Free Mail-Order Bride Ink: Dear Mr. Turner by Kit Morgan Page B

good as our wives,” Harrison said. “I don’t see a problem.”
    Eli had a sudden vision of Miss Comfort shooting him in the foot. “I do!”
    “Come now, man – pull yourself together!” Colin said with a laugh. “What could possibly happen?”
    Eli glanced at the parlor window. “Plenty.” Now all he had to do was pray he was wrong.

    * * *
    “ B ut why do I have to stay here?” Pleasant asked Belle. “I thought Mr. Turner and I were to be married.” Wasn’t that what she came for?
    “It will give the two of you time to get to know one another better,” Belle told her as she helped her undress. “Besides, it’s not like it’s going to be forever.”
    It will be if he decides he doesn’t like me , she thought. That alone had her tense. Everyone liked her at home. As soon as she turned eighteen, she could’ve had her pick of gentleman. All of them poor, but still … She sighed. No wonder her father had set his eyes on Rupert for her. He had money.
    “I think he already likes you,” Sadie hung up Pleasant’s clothes in an armoire next to Honoria’s. “But there are things you need to learn in order to stay safe out here.”
    “Safe? Oh dear – you mean against outlaws?”
    “Against all sorts of things,” Belle said and looked at Sadie. “Remember that time Ryder Jones was bitten by a rattlesnake, and Constance had to save him?”
    “Oh yes. If she hadn’t been able to ride well, he’d have been dead.”
    Pleasant was still a couple of sentences behind. “R-r-r-rattlesnake?!”
    “Don’t they have those where you come from?” Sadie asked.
    “Yes, but … well, actually I don’t know.” She sat down hard on the bed. “I’m not particularly fond of snakes.”
    “Well, honestly, who is?” Belle replied. “Or what about the time Duncan was poisoned?”
    “Yes – Mrs. MacDonald saved the day that time. Or when Maddie got shot?”
    Pleasant jumped up off the bed. “Shot?!”
    “Yes, after she jumped out of a speeding stagecoach,” Belle added.
    “Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear,” Pleasant said, fanning herself with her hand. “What woman jumps out of a moving coach?”
    “A desperate one,” Sadie answered somberly. “She was taken against her will by some very bad men.”
    “After they shot her husband,” Belle clarified.
    Pleasant’s knees went weak, and down she went.
    When she came to this time it was on the floor, not a nice soft sofa. “Well, that tells us what we have to work with, doesn’t it?” Sadie asked Belle as they hovered over her.
    “Quite – it looks like we have our work cut out for us.”
    “Us? Oh no, this is Eli’s problem, not ours. He’s going to have to see to most of her learning.”
    “We can take care of some of it, though. And Honoria can help.”
    “She’ll have to. We don’t have the time to see to all of it.”
    Pleasant was confused. What on Earth were they talking about?
    “All right – tomorrow’s as good a day as any to start,” Belle said. “The boys will want to help too.”
    “That might not be such a good idea,” Sadie said.
    Never mind what they were talking about – Pleasant knew she wanted no part of it.
    “Hmm, perhaps you’re right,” Belle said. “They might play too rough.”
    “Then again, it might be good for them to learn more responsibility,” said Sadie.
    Belle sighed. “Well, if you say so – but if they get too rough, then no more. I’d hate to find poor Miss Comfort hanging by her ankles from a tree.”
    Pleasant’s eyes popped open. “Tree?”
    Both women looked at her. “Never mind,” Sadie said, then pulled her to her feet. “Best you get into your bedclothes and call it a day.”
    “You’ll need your rest, with your lessons starting tomorrow,” Belle said.
    “Lessons? What lessons?”
    Sadie smiled. “How to be a Clear Creek woman. Now off to bed.”

Chapter 7
    “ O hhhh ,” Pleasant groaned, “what a horrible nightmare.” She opened her eyes, but didn’t see her flowered bed