Chapter One

Jacksboro, Jack County, Texas, 1872

The wooden staircase creaked as the young woman ran up it. Every time her foot stamped on the steps, a cloud of dust puffed up into the air. It was midsummer in Jack County, hot and gritty.

Reaching the landing, Lila Harper coughed and wiped her eyes. She refused to cry, no matter how much that dreadful man pestered her.

Hearing the stairs creak, Margaret called up after her. “Everything all right, Lila? What did your pa and Boone want?”

“I forgot to put enough pins to hold my hair today, and everything came tumbling down, that’s all.” It was a half-truth. Something was tumbling down. Her life.

Jacksboro had only one pest of a man in it. Boone Daniels. Why did he seem so keen on wooing her?

One moment, she had been helping dear old Margaret knead bread in the kitchen, and the next, her father was coaxing her to come into the parlor and pay her respects to Boone Daniels. She only realized it was a trap after Pa got up to leave the room, calmly telling Lila that she should listen to what their visitor had to say.

When it came to paying her respect to Boone Daniels, Lila felt his account was definitely in the red. He was the sort of man who demanded respect, but refused to give it to anyone else.

Thinking about it now, she found her hands clenching. She had tried to follow him when Pa left the room, but one frown from her father told her to go back.

“It would be rude for you to refuse our visitor’s humble offer, Daughter, after he rode out before dawn to make it to the ranch before the noonday heat got going.”

Lila had to bite her lip to stop herself from saying what she thought out loud. Nothing about Boone Daniels was humble. He was high in the instep and prouder than a peacock.

How could she tell her hardworking, elderly pa that everything about Mr. Daniels disgusted her? Especially with the man himself standing in the middle of the parlor and looking at her as if he already owned her? Straightening her back and placing her hands neatly on her lap, she sat down.

“Miss Lila.” Daniels stared down at her, his thumbs hooked into his belt. “I have gotten your pa’s approval to make my proposal. In fact, it’s all set down in black and white. He believes it’s about time you settled down and started keeping a house of your own. And I reckon he’s right.”

Lila trembled but managed to keep her expression from showing her true feelings. “God willing, that is still a ways off, Mr. Daniels. Pa needs me here, at Harper Ranch.”

Moving forward, Boone waited for Lila to look up at him. When she finally did, a possessive glint in his eyes scared her. He was a large man in girth and height. Some would call forty-three years old being in the prime of life, but Boone Daniels was a little too fond of high living—and it showed. There were broken veins on his cheeks that turned beet-red when he got angry. His clothes were downright flashy, with turquoise rings and a tie to top things off. Lila did not like his hands. They were soft and plump, more suited to a Southern belle than a Jacksboro resident.

“You can’t put me off any longer, Miss Lila. Not after the bargain I struck with your pa. You live under his roof. And last time I checked, when the man of the house says you’ve got to do something, then it gets done.”

Lila knew she should have said yes, but when she tried to speak, the word was frozen in her mouth. Her skin felt icy—unfortunately, not the sort of cold that brought relief on such a hot summer day.

At that point, Royce Harper, Lila’s father, decided it was a good time to come back into the room.

“Well, now that is all said and done, why don’t you go fetch Boone a glass of cordial from the cellar, Lila? So we can all celebrate.”

The Harper Ranch cellar was famous. Pa had dug the basement so deep that it was rumored the family had access to winter ice all year round. The cellar kept butter cold and milk fresh, with the Texas heat unable to reach it. Margaret and Lila were easily the best bakers in the county because of it.

Miss Margaret Lane had come to them two months after Mrs. Harper passed away, and dropped off at the main gate of the ranch with a referral letter in her hand. Not only did she raise the Harper children herself, but the sweet and God-fearing woman loved them like her own kids. It was Margaret who made the motto hanging above the kitchen door come about every day:

‘Tis better to be worn out with work surrounded by friends than to laze about alone.

