in a long braid that reached almost to her waist. Normally,
Tessa had worn her hair in a stylish coiffure.

She carried a basket and he could see some
berries in it. His daughter was picking berries like hired help.
Tessa raised her left hand to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear
and he saw the flash of jewelry on her finger. Married? Tessa had
married? His feelings were muddled as he stepped forward.

“Tessa!” Above all, he was overjoyed to have
found his daughter safe. He had been incredibly worried about her.
To find her apparently well gave him immense pleasure. He opened
his arms to her.

Tessa couldn’t believe her father had found
her at first and then remembered that Geoffrey was a man of vast
resources and that he possessed a keen intelligence. She was scared
but she had greatly missed him. She ran and let herself be enfolded
in her father’s comforting arms.

They stood there, clinging to each other,
tears flowing freely for several minutes. Then Tessa drew back and
looked up at her father. “Papa, I know you’re angry, but please try
to understand.”

He looked down at his daughter, who was so
much like him. “Yes, I’m angry. We have been worried to death about
you. However, this isn’t the place to discuss it,” he said, with a
meaningful glance at the driver. He seemed to notice Sadie for the
first time. “And who is this lovely young lady?”