Nelly's Mail Order Husband Read online

  But the man standing in the doorway wasn’t her father. He seemed to be around Val’s age. If Val had to guess, it could be her cousin. Maybe her father sent another member of the family to check on things.

  “Good afternoon,” Val greeted as he wiped his hands on the handkerchief. He set the rake aside and walked over to the man. He held his hand out to him.

  The man crossed his arms and scanned the area. “Where’s Nelly?”

  Val lowered his hand and debated whether or not he should answer him. The man didn’t strike him as the friendly type.

  “Are you one of Nelly’s relatives?” Val asked as he tried to figure out the best way to deal with him.

  “I’m engaged to her,” the man replied.

  Val frowned. No one in Nelly’s family said anything about her being engaged to someone. He was sure if what this man said was true, her sisters wouldn’t have answered his ad on her behalf. Also, her parents would have protested the wedding yesterday, and Nelly certainly would have told him no. This man was lying.

  “Who are you?” the man demanded.

  Val set his hands on his hips. “I’m her husband.”

  The man’s jaw dropped. “You can’t be.”

  “Yes, I can, and I am. So, who are you, and what do you want with my wife?”

  The man’s face grew red. “I want to talk to Nelly.”

  “Alright. I’ll go see if she wants to talk to you.”

  Val started to head for the house when the man grabbed his arm. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  Irritated, Val yanked his arm from him. He had a lot of nerve touching him like that. “I’ll have you know that I’m the son of an earl.” He pointed at the man. “You have no right to treat me this way.”

  “Who’s Earl?”

  “What?”

  “This pa of yours. Earl. I haven’t heard of any Earls around here.”

  Either the man’s hearing was off or he was daft. “I’m the son of an earl. I didn’t say my father’s name was Earl.”

  The man scowled at him. “I don’t care who or what your pa is. The fact of the matter is, Nelly and I are to be married. You can’t come in and stop that.”

  “I can come in and stop it since I married her yesterday. You’re the one who doesn’t have a right to come here and interfere with things.”

  “I don’t believe you married her.”

  “And I don’t believe you were ever engaged to her.”

  The door to the house swung open, and they looked over at Nelly as she hurried down the porch steps.

  Val gave the man a satisfied smile. “Now you get to hear it from her.”

  The corner of the man’s mouth twitched, but he didn’t respond.

  “Seth, what are you doing here?” Nelly asked as soon as she reached them.

  Seth. So that was this annoying man’s name. Val would have to remember that in case he ran into him while in town. He’d make sure to ignore Seth as if he didn’t exist. That would teach Seth to mess with him. Even with news of his family’s bankruptcy, the people in Boston still acknowledged Val. Only the worst of the worst got ignored.

  “I came by to make sure you were alright,” Seth told her. “I noticed a stranger was lurking around the place and wanted to offer my assistance to get him off of your land.”

  “I assured him that you’re just fine,” Val said, stepping in front of her so that Seth couldn’t keep gawking at her. He might not know anything about running a homestead, but he knew when a man was looking at another man’s wife with more interest than he ought to have. “He seems to have lost his wits since he thinks you two are engaged.”

  Nelly gasped in horror. “How could you tell him that, Seth?”

  That was all the confirmation Val needed. Not only had she not been engaged to this brute, but she would never get engaged to him. She had more sense than that.

  “My wife doesn’t seem to be agreeing with your story,” Val told Seth, not hiding his satisfaction.

  Seth glowered at him before he peered around him to look at Nelly. “I need to talk to you alone.”

  “Oh, no you don’t,” Val said, putting his hand up to Seth’s chest so that he couldn’t get any closer to her. “You’re not going to say anything to her unless I’m around.”

  “She’s got a right to speak to someone without you hovering nearby,” Seth replied as he shoved Val’s hand away.

  “Not when that someone only wants one thing from her, she doesn’t,” Val snapped.

