Free Mail Order Josephine - A Historical Mail Order Bride Novel (Western Mail Order Brides) by Kate Whitsby Page A

can do to get into trouble before then.”
    “Some chaperone you turned out to be!” Josephine exclaimed.
    “I’ve served my function as your chaperone,” Aunt Agatha stated. “My function was to transact your marriage, and that isn’t going to happen. So it only remains for me to wait until the train leaves for New York.”
    Josephine gaped at her. “So you really don’t care what I do in the meantime?”
    “No, I don’t,” Aunt Agatha declared.
    Josephine could hardly believe her ears, but she blessed her good fortune and kept her secret until Aunt Agatha finished her toast and coffee. She conducted her aunt to the foot of the stairs. “I’m going out now, Aunt Agatha. I’ll be home later.”
    Aunt Agatha halted on the lowest step and stared at` her. “But you haven’t even got your hat!”
    “Yes, I have,” she strolled over to the hat stand by the hotel desk and picked up her hat and hat pin. “Here it is.”
    Aunt Agatha huffed once in exasperation, turned her back, and lumped up the stairs without another word.
    Josephine watched her until she was out of sight and then skipped away to the back door of the hotel where, as he promised, Andrew awaited her with their horses. As he stated, he wore his old work clothes, the same ones she remembered him wearing at the forge when she first set eyes on him. The only difference appeared to be an absence of dust about his general person. She even noticed a rifle tied onto the side of his saddle The most surprising aspect of his appearance, however, was the greater attraction Josephine felt toward him in his mundane cowboy gear than she experienced the previous day when she first gazed on his immaculately pressed suit, gold watch chain, and shining brass-topped walking stick. She suddenly realized, seeing him now for the second time in his hard, worn work clothes, how little connection she felt toward the clean-cut gentleman who originally invited her to ride out of town to the country with him, and how his calloused hands and bullet-studded gun belt represented the person with whom she most wanted to be. She wondered if she carried out her illicit project of wearing trousers and riding astride, a similar alteration in her own appearance would affect a similar attraction for him. Maybe, on the contrary, it would repulse him and he wouldn’t want to see her again.
    “What’s the matter?” he bristled when he noticed her staring at him.
    She smirked and shook her head, forcing herself to drop her eyes. “You look different.”
    “You’ll look different, too, in a little while,” he grumbled back.
    “I’m sure I will,” she assented. “You might decide you don’t like me so much, after you see me.”
    This time, he shook his own head, studying her seriously. “I doubt that will happen. Just remember, I suggested this hair-brained scheme in the first place. If anyone questions you, you can tell them I influenced you to do something illegal and immoral, and you never would have dreamed of doing it if I hadn’t compelled you through my excessive manipulative persuasion.”
    She chortled with laughter. “That would be a good excuse. At least I could go home to New York with my reputation intact. You, on the other hand, would be ruined. No respectable family in the area would let you near their daughters for the rest of your life.”
    “I wouldn’t mind,” he assured her. “It would be worth it, just to see you dressed as a man for a few minutes. Now come on, mount up and let’s get going. I brought more food this time, so we can stay out on the range for most of the day, if you like.”
    “Oh, good!” she exclaimed. “We came back much too early yesterday. I want to see a lot more of the valley today and you must show me.” She climbed up into her saddle and took hold of the reins. Billy recognized the familiar rider and responded readily to her hand on the reins and her heel against his flank. In a moment, both riders trotted out of the town