Free Lilly: Bride of Illinois (American Mail-Order Bride 21) by Linda K. Hubalek Page B

6
     
    Lilly walked tall and proud, walking through the Exhibition Hall, looking at some of the best cattle in North America. Not only was she now married, she wore beautiful, fashionable clothes for the first time in her life. Lilly caught herself smiling and rubbing her new gold ring with her thumb through her gloved hand. My temporary husband is rich!
    Her bruised side was a little uncomfortable walking so much today, but she wouldn’t miss this time with Seth for anything. She wanted to learn everything she could about the livestock raised in Kansas, because it could be part of her new life. I’m a rancher’s wife…for a while.
    After the ceremony they found a telegraph office to send messages to her friends, telling them she had “switched grooms” and would be traveling to Clear Creek, Kansas the day after tomorrow. She couldn’t wait to get mail from her friends and hear how their lives had changed for the better like hers had. Of course, her life was on hold until she found a permanent husband or job, but Lilly was confident Seth would help her out until that happened.
    Lunch was in a cozy little café and Seth told her to order whatever she wanted to eat. Lilly ate a big meal while Seth told her about his hometown. She could imagine the Wild West town and couldn’t wait to be a part of it.
    “What breeds of cattle do they have in Sweden? Longhorns made up the first herds in Kansas, but now we have shorthorns, Herefords and Angus, too.”
    “I’d say milking shorthorns are the main breed of cattle now in Sweden. I milked Fjäll cattle, the Swedish mountain breed, when I was young. Women do the milking there compared to men doing it on farms here.”
    “We have a shorthorn cow for the ranch’s milk supply, but she’s a pain to milk. Daisy can knock over both the milker and the milk pail in one quick kick,” Seth smiled, thinking of the cow’s antics. “Maybe you can show me how to do it right,” he joked.
    “Oh, I bet Daisy and I would get along fine. I’d love to milk her. Even though I hated doing so many chores on the manor farm, I enjoyed the animals. They were my friends. They didn’t yell or hit me, well, except for one sow who always chased me when she had a chance. She bit me once, too.”
    “Lilly? Who yelled and hit you back then?”
    “Seth, I was a poor peasant girl, and well, life was not good there. I prefer not to talk about it, especially today.”
    Someone grabbed Lilly’s arm and yanked her hand out of Seth’s arm. “Ouch! What are you doing!? Stop it!” Her feet left the ground as she was roughly hauled up against a big chest of a man who was running and shoving his way through the crowds of people in the Hall.
    “Seth! Help!” Pain shot through Lilly’s side as she twisted and kicked at the man.
    “Quit it! Mr. Hardesty don’t want you banged up too much.” A deep voice hissed in her ear as he wrapped his big paw around her mouth. Lilly froze a second when she heard the man’s voice. He was one of the two burly thugs who had escorted Seth out of the Emporium that night!
    Where was the other man?! Did he attack Seth so this thug could grab her?!
    Lilly clamped her teeth into one of the big fingers and ground her teeth as hard as she could, while bringing up her knees and kicking her heels backwards repeatedly, trying to connect to his groin. She finally hit the right spot and he staggered, still holding on to her, but losing his grip on her mouth.
    “Help! This man is kidnapping me! I’m a rancher’s wife!”
    Lilly tumbled to the ground when she was dropped by her attacker. She jerked around to kick him again and realized the man’s arms were being held back by several men.
    “Are you all right, ma’am?” A hand reached down, ready to help her up.
    “No! Where’s my husband!? I think someone attacked him too!”
    “I see a mad cowboy coming this way with a policeman, so I bet he’s all right, ma’am,” the gentleman assured her as he helped her to