  Nelly groaned. “Seth, just go. There’s nothing we have to talk about. I told you that a bunch of times already.”

  A bunch of times? Val glared at Seth. Just how often did this man make it a point to come out here? “You better not have done anything to hurt her,” Val said. “If I find out you did, you’ll have to deal with me.” He glanced at her. “You have nothing to worry about. I’ll make sure no one mistreats you.”

  “Nelly’s an independent woman. She can speak for herself,” Seth replied.

  Irritated, Val’s gaze went to her. “Do you want to talk to this reprobate?”

  “No,” Nelly told Val. “Wait. I do have something to say.” She stepped around Val and told Seth, “I keep telling you I’ll never marry you. I keep telling you to get off my property. But you never take no for an answer.”

  “So you went and married this scrawny pipsqueak?” Seth gestured to Val.

  Val’s eyes grew wide. Scrawny pipsqueak? Just who did Seth think he was to call him that?

  “Yes,” Nelly said. “I’d much rather be with that scrawny pipsqueak than with the likes of you.”

  This time Val’s jaw dropped. How could Nelly refer to him that way?

  As if Nelly realized her blunder, she hurried to say, “I didn’t mean it.”

  “She most certainly did,” Seth said with a smirk. “You didn’t grow up on a homestead, did you?” Before Val could stop him, Seth grabbed one of his hands and inspected it. “This hand is smoother than the wooden seat in my wagon that I just sanded down the other day. And look at this.” Seth pinched Val’s bicep. “No muscle.” His gaze bore into Val’s. “You’ve never done anything outside of an office, have you?” He took a good look at Val’s clothes and laughed. “Why are you all dressed up? Sunday’s not for another three days.”

  Val frowned. If he had a glove, he would strike it against Seth’s cheek. Then Seth would know just how angry he was!

  “None of that matters,” Nelly told Seth. “I married Val, and nothing’s going to change that. Now, get on out of here before Val takes a gun and shoots your hide.”

  Val really hoped Seth didn’t take Nelly up on the threat. Val didn’t know how to shoot a gun. He’d only embarrass himself while trying to chase Seth away.

  Fortunately, Seth didn’t press the issue. Still laughing, he shook his head. “Alright. I’ll go. Then city boy here can pretend he knows what he’s doing out here.” He scanned Val up and down and laughed again. “I don’t give you more than a month or two before you hightail it back to the city. This kind of life is too rough for city folk. Just ask the people who used to own this land. They came here thinking they could make a go of it, and they were gone before they had time to do the harvest.”

  As Seth passed Val, he patted Val on the back, purposely using enough force so that Val lurched forward.

  Nelly waited until Seth was getting on his horse before she muttered, “I hope he stays away this time.”

  “How often does he come out here?” Val asked, doing his best to not let any of Seth’s insults get to him.

  “It depends,” she replied. “Sometimes he rarely stops by, and sometimes he’s out here once a week.”

  “Once a week?”

  “He thought he could wear me down so that I’d marry him, but he was wrong. I wouldn’t marry him if he was the last man on earth. I hate him. He’s the most annoying person I’ve ever met.”

  Val would have to agree with her. He used to think no one could get more annoying tha
n Carla with all of the adoring glances she used to give her reflection whenever she passed by a mirror, but Seth proved him wrong. Seth was a lot worse than Carla. He rubbed his sore bicep.

  Nelly turned to face him. “I got lunch ready. Are you hungry?”

  Before Seth showed up, Val would have said yes, but now he didn’t have much of an appetite. So what if he hadn’t grown up on a homestead? That didn’t mean anything. He could learn what to do and how to do it. He was a good student. He’d impressed his teachers with how quickly he picked things up.

  “Val?”

  He forced his attention off of Seth’s retreating figure. “Yes, I’m ready to eat.” He better have lunch. He was sure there were a lot more chores to get through before the day was over, and he had a feeling he was going to need his appetite for all of them.

