Read Online Indiana Goes West (Mail Order Brides of Pioneer Town, Book 1) by Ruth Hartzler - Free Book Online

paper tucked under his arm. Indiana
stepped out with his help, and turned to see Morgan climbing out as
well. He took her hand and pressed it to his lips.
    “Thank you for accompanying me this
afternoon,” he said.
    “Thank you for a wonderful lunch.”
    “Until next time?” Morgan asked.
    “Yes, until next time,” Indiana said. She
smiled up at Morgan and turned, and then headed inside.
     
     

Chapter 13

    Indiana was met by Misty as soon as she
walked through the door. She shut it with her body, leaning back
against the heavy oak. Outside, Morgan was in the carriage and she
listened to the horses’ hooves echo on the stone drive as they
pulled the carriage, and the man, away.
    “How was it?” Misty asked.
    “Wonderful!” Indiana cried. She happily
walked up the stairs, pulling her dress up and over her head as she
did, stretching out the still tied laces. She flopped down on her
bed for the second time in the day. But there was another booming
at the door, and the silence was chased away.
    Indiana got up quickly, and found her dress
that she had left in a crumpled heap by her door. She pulled it
over her head and went out barefoot to the landing. She peered down
the stairs, where she could just see Misty as she pulled the door
open.
    Cade Hollway was standing at the door. He was
in a foul mood. Indiana could see it from where she stood. His
large face was a shade of red, and his eyes were narrowed.
    “Good evening,” Misty said.
    “It certainly is not! I would speak with the
mistress of the house,” the large man said all at once. He stepped
in without being invited to do so, and Misty shut the door behind
him.
    “I believe Mrs. Smith is in the parlor. I
shall announce your arrival,” Misty said in an even tone.
    “I know my way,” Cade said, and he stormed
off toward the parlor.
    As Misty came up the stairs, Indiana hurried
to her room and pulled on her shoes.
    “Where are you going?” Misty asked as she
came into the room just as Indiana stepped into her second heeled
boot.
    “To eavesdrop of course,” the young woman
said, and she hurried past her friend before she could stop
her.
    Downstairs, the parlor doors were open,
though they needn’t have been if one were trying to hear Cade. He
was as loud as anyone had ever been in the home.
    “This is quite enough,” the man was saying.
“We have a deal, and it is time you follow through on it.”
    “I know we have an arrangement,” Indiana’s
mother said. Deborah was a kind woman, but if pushed her voice grew
icy. It was practically frozen now. “But my daughter is not a horse
to be bartered over. I do not make deals using her as a piece of
said deal.”
    Cade seemed taken aback. “I apologize, Madam.
A deal is not the right word, but that does not mean what I say is
any less true.”
    “You are right,” Deborah said. “We have an
arrangement, and that arrangement is that my daughter shall be your
bride. And I am working toward that as we speak, but this home is a
home without a man, and many difficult problems are coming across
my lap each day. I do not feel comfortable settling our particular
arrangement until all our previous affairs and promises have been
taken care of as well. Besides that, I need my daughters with me.
Not only has the house lost its man, but I’ve lost a husband, and
the girls have lost a father.”
    “I can understand that, but it is time the
girl gain her own husband. I leave for Texas soon. I would have
already if you were not dragging your feet through the mud for some
reason,” Cade said shortly.
    “I see no mud in my parlor,” Deborah said
icily.
    “I do not know what game you are playing at,
and why you are stalling, but it is time to end the game and make
good on your promises. I leave in four days. I expect your daughter
to be at my arm when the train arrives. I would expect her before
that, but as a man of honor, and one who extends his courtesy
during this hardship for you and your girls, four days