Grace: Bride of Montana (American Mail-Order Bride 41) (16 page)

Gertie circled around to the other side of Grace, baying at something in the tree.

His wife took slow backwards steps, but not far enough.

A panther on the tree branch was coiled, ready to spring. Distracted by the dog, the big cat swung its head from Grace to Gertie, as if deciding between the two, and then looked back toward Grace again.

I’m not going to reach her!

The cat sprang.

Frey roared and dove through the air, fists driving into the panther’s ribs, knocking the cat aside.

His momentum carried him headlong into two trees. He grabbed the trunks to stop his fall. Staggering upright, he heard Gertie’s barks and the snarls from the cat.
Where is Grace?

He whirled, his blood pounding, fists raised to fight, as if a thrown punch could halt a panther. But his bare hands were all he had to protect her.

Gertie kept the cat’s attention, dashing forward and back.

“Grace!” He yelled, desperate to see her.

“Here!”

Her call came from behind him. Frey didn’t dare turn to look, keeping his body between the cat and her.

Leaves crunched as she approached.

“Grace, get back!”

“I have the rifle,” she yelled, reaching his side and holding it out to him.

Frey grabbed it and stepped in front of her, lifted the rifle and aimed, but he didn’t have a clear shot. “Gertie,” he yelled. “Come!”

The dog backed enough to give him a clear shot at the cat.

Frey didn’t dare miss, so he aimed for the panther’s side, held his breath, and squeezed the trigger. The shot slammed into the animal, wounding the creature, making it snarl and turn. The second shot hit its head, and the panther dropped.

In the sudden silence, Frey heard the sound of heavy panting and realized it was his own.

Gertie hesitantly moved closer to sniff the cat.

Frey turned just in time to catch Grace as she threw herself at him. He grabbed her with his free arm, propping the rifle against the tree so he could hug her tightly before cupping her face to press a hard kiss to her lips. He pulled back a few inches to see her face, needing to know she was truly all right.

Her eyes were wild and filled with pride. She exhaled, and her breath whispered across his lips. “My Viking warrior.”

“I shall never be without my sword again.”

Grace threaded her fingers through his hair and gave a shaky laugh. “More to come, eh?” she mimicked his earlier words.

After what had just happened, Frey couldn’t believe Grace was joking with him.
What a strong woman she is.
Pride in her filled his chest, and he swallowed hard.
My woman!

“
That
wasn’t on my list.” Keeping his arm around her waist, Frey grabbed the gun and pulled her away from the dead panther. “Come, Gertie.”

The dog followed. Out in the sunshine, away from the grisly sight, he released Grace and dropped to one knee, setting down the rifle to hug the dog. “You saved us, girl!” When he thought of what could have happened, tears pricked his eyes.

Grace crouched to run both hands over Gertie’s head and looked into the dog’s eyes. “You can bring fleas into the house any time you want. Mud, too.”

Gertie swiped Grace’s cheek with her tongue.

Frey’s heart was still pounding. He released the dog, picked up the rifle, and stood, drawing Grace along. “You just took ten years off my life. Remember that when I look old and grey, and you’re in the prime of life. If any young blades come sparking, you send them away.”

She grabbed his shoulders and tried to shake him. “There will be
no
others, Frey. Do you hear me? I now know what love is. I know who
you
are, and I love you with my
whole
heart.”

He needed to hear her sweet words of devotion again. “You’re sure, are you?”

“I’d been working my way there, but this—” Grace gestured toward the vicinity of the dead animal. “This showed me the truth. I’m sorry I took two weeks to get there.”

“We have our whole lives ahead of us,
elskede.
Today, God has given us more time. I promise to show you how much I love you every day of my life.”

“Oh, Frey,” Grace whispered, a hand on her chest. Beaming, she let out a breath of obvious happiness. Her hand lowered to her stomach. “After facing that panther, you’d think I would have lost my appetite, but I’m
ravenous
.”

He laughed and put an arm around her shoulders, guiding her toward the blanket. “We have a picnic to eat.”

They collapsed on the blanket, and Gertie joined them. They fed the dog bites of their sandwiches. Once finished, she curled up on a corner of the blanket and went to sleep.

Grace and Frey ate the cookies and talked and kissed and talked some more. She shared about Victor, and he told her about his former betrothed breaking off their engagement. They discussed the fears they’d had about each other.

After they’d eaten, they packed everything into the satchel and stood, holding hands and facing the mountains. “This is a magical place.” Grace glanced up at him. “Can we come back here every year?”

“Every year,” Frey promised.

“Until then, we’ll carry the memory in our hearts.”

He raised her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss on the back. “Come dearest, we must go before we lose the sunlight.” He flung the strap of the satchel over one shoulder and lifted the rifle. Hand in hand, they strolled through the meadow toward the trees near the slope of the hill.

Grace glanced up at him. “I have one final question.”

“Oh, what’s that?”

“The locked door, oh, Bluebeard.”

Frey stopped and faced her. “Well, Mrs. Bluebeard. When I learned I was marrying a seamstress who was arriving with only a few possessions, I figured she would be in need of something special.” Smiling, he tapped her nose. “So I ordered it for her.”

Grace glanced at him in puzzlement.

“Don’t you think a seamstress needs a sewing machine?”

Her eyes widened. “You bought me a sewing machine? Before you even knew me?” Tears welled up.

Happy tears.
Frey was glad he’d learned the difference.

“You are the most wonderful man, and I’m the luckiest woman in the world!” Standing on tiptoe, Grace threw her arms around his neck and drew his face close. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you, Frey, but I will spend the rest of my life making you feel as blessed as I do.” She sealed her promise with a kiss.