  “Don’t worry about him,” Nelly said as the two headed for the house. “Now that we’re married, he’ll finally turn his attention back to the women he visits.”

  By the way she said the word visits, he knew she meant Seth wasn’t spending time reading books with them. There were some men back in Boston who did the same thing. They had their wives, but their mistresses were for pleasure.

  “Just so you know,” he told her as they reached the porch, “I didn’t make it a habit of visiting anyone in the past, and I don’t intend to do so in the future.”

  She paused on the steps of the porch. She gave him a smile that let him know he’d said the right thing. “Maybe my sisters knew what they were doing when they answered your ad.”

  She continued up the rest of the steps and entered the house.

  For some reason he couldn’t explain, a pleasant feeling wrapped itself around his heart. That had never happened with a woman before. Was it normal for such a thing to happen when a man liked what a woman told him?

  After a moment, she opened the door and peered out at him. “Are you coming in to eat, or do you want me to throw the food at you?”

  He chuckled at her joke. “I’m coming.” Then he walked up the rest of the steps.

  Chapter Nine

  Early the next morning, Val had a terrifying dream where he grew udders out of his stomach and was stuck inside a stall that needed mucking out. He was just about to be struck with eggs when his eyes flew open. Then he saw that someone was leaning over him. Screaming, he sat up, nearly knocking the person to the side.

  After a moment, he realized it was Nelly. He put his hand over his heart, which was pounding fiercely in his chest. “You scared me.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I only woke you up because it’s time to get up.”

  “Alright.” He collected the blanket and pillow off the floor and rose to his feet.

  “Why don’t you sleep on the couch?”

  “I’m too tall for it. My feet hang off the side, and it makes it hard to sleep. I’d rather stretch out on the floor.”

  She frowned. “That can’t be very comfortable.”

  It wasn’t, but he decided not to say it. Instead, he folded his blanket and said, “I’m just glad to be awake.” The image from his dream made him shudder. He hoped these types of dreams wouldn’t be a regular occurrence.

  “I didn’t think of it until after I went to bed last night,” Nelly began as he set the blanket and pillow on the couch, “but do you need to write to anyone who’s back in Boston?”

  He couldn’t bring himself to write to Jim. Nothing had turned out the way either one of them had imagined. It was bad enough he had to deal with that. He didn’t want to disappoint Jim. He’d rather have Jim thinking everything was going wonderfully for him right now. But, he should probably write to his parents and sister. He didn’t need to give them any specifics, but he could let them know he got married and had a permanent place to live.

  “Well, I do have family in London who’ll want to know I’m alright,” he said. “Do you have any stationary here?” He didn’t recall seeing any parchment in this house, let alone a desk or a quill.

  She shook her head. “We’ll have to go to the post office. I can take you there later today. We’ll get some shopping done while we’re at it, too. Thanks to you, I’m all caught up on the chores.”

  As much as he hated to ask the question, he needed to prepare himself in case anything unpleasant was involved. “What are you shopping for?”

  “Mostly staple items like flour and sugar. I’m running out of those. I usually only go into town once every other month. Most of what I need is already here.”

  He should have expected this. Without servants, they would have to do their own shopping for the necessities. He sighed. He should have appreciated shopping for the sake of pleasure a lot more while that was still an option. “Sounds like fun,” he said, doing his best to keep his tone light.

  She grimaced. “It’s not fun. I hate it. But what else are you going to do? You need to eat.” With a shrug, she checked out the window. “Do you mind making breakfast this morning? We can eat the same things we did yesterday.”

  “I think I can make poached eggs.” He’d watched her yesterday, and they seemed simple enough. “I won’t make any promises they’ll turn out well, though. This will be my first attempt at cooking anything.”

  She smiled. “You’re willing to do it, and that’s what matters. I need to feed the animals, and I’ll milk the cow this morning.”

