Adela's Prairie Suitor (The Annex Mail-Order Brides Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

couldn’t abide having a houseguest who might find a cluttered room in her house. It was useless to argue, and it pleased him to think she’d want to impress Adela. Never mind, it was unlikely Adela would ever need to look inside the room. They’d never used the pantry for its intended purpose. It had become a junk room.
    Byron believed he should honor his mother’s wishes no matter how silly, and it was clear she thought a cluttered pantry would reflect poorly on her as a housekeeper.
    The job would’ve gone so much faster if he threw everything out and burned it. Ma was horrified at that suggestion. She had treasures in that room. Though all Byron found were broken pieces of furniture and pottery, odds and ends, he hauled the stuff out to the barn, aware the minutes were ticking. He was nervous enough at the prospect of meeting his prospective wife without the risk of being late.
    Now, here he was, looking like a hay-seed with sprigs sticking out of his rumpled Sunday clothes. He didn’t know what made him hotter, being delayed or the weather. After being cool and rainy the past week, the weather had turned hot with a blazing sun in the cloudless sky.
    Claude took his sweet time shaving Byron’s two-day whiskers, and only fifteen minutes remained until the train was due as Byron left the barber shop.
    He had his boot on the buggy rail when a frantic feminine voice hailed him. “Byron, Byron, wait.” With skirt bunched in both hands, Hilda Jane rushed toward him, her feet tapping a beat on the wooden sidewalk.
    Byron automatically removed his hat and ran a hand through his hair. Now he’d messed his hair. Leave it to Hilda Jane to show up at the most inconvenient times.
    She stopped before him, and he waited as she heaved from her exertion. “I’ve had an accident, Byron.”
    “What accident?”
    She pointed down the street. “I ran up on the sidewalk, or rather, Sukie did. You know how that fool horse is. Anyway, the wagon wheel got stuck between the slats in the sidewalk. Could you help me get it out?”
    What else could he do? He shoved his hat back on his head. “Let’s go.” It wasn’t a gentlemanly thing to do, but he made for Hilda Jane’s wagon with wide strides, making her run to keep up.
    If Hilda Jane had tried, she couldn’t have chosen a worse place to run up on the sidewalk. Not only was a plank missing, but it was right beside a hitching post. The rain from yesterday had left puddles in holes where horses had pawed the ground.
    His boots squished in the mud as he bent over to inspect the back wheel, fallen through the crack and wedged so tight the horse couldn’t pull it out.
    On the other side of the mud puddle, Hilda Jane leaned beside him and let out a hollow giggle. “It was all my fault. I was trying to see the new dress in Davidson’s Dry Goods, but you’d have thought this stupid horse would’ve kept in the road.” She straightened when he did. “You can get it out, can’t you?”
    “Go to the horse’s head and hold her until I give you the word, then make her back up. Don’t let her move until I say.”
    “Of course, Byron.” Hilda Jane scurried around him to take Sukie’s reins with both hands.
    He watched until he was sure Hilda Jane had the horse secured. The wheel was covered in mud. There was no way to do this without dirtying his hands. Clenching his jaw, he grasped the wheel in two places and braced himself. His muscles strained against the fabric of his shirt and coat. Should have taken the coat off, but he’d been too preoccupied to think of anything except Adela arriving to find him missing.
    Hilda Jane interrupted his concentration. “You all gussied up to meet your mail-order bride, huh?”
    “Yeah.” He found a bent nail caught on the wheel rim, holding it fast. All he had to do was twist it out of the way.
    “Bertha’s still in a state that you don’t want me. Pa too.”
    Sweat trickled down Byron’s forehead and stung his eyes. “You know as well