Free Adventure For A Bride: A clean historical mail order bride romance (Montana Passion Book 3) by Amelia Rose

Matthew had friends he knew his own age, even if there were miles separating their farms. Back in Ireland, her children would have been raised in her brother’s castle if she’d married a lesser noble, or in her husband’s castle if she’d married equally or better. It was different here in America, that was sure, but it had its merits.
    “Here we are!” Millie announced cheerfully when she emerged with Rose, who sported a clean diaper and gown and was greedily sucking away at a bottle of fresh warm milk. In her other hand, the woman carried a tin plate of leftover grits swimming with butter and more milk, and a delicate little spoon. She joined Moira in one of the ladder back chairs and set about feeding the baby.
    “So how have you enjoyed Montana?” Moira asked, her accent making Millie smile.
    “You know, I haven’t heard anyone who talks like you since I left Boston. You’re Irish, aren’t you?” She smiled when Moira nodded. “Well, Montana’s been… difficult. Or should I say, Mr. Flynn has been difficult.”
    She watched as Moira looked out at the boys, her cheeks turning a faint shade of pink.
    “Oh, I’m sorry, you must think I’m a horrible gossip. We’ll talk of something else instead.”
    “No, no, it’s all right. I just wasn’t expecting your response, I’m afeared. So, what’s been difficult for you?” she asked, blinking rapidly and hoping her new friend wasn’t put off by her judgment of her words.
    Millie told her as little as she could, keeping the most damning details to herself. Moira nodded sympathetically, offering only little sounds of encouragement.
    “Well, that certainly is a hard position to be in,” Moira acknowledged when Millie finished. “I was worried that perhaps Pryor—that’s my husband, you met him in New Hope if you remember—rushed Mr. Flynn into an arrangement that he wasn’t ready for, but with his land to work and his children needing to be tended, what else was he to do? It’s not as if you can hire a governess in these parts.”
    “He’d have been better off if he’d hired one, I’m afraid. At least she would have the satisfaction of knowing he was her employer, and not to be her husband! She could quit the position any time it didn’t suit her. But I’m in more of a tenuous position, I suppose.”
    “How do you mean?” Moira asked, genuinely concerned.
    “I have only two choices: marry the brute, or high tail it back to Boston. I’m leaning more and more toward going home every day. I just can’t imagine him ever coming around to seeing me as anything other than a usurper trying to take his dear wife’s place.”
    “Well, she was a wonderful lady if ever there was one,” Moira explained carefully. “Kind at every turn, well-mannered, and devoted to her husband and children. She adored them like no one ever could. ‘Tis a wonder that Mr. Flynn didn’t just lie down and die right beside her when she passed, and I do believe that if it hadn’t been for his children, ‘tis exactly what he would have done.”
    “And doesn’t anyone think that would have been a fine thing to tell me before I traveled all the way to Montana?” Millie asked sharply, but she quickly laughed at her own joke. Moira couldn’t help but smile at her easy, affable ways, but she did truly sympathize with the plight both Millie and Wyatt found themselves in.
    “I can only hope that you and Mr. Flynn come to some sort of understanding, and quickly,” Moira said affectionately. “I know he kept up the correspondence with you and invited you to come to Montana for marriage, but I think ‘tis seeing you in the flesh that has gotten him changing his mind about the whole thing. ‘Tis naught to do with you as a person, I just know it.”
    “Thank you, that does help ease the burden on my heart just a little. I’ve wondered if maybe I was more like his Anna Mae, he wouldn’t have had such a hard time picturing us married. And I really do feel poorly for him,