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The Blushing Bride
Judith Stacy
The last thing Jason Kruger needed was a city woman and her catalog of love!He ran a lumber camp, not a lonely hearts club. But Amanda Pierce, matchmaker extraordinaire, offered wedded bliss to his crew…and made him crave a life he never dreamed he'd desire!How on earth had Amanda found herself at loggerheads with a high timber man wearing a mountain-sized attitude? If Jason Kruger hadn't written requesting a mail-order bride, who had? And if he truly didn't want her in his life, why was he trying so hard not to get rid of her?
“Stubborn? Me?”
Jason stepped inside and pushed the door shut. “You’re the most hardheaded woman I’ve ever met. And pushy, too.”
“Pushy!”
“Yeah, pushy. You keep sticking your nose in where it doesn’t belong and isn’t wanted.”
Amanda drew herself up to her greatest height, though it was woefully short of his. “Somebody on this mountain wrote that letter to me, Mr. Kruger. Somebody wants brides up here. You’d better face that fact.”
He pointed his finger at her. “I can tell you this, Miss Pierce, when I find out who wrote that letter, I’m going to fire that man so fast, he won’t know what hit him.”
“Oh! You pigheaded man!” Amanda jerked her chin. “Don’t worry. I’m leaving for good. I won’t be back, and you’ll never hear from me again. You’ll have your precious mountain all to yourself. I hope it keeps you warm at night…!
Dear Reader,
The perfect complement to a hot summer day is a cool drink, some time off your feet and a good romance novel. And we have four terrific stories this month for you to choose from!
We are delighted with the return of Judith Stacy, who is known for her satisfying, often humorous, Americana romances. She has outdone herself with The Blushing Bride, a darling tale set in the mountains of California. When Amanda Pierce, who runs a matrimonial service, receives a letter from the owner of a logging company looking for a mail-order bride, she travels to his mountain determined to match not one but several of her brides with the lonely loggers. What she doesn’t count on is being “felled” herself—by the handsome boss!
In Jake’s Angel, by newcomer Nicole Foster, an embittered—and wounded—Texas Ranger on the trail of a notorious outlaw winds up in a small New Mexican town and is healed, emotionally and physically, by a beautiful widow. Jillian Hart brings us a wonderful Medieval, Malcolm’s Honor, in which a ruthless knight discovers a lasting passion for the feisty noblewoman he is forced to marry.
And don’t miss Lady of Lyonsbridge, the emotional sequel to Lord of Lyonsbridge by Ana Seymour. In the latest novel, a marriage-shy heiress falls for an honorable knight who comes to her estate on his way to pay a kidnapped king’s ransom.
Enjoy! And come back again next month for four more choices of the best in historical romance.
Sincerely,
Tracy Farrell
Senior Editor
The Blushing Bride
Judith Stacy
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Available from Harlequin Historicals and JUDITH STACY
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Contents
Chapter One (#u2c098c69-bcb9-59f6-b0db-e29dbfe18b99)
Chapter Two (#u8dcb2045-1d0f-56b1-b603-4727fb42ff61)
Chapter Three (#ud19e64e5-fdb6-59e6-a966-50f1c7cedb6d)
Chapter Four (#u1e73e0a7-1fb7-55c5-a1c8-634df08bdf73)
Chapter Five (#ue2b54f3f-59a2-538d-add2-eca1fd18cd48)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One
California, 1886
Was it too late to run?
Amanda Pierce eyed the freight wagon and its driver across the street from her hotel, and considered turning tail and heading back to San Francisco. Back to clean sheets. Back to gentlemen of good breeding. Back home.
She drew in a deep breath and glimpsed her reflection in the cracked mirror in the corner of the hotel lobby. Blue gown, matching hat set in dark curls, kid shoes. She looked completely out of place in this wide-open, raucous little town of Beaumont at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Back in San Francisco this had seemed like a good idea, but now…
Amanda watched her reflection in the mirror and forced herself to square her shoulders and stand a little straighter. True, she wasn’t well-traveled. She wasn’t wise to the ways of the world. But she was twenty-four years old, with enough good sense to accomplish this difficult trip and keep herself safe in the process. Didn’t that count for something? Of course it did.
