Read Online Bride School: Mary (The Brides of Diamond Springs Ranch 4) by Bella Bowen - Free Book Online Page A

shivering stopped before Millie thought to steal those blankets back.
    “You didn't tell me Fontaine recognized you.” Her
friend’s voice cut through the quilt just before Mary was struck by the weight
of a heavy pillow. “Get up. She wants to speak with all of us across the hall.”
    By the time she was clothed and decent, her teeth
had stopped chattering, but her legs were stiff and stubborn.
    “Come on,” Millie whined. “There’s a big fire
across the hall!”
    Mary stopped wrestling with her shoes, kicked them
out of her way, then made a run for it.
    Dressed in their dancing clothes from the night
before, the brides huddled together in a larger bedchamber. Millie hurried to
join the others, but their expressions made Mary's bare feet drag to a stop.
Wide worried faces stared back at her. Eyes darted from her, to Fontaine, then
to the floor.
    Still in her coat, Fontaine sat in an ornate
mahogany chair next to the roaring fire. Her hat hid her face, but no one would
have believed the woman was asleep. Fontaine never slept in the company of
others. No one would doubt a claim that Fontaine never slept at all. If her
eyes were closed and she breathed deeply, her head would turn at the first
noise, like a vigilant dog guarding a porch. Resting, maybe. But never asleep.
    It was clear none of the others was willing to
break the silence.
    “We're all here, I think,” Mary said. But even
though she'd hurt Fontaine's feelings the night before, she wasn't about to be
bullied today. Today was a big day in her life, no matter what, and nobody was
going to stop what needed to happen. “That is, if you meant for me to join you.
Did you only want to speak with the brides, Fontaine?”
    Slowly the brim of the hat turned and rose. One
painfully red eye looked at her long and hard before she faced the entire room.
“We're snowed in. Good and snowed in. No one will be getting in or out of town
for a few days—at least no carriages. And I’m not going to have the horses pull
sleighs through four feet of snow when they don't have to.”
    Mary waited for someone to ask the question
screaming in her head, but when no one did, she took it upon herself to say it.
“And the gentlemen? Are they snowed in too?”
    Fontaine shrugged. “The menfolk can come and go as
they please.” After an audible and collective sigh of disappointment, she
continued. “Luckily for you, they want to stick around and woo women.”
    The mood lightened immediately, though the boss in
the chair didn't seem to care.
    “Wait just a minute.” Hortense's eyes widened with
horror. “You don't mean to say we have to wear the same clothes until the roads
clear!”
    Fontaine snorted. “Of course not. You can trade
with each other all you like.”
    The room erupted. A good half of the brides
started shopping and planning. The other half looked on in confused amusement.
Mary knew they thought like her—a woman only needed a good dress for the week
and a better dress for Sunday. What did it matter if a man saw her in the same
dress day after day?
    She shook her head and exchanged a knowing smile
with Alice.
    “What are you smiling about, Alexandra ?”
Fontaine stood up and the room fell silent again.
    Those worried looks were back. Mary realized the
others weren't so eager to stand beside her and confess they were party to her
taking Alexandra's place. Their futures might be at stake if Fontaine thought
to punish them in some way for what clearly appeared to be Mary's sin. And who
knew what might happen to the Scotswoman?
    “It was all my idea,” Mary confessed to the room
at large. The already quiet brides fell quieter still. “Alexandra wasn't
feeling well and I begged her to let me take her place. It was this dress. It's
perfect for me. I wanted to wear it and I wanted to dance in it. I was tired of
dancing with women all the time.”
    “Fine,” Fontaine said with a nod. “You wanted to
play the bride, so you can keep on playin’ the bride. There