Maureen Child - Shot Gun Grooms - Lucas's Convenient Bride / Jackson's Mail Order Bride

Lucas finished the last of his meal, then wiped his hands on his napkin.

“How interested are you in helping downtrodden women?” he asked.

“I’m not sure what you’re asking.”

“You’re going to need help around this place, with the cleaning, running errands and the like. I know a couple of young women looking for a job.”

“What young women?”

His dark eyes turned angry. “Alice and Mary. I don’t know how old they are. Alice might be fifteen and her sister is a couple of years younger. They don’t have any family and they need jobs.”

Emily wanted to protest that they were children—far too young to be working for a living. But then she remembered that some children were forced into the world by circumstances. If they had no one to support them, they would soon starve. At least by working for her, the girls would be safe. Their duties around the hotel wouldn’t tax them overly much and she could teach them if they hadn’t had much education.

“I’d like to meet them,” she told Lucas.

“I’ll bring them by later.” He rose. “Thank you for supper.”

“Don’t thank me. You’re the one who brought the food.”

“Yes, but you provided the company.”

With that he was gone and Emily was left to stare after him. She didn’t begin to understand her handsome husband. Not his words, his actions or how he made her feel just by being in the same room. But she liked him. He made her laugh. He seemed to enjoy teasing her and she enjoyed his attentions.

She thought about the “incident” and wondered if it was on his mind as well. As he’d been leaving, she’d half hoped he would do that again. He hadn’t. Just as well, she told herself. She was not the kind of woman to dally with a man…although if she found herself in need of a dalliance, Lucas MacIntyre would be the man she chose.

* * *

Lucas returned shortly after nine. Trailing behind him were two overly slender girls in worn cloaks. Their eyes were large, their skin pale and Emily read the fear in their expressions.

“Alice and Mary, meet Emily MacIntyre.”

The older of the two tried to smile. “Ma’am.”

Like her younger sister, Alice had bright red hair and green eyes. The two girls held hands, clinging to each other as if they had no one else in the world.

Emily moved around the desk and approached the girls. “How old are you?” she asked.

Alice spoke for them both. “I’m fifteen. Mary is thirteen. We’re hard workers, ma’am,” she added. “We’re both stronger than we look. I can scrub and clean. Mary’s real patient when it comes to ironing and she knows some cooking.”

“Good.” Emily glanced at her husband. “Have they eaten recently?”

“About an hour ago.”

She returned her attention to the girls. “I think we should talk about work in the morning. Right now you two need some sleep.”

She showed them to a small room next to her own. She’d made it up quickly after dinner. The fresh mattress had been delivered just that afternoon. Emily had added a pretty pink coverlet and drapes, along with a pansy-covered basin.

Alice and Mary stared at the small room, then Alice shook her head. “Ma’am, this is too nice for us.”

Emily took in the plain walls, the stains she’d been unable to scrub out on the floor and the skinny dresser. She’d been hesitant about renting out the room because it was so small and the window didn’t offer a view of anything nicer than the building across the street.

Emily touched Alice’s thin shoulder. “I was about to apologize because it wasn’t nice enough. You and Mary are safe here. Get ready for bed. We’ll talk in the morning.”

With that, she left the sisters alone and shut the door behind herself.

She found Lucas waiting by the reception desk. “Where did you find them?”

The anger she’d noticed before returned to his eyes. “Their father tried to sell them to Cherry earlier in the week. She took the girls in because it was obvious he was going to get rid of them one way or the other. She’s been trying to find a place for them ever since.”

Emily didn’t know what to say. She’d never heard of such a thing. Did fathers really sell their daughters into service to men? Was it possible?

“That can’t be legal,” she insisted.

He shrugged. “But it happens. Cherry thought they might be able to clean at her place, but Alice is too pretty to go unnoticed and Cherry was afraid someone would get drunk and hurt the girl. She mentioned the problem to me and I thought you might be willing to help.”

Emily wanted to know what Lucas had been doing talking to that woman. Had he been at her place of business, and if so, why? She reminded herself that theirs was simply a marriage of convenience and she shouldn’t care if her husband took his person elsewhere. But the words didn’t ease the ache she felt in her stomach or the way her throat started to hurt.

“I’m sure the girls and I can come to some kind of agreement about employment,” she said stiffly. “I need assistance here and I think they’ll enjoy the work. I’ll pay them a fair wage. If they save, they can leave Defiance and start over elsewhere in time.”

He stepped closer to her. “You surprise me,” he told her.

“Why?”

“I thought you might be shocked and insulted to have those girls here.”

“You forget I rented a room to Dixie. Mary and Alice are hardly more shocking than that.”

“I know. When I heard what you’d done for Dixie, I figured I might have misjudged you.” His dark eyes seemed to stare into her soul. “You’re not at all what I imagined.”

“You mean I’m not a prim schoolteacher who uses dollar words when two-bit ones will do?”

“Oh, you’re all that, but you’re also growing on me.” He looked thoughtful. “Who would have thought.” Then he leaned close and brushed his lips against her cheek. “You’re not a bad kisser, either, Mrs. MacIntyre. One of these days we’ll have to do it again.”

Alice and Mary were waiting for Emily when she walked out into the reception area the next morning. They had been seated on the worn red sofa she’d rescued from a back bedroom—one that desperately needed recovering but was the only one she had. The two girls, looking just as young, thin and frightened as they had the night before, sprang to their feet and gave her awkward little bobs of their heads.

“Good morning,” Emily said cheerfully. “You two are up early.”

Alice, the older and taller of the two, cleared her throat. “Yes, ma’am. We didn’t know what time you wanted us to start.”

Emily glanced at the small watch she’d pinned to the bodice of her serviceable gray gown. It was barely after seven.

“Not as early as this,” she told them. She motioned the girls back to the sofa, then settled into the chair opposite them.

“I would like you both to start at eight,” she said, speaking as kindly as she knew how. “You’re to have Sundays and a half day on Wednesday for yourselves. I’ll provide the meals.” She paused and smiled. “Actually, Mrs. Martin will provide the meals at her restaurant, but I’ll pay for them. You may dine there or have your food delivered here, as I do. Oh, and there’s a small kitchen in the office. I’ll show it to you. Please use that for tea or snacks.”

Emily could see both girls listening attentively. She longed to ask how they’d survived so far and what had happened to their mother. But she wasn’t going to pry. With time and luck, the girls would begin to trust her. Until then, she could only offer a safe haven and hope they would begin to lose some of their fear.

“What I would like from you both is simple cleaning of the guest rooms.” She went on to detail the things to be done, then named a salary. “I’ll pay you twice a month, on the first and the fifteenth. When you receive your first pay, we’ll go to the bank and I’ll show you how to begin an account.”