Victoria Austin - Family Of Convenience

Mail-Order Mother

Recently widowed and pregnant, Millie Steele needs a husband to help provide for her unborn child, and becoming a mail-order bride is her only option. Thankfully, her new husband, Kansas farmer Adam Beale, only wants a mother for his two young children—not romance. Everything is going according to plan...until Millie begins to fall for Adam.

Adam had reservations about wedding another city dweller—his late wife never took to life on the prairie. But now he can’t imagine his family being complete without Millie and her unborn baby. Though they agreed to a strictly platonic partnership, can real love be blooming in Adam and Millie’s marriage of convenience?

“Are you happy, Millie?”

She stopped rocking but didn’t reply.

“Uh, Millie?” Adam sounded foolish, but what else was he supposed to say?

She blushed, and he tried not to notice how pretty it looked on her cheeks.

“Am I happy? I don’t understand.”

The bewildered tone made Adam’s heart ache. She sounded absolutely stunned that her husband would care about her happiness.

Adam leaned farther forward, resting his forearms on the tops of his thighs. He wanted to move closer to her, but made himself stay in the rocking chair. They had been living as strangers for a month. Nicely, too. But he wanted more than that. Not love. No, Adam had learned that lesson well. But friendship. Companionship. A sense of shared purpose surely wasn’t too much to ask for, was it? That was the goal, and Adam was ready to do the work.

“Millie, it’s been a month. I just want to know how you feel about things here. Are you happy with the house? The children? Your day-to-day life?” With me? He didn’t say the last part, but Adam’s heart whispered it.

VICTORIA W. AUSTIN lives in the American Midwest with her husband, children and dogs. Her kids write notes in the furniture dust and the family watches television with the closed captioning on because the house is, um, loud. She likes chocolate, peace and quiet, chocolate and silence. She gets too much of one and too little of the other. This explains the tight pants and the many, many, many gray hairs.

Family of Convenience

Victoria W. Austin

www.millsandboon.co.uk

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

—2 Timothy 1:7

To my family—

I have everything because I have you

Acknowledgments

I have almost too many people to thank, which is a blessing in and of itself. Thank you to my family for supporting me no matter what. Thank you to Harlequin and the Manuscript Matchmaker contest for this opportunity. Thank you to Elizabeth Mazer, my incredible editor, for all the help and guidance. Thank you to my critique partners and fellow romance-writer friends for the advice and encouragement.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

About the Author

Title Page

Bible Verse

Dedication

Acknowledgments

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

Epilogue

Dear Reader

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Kansas

1889

To Do:

Get married

Meet my new children

Figure out how to run a ranch

Find a way to make money on the side

Find a safe place to hide money

Start saving an emergency fund without drawing attention

Find the ranch financial books and look at them

Marrison, Kansas, didn’t have a hotel. Just the boardinghouse she’d checked into the day before. Her room had a bed with a clean, worn quilt. A simple chest of drawers. A rocking chair.

But, no mirror.

That was okay. Millie Steele wasn’t sure she could go through with this if she had to look at herself in a mirror. This way was better.

She smoothed her hand over her long brown hair and the front of her dress for the tenth time. Maybe eleventh. When would Mrs. Sinclair knock on the door and say it was time? Had the woman forgotten about her? Could you forget about the bride?

Hysteria rose in Millie’s throat as she actually contemplated that question. She and Mr. Beale had exchanged exactly one letter. One. They had seen each other for the first and only time yesterday, for all of ten minutes. Just long enough to confirm the time he would come to marry her today.

Maybe he’d changed his mind. She was past the period when her short thin frame could hide the baby. Pastor Thompson said Mr. Beale knew, but maybe seeing the truth of it yesterday had been too much.

What was she going to do if he changed his mind?

A quick knock, and the door to the room opened. Mrs. Sinclair strode inside. “We’re all ready, dear.”

Millie sucked in a breath, ignoring the stars that had appeared in her vision. She licked her lips and nodded.

Mrs. Sinclair’s eyes were gentle as she surveyed Millie from head to toe. “You look lovely. Absolutely—”

Millie looked at her hand. It was shaking, but that wasn’t what had caught Mrs. Sinclair’s attention. No. It was the slim circle of gold on the ring finger of her left hand. She flushed at the sight of it. She couldn’t very well get married today while wearing another man’s ring.

Millie quickly yanked off the ring, ignoring the burn of metal scraping over her knuckle. It was the first time she had taken it off since Marcus had placed it there two years ago. How different that day had been compared to today. Millie had been certain that her future would be secure. Safe. Orderly.

What a fool she had been.

Mrs. Sinclair cleared her throat, and Millie realized she had been staring at the thin band. Millie couldn’t look at the kind woman as she walked over to her suitcase and placed the ring inside.

There. It was done. Looking at the past never got a person anywhere. The way forward was to actually move forward.

She had made her plans. It was time to see them through.

Millie cleared her throat. She forced her spine as straight as possible and took in a deep breath. Then she turned and looked at Mrs. Sinclair. “Okay. I’m ready.” She was an adult. She was in charge of her life. She had considered all the options and chosen this path. This was her choice.

Mrs. Sinclair still looked uncomfortable. And nervous. The entire town would probably be talking about Adam Beale’s crazy new bride for weeks. Once again, Millie would be the outsider who didn’t belong.

Mrs. Sinclair walked up and hugged Millie. She just reached out and pulled Millie into her body. Warm, soft arms wrapped around Millie, who could smell bread on the woman’s clothes. It was impossible to stay stiff and remote in such an embrace. Millie couldn’t remember her mother ever hugging her, but surely this was what it had felt like. Only a mother’s hug could be this comforting.

“It’s going to be okay, dear. Adam Beale is a good man. You’re going to be okay.”

The tears sprang up and welled in Millie’s eyes. They obeyed her rule against crying and did not fall down her cheeks, but they were there. Hot and stinging. She knew she wouldn’t be able to speak without them spilling over. All she could do was nod.

She hoped Mrs. Sinclair understood.

The older woman let go, and Millie pushed down the yearning for the hug to continue. No more stalling. Time to get on with her new life.