About

MAIL-ORDER BRIDES OF THE WEST:

BERTHA

February 2, 2016

On Preorder now

Bertha Bucholtz returns to her St. Louis home after an unsuccessful stay at the mail-order bridal agency. Her family house is overflowing with her thin, beautiful sisters and their many suitors, and shy, overweight Bertha is lost among the chaos. Even her baking skills—so praised at the agency—aren’t special, for her six sisters and her mother are also excellent cooks. Desperate to be living on her own, Bertha searches for a job as a cook but with little success.

Then a letter arrives from her nemesis at the bridal agency. Shrewish Prudence Crawford, now Mrs. Michael Morgan, invites Bertha to move to Morgan’s Crossing, a mining camp outside of Sweetwater Springs, Montana Territory, and work as a cook and housekeeper at the boarding house for her husband’s miners.

Upon her arrival in Morgan’s Crossing, Bertha has to contend with Prudence, who seems to have mellowed—or has she? The boarding house is dirty, run-down, and full of uncouth miners. As the only single woman for miles around and a lauded cook, Bertha quickly becomes the siren of the tiny town as well as nearby Sweetwater Springs, as miners and cowboys flock to court her. Now the shy woman who had no choice of suitors has an abundance of them to pick from. She never would have dreamt having too many swains was a bigger problem than having none at all.

About

BENEATH MONTANA’S SKY

FREE at all retailers

BEFORE THE MAIL-ORDER BRIDES OF THE WEST SERIES, BEFORE WILD MONTANA SKY, COMES THE PREQUEL TO THE MONTANA SKY SERIES, sweet historical western romance by NY Times and USA Today Bestselling author Debra Holland set in 1882.

Plain and timid, debutante Pamela Burke-Smythe is a wallflower at the high society Boston balls she attends, overlooked by possible suitors. One-by-one, her friends become engaged, and Pamela resigns herself as to life as a spinster.

When rancher John Carter becomes guardian to his orphaned godson, Nick, nothing he does seems to help the grieving, angry boy. At his wit’s end, he believes that a wife might help draw Nick out, and lonely himself, John’s been thinking along the matrimonial lines for a while anyway. But small Sweetwater Springs, Montana Territory, has no suitable candidates. He decides to visit his great-aunt Hester in Boston and bring back a wife who is kind and compassionate, can be a mother figure to Nick, and who can adapt to the hard life on the ranch.

Hester plays matchmaker for John, introducing him to Pamela. John responds to Pamela’s kind heart and believes he’s found the ideal woman. But Pamela never thought to marry a stranger and leave Boston, and her family and friends are against the idea. She musters all her meager courage to defy her loved ones and seize her only chance at marriage.

After a whirlwind courtship, the couple marries and travels west. Pamela discovers a run-down ranch house, a bunch of unruly cowboys, a sullen boy, and a different way of life. Can their new marriage survive the challenge?

Dear Reader,

Thank you for reading
Grace: Bride of Montana,
an American Mail-Order Bride Series story AND a Montana Sky Series novella. The inspiration for Grace’s story came when I participated in a costume photo shoot provided by VJ Dunraven of Period Images at the InD’Scribe (readers) Convention in Palm Springs in 2015. I tried on the costume and immediately felt like a little girl playing dress up. The skirt of the dress I chose originally had loose material pinned up on the side to look like colonial-style panniers, which also matched the square neckline of the dress. We unpinned the fabric and then gathered the material at the back to resemble a bustle more in keeping with the late 1880s and early 1890s time period of my books.

Actor/model Michael Foster was one of the models at the convention that weekend and for fun, I decided to commission a photo shoot, including having my hair and make-up done. I felt pretty and knew I glowed from the magic of the experience. I had so much fun with Mike. We laughed a lot between shots.

When we finished, VJ called us over to look at the photos on her camera, saying they looked like professional shots. Seeing them gave me the idea to use one for my American Mail-Order Bride cover. The American Mail-Order Bride series—with 45 authors writing a story set in each of the states of the US. The series has a branded look so all 50 books would look similar to each other. (My other books don’t have models on the covers.)

When it came to writing the story, if Grace was going to look like a younger version of me, Mike made a perfect inspiration for my hero. He graciously allowed me to use his last name and conduct Facebook video chat interviews of him for “research.” Mike is from Minnesota and, at one time, he was an English teacher. So he could easily answer my questions of which pre-1890 book or author was a favorite—Edgar Allen Poe and which of Emily Dickinson’s poems he liked best—'If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking.’

Gertie is taken from Mike’s actual dog. And of course, the beautiful gown I wore plays an important part in the story (and may be seen again in a future book or books.)

While Grace’s character and circumstances are not at all like mine, I did use my experience as a corporate crisis/grief counselor and the author of
The Essential Guide to Grief and Grieving
to show her reaction to being traumatized by the factory fire. I also asked my third cousin Wenche Ludvigsen, who lives in northern Norway, for help with Norwegian names and endearments.

So writing
Grace: Bride of Montana
was a very personal experience. I hope you enjoyed reading the story as much as I enjoyed the whole process of writing it!

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Debra Holland

Books by Debra Holland

MONTANA SKY SERIES

1892

Beneath Montana’s Sky

1886

Mail-Order Brides of the West: Trudy

Mail-Order Brides of the West: Lina

Mail-Order Brides of the West: Darcy

Mail-Order Brides of the West: Prudence

Mail-Order Brides of the West: Bertha

1890s

Grace: Bride of Montana

Wild Montana Sky

Starry Montana Sky