Fortified now, Amanda ventured onto the boardwalk, careful to avoid the miners and loggers who passed, men in soiled work clothes with unkempt beards. She eyed the freight wagon from the Kruger Brothers’ Lumber and Milling Company across the street. It was the reason she’d come to Beaumont and spent two days in the hotel, watching for its arrival.
Now it was here. Amanda pushed her chin a little higher, drawing up her courage. She could do this. She had to.
That thought carried Amanda across the dirt street, darting between teams of horses and mules, and big rumbling wagons.
“Excuse me, sir?” she called to the driver as she reached the safety of the boardwalk.
His back was to her as he oversaw the loading of supplies into the Kruger wagon. A bear of a man, he wore stained buckskins and a slouch hat yanked down over his unruly gray hair.
Amanda ventured closer. “Sir? Excuse me?”
He half turned, squinting hard at her. “You talking to me, lady?”
Up close his face was like cracked leather, dried and hardened by the elements—at least, the portion of his face Amanda could see above his tangled beard.
“Are you Mr. Harper?” she asked. “Mr. Samuel Harper?”
His eyes narrowed. “Who wants to know?”
She gripped her handbag tighter. “I’m Miss Amanda Pierce, from San Francisco.”
“Yeah, that’s me, all right,” he said, and hitched up his trousers. “’Cept ain’t nobody called me Samuel since last time I was at Sunday services, and I don’t rightly recall just how long ago that was. I go by Shady.”
Amanda hoped he’d been given that nickname because of an affection for leafy trees and not as a testament to his character.
“Mr. Harper, I’m seeking—”
“Call me Shady.”
Amanda managed a small smile. “Yes, certainly…Shady. As I was saying, I need transportation to the Kruger Brothers’ Lumber and Milling Company, and was told you could provide that.”
Shady reared back and eyed her up and down. “You want to go up to the camp?”
“Yes,” Amanda said.
“Up on the mountain?”
“Well, yes,” she said.
“And you want me to take you up there?”
“I was informed there was no other reliable transportation.” Amanda pulled a dog-eared envelope from her handbag. “Mr. Kruger assured me of your honesty, and instructed me to wait at the hotel until you arrived in town, then ride up to the lumber camp with you.”
“Yeah, I make a run up and down the mountain every couple of days.” Shady stroked his long, ragged beard. “It was Jason Kruger that sent for you?”
“Yes,” Amanda said. “He’s expecting me.”
“You?”
She drew in a little breath. “Yes, Mr. Harper, I—”
“Shady.”
“Shady.” Amanda cleared her throat and pressed the envelope closer toward him. “It’s all right here in his instructions.”
“And you’re sure it was Jason Kruger that sent for you?” he asked. “’Cause, now, there’s two of them, you know. There’s Jason and there’s Ethan. They’re brothers.”
Amanda pressed her lips together and waved toward the Kruger Brothers’ Lumber and Milling Company sign painted on the freight wagon in big red letters.
“Yes, I’m aware they’re brothers.”
“Now, Jason, he’s the oldest one, but not by much, as I hear tell,” Shady said. “He’s the one what runs things up on the mountain, you know.”
“I do know that Mr.—Shady,” Amanda said. “I have business with Mr. Kruger. He wrote and asked me to come here.”
“Business, huh?” Shady shrugged and turned back to the wagon. “Well, okay by me, I reckon. I’ll be pulling out of here pretty quick so as to get back to the camp before dark.”
“I’ll get my bag from the hotel,” Amanda said.
Shady turned to her once more. “If’n you’re real sure you want to meet up with Jason Kruger, that is.”
Amanda’s stomach twisted into a knot as the old man squinted at her, and again she was tempted—very tempted—to head for home.
“I’m sure,” Amanda said.
She’d come too far to turn back now.
“What’s wrong now?”
