Mail Order Bride: The Master: A Historical Mail Order Bride Story (Mail Order Brides) Read Online Free PDF

worked. Bartlett fumed and seethed and raged and bared his nasty teeth, but he couldn’t do anything to Polly with Matthew watching. He took a step back and brought the muzzle of his pistol up to Polly’s face.
    “You can’t hide from me,” he growled. “I’ll find you, and I’ll get you. Just you wait until tomorrow morning.” He backed away and vanished into the bushes.
    Polly stared after him until he passed out of sight. Then she crumpled to the ground in heart-broken sobs.
    Matthew hurried over and squatted next to her. “Don’t cry. Miss. Everything will be all right.”
    “How will it be all right?” Polly sobbed. “I have to live in this town. I can’t stay behind locked doors all my life. He’ll find me, one way or the other. To listen to him talk, I won’t even be getting married tomorrow. He’ll kill both Brian and I at the church.” She dissolved into a fresh burst of weeping.
    Matthew put his hand out to pat her on the shoulder, but he didn’t dare touch anything belonging to the Master. “Don’t cry, please, Miss. I’ll go get the Master. He’ll make it all right for ya.”
    Polly’s head jerked up and her eyes flashed. “Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare say a word to Brian about this. It’s bad enough I told him about what happened at the train station. If Bartlett finds out I told him about this, too, we’re both as good as dead.”
    “But I promised the Master…” Matthew began.
    Polly’s tears flew away from her face as she spat out her words. “I don’t care what you promised the Master! You’re not telling him anything.”
    “But we can’t let Noah get away with this,” Matthew replied. “We have to do something to stop him.”
    “There is no way to stop him,” Polly declared. “I’ve seen his kind before. If he’s gotten away with this sort of thing this long, then he’ll keep getting away with it. The only way to live with it is to keep quiet about it. Maybe Brian and I can get married tomorrow and live our lives without too much interference from Noah Bartlett. That’s the best we can hope for.”
    “I have to tell the Master,” Matthew replied. “I promised him I’d let him know the instant Noah came anywhere near you.”
    Polly went still and hard, and her icy cold words made Matthew shiver even worse than the sight of Noah man-handling her. “If you tell him, I’ll make sure you never have anything to do with him again. You won’t be the teacher’s pet anymore. I’ll be his wife and I’ll make sure of it.”

Chapter 8
    Matthew collapsed in defeat. Whatever else happened, he couldn’t lose the Master. Maybe if he didn’t find out Matthew kept the confrontation secret, he would marry Polly and live happily, never the wiser.
    “All right, Miss,” he whispered. “I won’t tell him.”
    Polly straightened up. “Good,” She got to her feet. “Now I have to get back to the hotel. I have to get ready for my dinner with him.” She eyed Matthew. “Are you going home now?”
    Matthew shook his head and moved a pebble back and forth on the ground with his toe.
    “You’re not going to his house, are you?” Polly asked.
    “No, Miss,” he answered. “I won’t do that.”
    “Then where are you going?” she demanded.
    Matthew shrank under her gaze. How did she seem to know what he planned? “I’m just going around town, you know…to visit my friends.”
    Polly pursed her lips. The tears dried on her cheeks. “All right. Go ahead.”
    Matthew hesitated. Did she know he didn’t intend to go anywhere, but to wait there behind the elm trees to watch her in her room? He stared at the ground, unable to look her in the eye. But the longer he hesitated, the more certain she would be that he was lying.
    “Go on,” she repeated.
    He couldn’t wait any longer. He turned around and walked away, back around to the other side of the church yard where she couldn’t see him. Finally, he dove down behind the bushes to wait until she went into the