Mail Order Bride: Bitter & Pregnant, An English Widow Heads Off to Her Cowboy Rancher In California (A Clean & Wholesome Historical Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page B

at the end of these tracks."
    Francine asked again, "Are you sure you want
to do this, in your state?"
    "I told you, that's not happening," said
Jeanne. "Better that the child learns now that his mother doesn't
mess about with people like Jack. He'll never see us coming,
hopefully. Come on, then, let's save your husband. Mine, too, most
likely."
    The pair started following the tracks.
     
     
    Joseph had devised a cunning plan with Horace
and Henry, one that would have been impossible with two people.
They were going to lure Jack into the cell and then Henry would
trip him while Horace and Joseph tackled him. From there, they'd
lock the cell and make their escape. It was a perfect plan, though
it was one that relied on Jack feeding them before they got too
weak. This was a big variable and Joseph wasn't sure it would play
out exactly as they wanted.
    "I'm worried about my wife," said Horace.
    "I'm worried about my horse," said Henry.
    "I'm worried about Jeanne," said Joseph.
"That's why we have to get out of here, so we can save them all and
make sure Jack goes to jail for what he's done. To think I spent
all those years trusting him. Did you know I was thinking of
promoting him? He probably would have stabbed me in the back as
soon as he was able, maybe literally!"
    "I think I hear someone coming," said Horace
with a whisper. The three men were silent, but the footsteps went
by the cell without stopping. Whoever was out there had no interest
in them. It was almost disheartening.
    Joseph groaned, "What could he want with
us?"
    "Probably all the money you keep getting
sent," said Henry. "I know if I was a bad man I would have kept a
lot of it. I'm not, though, -- I'm a good man."
    "Heh, I was supposed to act like a thug to
get in Jack's good graces," said Horace. "Fat lot of good that did.
I wish Mister Harrow were here. He'd know what to do."
    "Oh. Jeanne's husband," said Joseph, feeling
as if he got smacked. "What was he like?"
    "He was a good man, too," said Horace. "He
saved my life, you know. Kept me from drowning."
    "I can't measure up to that," said Joseph. "I
have my own ranch but I've never done anything that heroic."
    "Now's your chance, Mister Clauson," said
Henry. "You can help get us free and then go show that Jack who's
boss!"
    "You're right," said Joseph, feeling
determined. "You're absolutely right! We'll get out of here and get
Jack to prison and find Jeanne and Horace's wife, too!"
    "Francine," supplied Horace.
    Joseph repeated, "Francine! All we have to do
is wait for him to feed us, because I don't think he'd care too
much if one of us faked being sick. One of you is welcome to try,
though."
    "I've got it," said Horace and he began to
wail about how he felt as if his stomach was attempting to escape
through his mouth and his brain attempting to leak out of his ears.
Despite Joseph's assumptions, Jack did care.
    "Shut up in there," he shouted and Horace did
so dejectedly.
    "It was worth a shot," said Henry.
    "Thank you," sad Horace. "What do we do
now?"
    "I guess all we can really do is wait," said
Joseph.
     
     
     
    Jeanne and Francine had been following the
tracks for the better part of the day and they were starting to
give up hope when they saw the wagon sitting in front of a
walled-in cave. The old horse was still hitched to it, looking
terrible and Jeanne added it to the list of evil things that this
Jack had done. There was no way he wasn't going to pay for what he
did.
    The only problem was that Jack, quite
obviously, physically outmatched them. They needed to rely on their
brains in order to get Jack out of there and to somewhere justice
could be done. Jeanne tried to recall something that could help.
Before she had become Jeanne Harrow, she had been Jeanne Dockens,
an actress for a moderately successful theater troupe.
    While she had mostly left that life behind,
the lessons learned from weeks on the road with a minimum of
supplies and a need for the maximum of theatrics came back to her.
She