  He wasn’t sure if she volunteered to milk the cow because he’d had so much difficulty getting past how gross the udders felt, but he didn’t care. As long as he didn’t have to do it, he was fine.

  “Can I dress for the day?” he asked.

  She nodded. “When you’re done, do you mind getting the eggs? All you have to do is go to the back of the henhouse and lift the small door that’s back there. The eggs should be on the straw.”

  The task sounded simple enough, so he agreed to do it.

  Once he had dressed for the day, he headed on out to the henhouse with the bowl Nelly had given him. He saw the cow tied up to the same post it’d been yesterday, but Nelly was currently in the barn putting hay in the troughs at the stalls. The horses neighed in excitement. Or, perhaps they were greeting her. He did know enough about horses to realize they could develop a bond with their owners, and as he’d watched Nelly yesterday afternoon when she was saddling a horse, he could tell she was happy to be taking it to the pasture so she could check on the other cows.

  Continuing on his way, he rounded the side of the barn and made it to the fence that protected the henhouse. Nelly said the eggs would be in the back of it, so that’s where he went. He found the small hatch and lifted it. He peered into the hole and saw four eggs.

  What a relief. He wasn’t going to have to actually deal with a hen. After dealing with the cow yesterday, he wouldn’t have been surprised if he would find a hen waiting for him. He didn’t relish the idea of slipping his hand under a hen to retrieve an egg. Touching an udder was bad enough.

  He collected the eggs and carefully placed them in the bowl. He wasn’t sure how fragile the shells were, but having watched Nelly crack them, he was aware they could break. He closed the hatch and then left the side of the henhouse. A chick jumped out in front of him and started pecking around his shoes. Startled, he stepped over the animal and hurried outside the fence. He latched the fence and then turned to go into the house. And to think he was getting comfortable around that henhouse! There were way too many things to be on guard about while on a homestead.

  As he reached the house, he caught sight of someone riding up to the property. He tensed. Seth wasn’t coming back, was he? Was Val going to have to deal with him again? Maybe he should have asked Nelly more about him. It was just that by the time he thought about it, he was ready to go to sleep. And at that time, he was too exhausted to care.

  He watched as the rider got closer, and when he realized it was Nelly’s father, he relaxed. He knew her father was concerned about her, but he didn’t think her father was going to look for a confrontation with him.
At least, Val didn’t think her father was going to give him a difficult time like Seth had.

  Val glanced at the barn. Nelly would probably like to see him. Since her father was still a ways off, Val went to the barn. Nelly was feeding one of the horses an apple. The horse took the apple, and as the horse ate it, she rubbed its nose and whispered something to it.

  Unable to resist the urge to tease her, he asked, “Should I be jealous of that horse?”

  She turned toward him. “Jealous?”

  “Well, you didn’t greet me like that this morning when you woke me up.”

  She shot him a pointed look. “You wanted me to shove an apple in your mouth and touch your nose?”

  He chuckled. “I could have done without the apple, but a little touch on the nose might have been nice.”

  Amused, she shook her head. “I’ve known Barney ever since he was born four years ago. I only met you the other day. I’ll have to know you longer before I rub your nose.”

  As if the horse decided to mock him, it neighed and turned its nose to her. She pulled out another apple from the nearby bucket and gave it to him.

  “He’s only affectionate with you because you’re bribing him,” Val said.

  She shrugged. “If bribing works, I’ll do it.”

  He was about to suggest she bribe him but realized her father was quickly approaching. His gaze went back to her. “Your father’s here.”

  Her eyes widened. “So early?”

  “I have a feeling it took your mother and sisters a lot of work to keep him away yesterday.” With a twinkle in his eye, he asked, “Should I tell him that you’ve fallen so deeply in love with me that you’ve forgotten how to do the chores around here?”

  She gasped and headed for the entrance of the barn. “I could never forget how to do the chores around here. Don’t you dare say anything like that.”