Tatiana March - From Runaway To Pregnant Bride

Carrying her rescuer’s baby!

Annabel Fairfax fled West in disguise to find her sisters. But on her way a threat catches up with her—and she’s forced to turn to a ruggedly handsome stranger on horseback!

Clay Collier, her reluctant protector, tries to keep his distance from the beautiful runaway—but neither can resist one stolen night! Honor demands he marry her, but discovering Annabel’s affluent background convinces Clay she doesn’t belong in his dangerous world. Except his forbidden bride is already secretly pregnant...

The Fairfax Brides

Three sisters find rugged husbands

in the wild Wild West

Beautiful heiresses Charlotte, Miranda and Annabel Fairfax have only ever known a life of luxury in Boston. Now, orphaned and in danger, they are forced to flee, penniless and alone, into the lawless West. There they discover that people will risk all for gold and land—but when the sisters make three very different marriages to three enigmatic men they will find the most precious treasure of all!

Read Charlotte and Thomas’s story in

His Mail-Order Bride

Miranda and James’s story in

The Bride Lottery

Annabel and Clay’s story in

From Runaway to Pregnant Bride

All available now!

Author Note

From Runaway to Pregnant Bride completes The Fairfax Brides trilogy.

His Mail-Order Bride tells the story of the oldest sister, Charlotte, who finds happiness with Thomas Greenwood, a strong, steady farmer. The Bride Lottery is about the middle sister, Miranda, who ends up married to Jamie Blackburn, a part Cheyenne bounty hunter.

From Runaway to Pregnant Bride is the story of Annabel, the youngest sister, who longs to prove her independence. Disguised as a boy, she sets out to join her sisters in the West, but robbery and bad luck see her stranded in a New Mexico mining camp.

Clay Collier, orphaned son of tricksters and thieves, grew up with poverty and neglect, and now scratches out a living from the earth. Not fooled by Annabel’s disguise, he gives in to the attraction between them, but his fear for her safety and welfare drives them apart.

When writing this book I worried about repeating myself, because there are so many parallels in the stories of the three sisters—they all flee from their Boston home to the West and end up penniless, in forced proximity with an attractive though reticent man. I worked hard to make each character and relationship different, and I hope you’ll enjoy Annabel’s story.

In the final chapters the sisters face their enemy, Cousin Gareth, and learn that everything is not always as it seems. Perhaps one day I’ll get to write the story of Gareth Fairfax, and give him the love and happiness he deserves.

From Runaway to Pregnant Bride

Tatiana March

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Before becoming a novelist TATIANA MARCH tried out various occupations—including being a chambermaid and an accountant. Now she loves writing Western historical romance. In the course of her research Tatiana has been detained by the US border guards, had a skirmish with the Mexican army, and stumbled upon a rattlesnake. This has not diminished her determination to create authentic settings for her stories.

Books by Tatiana March

Mills & Boon Historical Romance

The Fairfax Brides

His Mail-Order Bride

The Bride Lottery

From Runaway to Pregnant Bride

Mills & Boon Historical Undone! eBooks

The Virgin’s Debt

Submit to the Warrior

Surrender to the Knight

The Drifter’s Bride

Visit the Author Profile page at millsandboon.co.uk.

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Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Author Note

Title Page

About the Author

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Boston, Massachusetts, August 1889

Annabel Fairfax tore open the envelope the post office messenger had delivered and peeked at the document inside. A money order! A money order for two hundred dollars! Glancing around the shadowed hallway to make sure the servants were not spying on her, Annabel slipped the envelope into her skirt pocket and hurried upstairs to her bedroom.

Two hundred dollars meant freedom.

Four years ago, after their parents died in a boating accident and their greedy Cousin Gareth came to live with them, the three Fairfax sisters had become prisoners in their own home—Merlin’s Leap, a gray stone mansion perched on a rocky headland just north of Boston.

Charlotte, the eldest, was the heiress, and Cousin Gareth had attempted to force her into marriage. Three months ago, Charlotte had escaped and was now living under an assumed name in Gold Crossing, Arizona Territory.

With Charlotte out of his clutches, Gareth had contrived to have her declared dead and Miranda, the middle sister, had been named as the heiress. Rather than fight Gareth’s advances, Miranda also had chosen to flee from Merlin’s Leap, and was now on her way to join Charlotte in the Arizona Territory.

Cousin Gareth had set off in pursuit, leaving Annabel alone with the servants, and their laxness had allowed her to receive the money order. With Gareth gone, the household staff no longer bothered to intercept the mail, or to keep her locked up in the house, which had allowed Annabel to walk into the village and post a letter to Charlotte, alerting the eldest sister that she was officially dead and buried in a grave at Merlin’s Leap.

Up in her bedroom, Annabel inspected the money order. The sender was Thomas Greenwood, the man whose mail-order bride Charlotte was pretending to be. The beneficiary was Miranda Fairfax, but Annabel was certain the local postmaster would let her cash in the document.

She grinned into the empty room. Gold Crossing, here I come. Not brazen enough to travel without a ticket, as her older sisters had done, she now had the funds to pay for her passage. And, with Cousin Gareth gone, she didn’t even have to plot for an escape. She could simply walk out of the house, as bold as a captain on a ship.

* * *

The adventure of it! Annabel sat on the train, trying to take in everything at once—the scenery flashing by, the passengers sitting in their seats, the uniformed conductor strolling up and down the corridor.

The constant craning was making her hair unravel from beneath the flat cap she wore, and she hurried to shove the long, dark tresses out of sight. A threadbare wool coat and trousers completed her outfit. On her feet she wore leather boots, much too large, but two pairs of thick socks improved the fit.