Free Bride School: Mary (The Brides of Diamond Springs Ranch 4) by Bella Bowen Page B

her own.
    She looked gently down at Mr. Spark’s balding head
and said, “But I’d like them to be tall.”
    The room fell silent again except for the sound of
Hortense choking at the next table. After a few stunned breaths, Mr. Sparks
burst out laughing. Everyone else followed suit.
    “Miss Campbell does have a quick wit,” she heard
some man say.
    Mary looked around at the brides. None of them
seemed to mind that all attention had suddenly turned to her. They wanted
Fontaine to think Mary was playing her part, when obviously, they’d let the men
in on her little secret!
    She turned in her seat and looked into Mr.
Charleston’s smiling eyes. “You know?” she whispered.
    He leaned close to her ear. “Yes. We all know who
you are, or rather, who you aren’t. Now, you should laugh as if I’ve said
something particularly funny.”
    She tilted her head back and laughed with no need
to pretend. She was so terribly relieved that none of these men were actually
interested in proposing to her that her laughter was sincere. And when the
conversation at the table carried on without her, she took the time to catch
the eye of every other woman in the room and give them a wink or nod of thanks.
And to prove her gratitude, she used the rest of the morning to point out their
redeeming qualities to each gentleman that showed interest. After all, she’d
known the brides for as long as they’d attended the school, not only for a day
or two. And by the time the sun was high, she’d done an impressive bit of
matchmaking.
    Interestingly enough, there were two brides who
had resigned themselves to the men at their elbows, but were completely wrong
for each other. And Mary couldn’t help but intervene. A quick swap and four
content people became two happy couples eager for another week of getting to
know each other better. Poor Mary Lou might have ended up on a sheep ranch when
she’d longed for a life in the city. Mr. Charleston, from Boston, was a much
better match. And hard-working Millie Adair wanted a hard-working husband and a
bit of land to call her own. Boston would have left her fit to be tied, but
Charlie Sparks had finally begun to see the prize within that plain package.
    A rough pull on her elbow dragged Mary away from
her conversation with Mr. Charleston and Mary Lou.
    Fontaine whispered in her ear. “If you’re not
careful, you’ll have all eleven of them married off this week,” she hissed.
    Mary frowned. “Isn’t that what you want? Wouldn’t
that make you a perfect success?”
    Fontaine shook her head. “A perfect success means
we’d need twelve new brides by next week, Mary. Next week! And if we can’t come
up with twelve…”
    Mary’s stomach dropped. “Then I’ll be dancing
again?”
    “Then you’ll be dancing again.” The gunslinger
gave her a disgusted look and marched out of the room.
    Immediately, everyone relaxed. Mrs. Kennedy
appeared and clapped her hands together to get everyone’s attention.
    “Ladies and Gentlemen, I hope you’ve been enjoying
yourselves. But at this time the ladies will be leaving you.” She smiled when
the men sounded their disappointment. “It’s been an eventful day or two and
they’ll need to rest. And we need to get the dining room ready for this
afternoon’s Tea.”
    Upstairs, the window allowed a large square of
sunshine to drape across the bed like a blanket. Just enough warmth for both
Mary and Millie as they tried to rest.
    “I heard what Fontaine told you,” Millie said
without opening her eyes. “That she’ll make you dance and play the bride again
next week if we all get proposals today.”
    “I did enjoy the dancing,” Mary said. “At least
what I can remember of it. I’m sure I can suffer through another evening of it.”
There was no use telling Millie about John now. If word got back to Alexandra,
the Scotswoman would only feel bad for Mary missing her chance to tell John who
she was.
    “Well, you should resist dancing if you