Large cast-iron pots of bacon, beans, and biscuits were sent out each morning for the ranch hands’ breakfast. When they came home at the end of the day, there would be a solid Texas dinner on the table for all. Beef or chicken, bread, corn, and pie. No liquor was served with their meals, but Margaret made up for it with her delicious cordial sugar syrups.

None of that mattered in the moment, however, to Lila.

“You need me to help you fix your hair, Lila?”

“No, thank you, Margaret. I’ll cover the mess with a cap.”

She hated lying to Margaret, but Lila wanted some time to think.

Running up the stairs to her little bedroom, she made sure to close the door quietly. She needed space to breathe. The last thing she wanted was for poor Pa to think she was ungrateful, but a matchmaker he most definitely was not.

Lila blamed herself. She was too polite to say it out loud. It did not take a mind reader to see that Boone Daniels was a greedy, calculating man. He showed it in so many ways. How he used the stirrups and crop on his horse too hard. The way he let his sheep roam through broken fences, not caring if they go lost or injured in the harsh prairie gullies. So many of his actions showed a lack of compassion. Those were bad signs, and any woman could recognize them. Being uncaring and hard as nails were not qualities Lila wanted in a husband.

Boone had been pursuing her for a good many months now, but this was the first time Pa had put pressure on her to accept the marriage. Maybe it was because her younger brother Corbin was no longer a boy. He was seventeen, ready to start a family of his own in a few years. When Corbin brought a bride back to Harper Ranch, Lila would have two choices. Settle down and get used to being a full-time aunt, or marry and start her own family.

Pa had made the decision for her, and that troubled Lila. He wanted what was best for her. A home and husband. The problem was that Pa was too quick to see the good in everybody. All he saw when he looked at Boone was a loving son who drove his momma to church every Sunday, come rain or shine…

She was startled by a knock on the door and got up from her bed to swing it open.

“Come in, Pa.”

She was a polite and dutiful daughter in all things except this one, she thought, almost incongruously. Her bedroom was always neat and clean. She kept the sash window closed against the dust. Most of the furnishings had once belonged to her mother, but Lila had sewn the quilt and cushions herself.

“I didn’t know we’d taken to keeping the cordial up here now, Lila, ” her father murmured.

Lila tried to smile but couldn’t. She waited for her Pa to make his point.

“Margaret was polite enough to serve Boone some dinner before he heads back to his own spread. Can I expect you to do the right thing and come down to say your goodbyes?”

With her family, Lila was free to express her opinion, but only if it was a charitable one. Pa Harper did not tolerate talking mean about folks behind their back.

“Please don’t pressure me to marry Mr. Daniels, Pa. It just doesn’t sit right in my heart.”

Royce chuckled. “Oh-ho! I see my darling daughter is also trying to make jokes.”

“Don’t laugh at me, Pa. This is serious.”

Moving to the window where Lila kept her rocking chair, Royce sat down and put his elbows on his knees.

“You can’t expect your heart to make the decisions for you, dear. When men come wooing, they always put on their best clothes and handsomest face. But marriage isn’t always going to be about that. Clothes need washing, and handsomeness doesn’t last forever. If you allow your heart to make your choice for you, it will break at the first sign of hardship.”

Lila clutched the brass bed knob at the head of her bed. The last thing she wanted was to make her father sad.

“If we wait a while, Pa, I’m sure another nice bachelor will come around. Boone Daniels won’t be the last single man in Jacksboro.”

Her father looked miserable. “Please don’t turn me into the bad guy here, Lila. You’re twenty-two now. I’ve waited for a decent man to come along and offer you a stable and secure home for the last four years. You might not be able to see it yet, but I think this will be the best for you—for all of us.”

A huge lump formed in her throat. “He doesn’t love me, Pa. Heart to heart, I can feel it.”

“Harper Ranch is in trouble, Lila,” he said sadly. “I can’t give you a helping hand when it comes to setting up in your new home. No man except Boone is willing to take you without a little bit of money you can call your own. He’s an answer to my prayers—he says that if you marry him, it will open a whole heap of doors for us—and that’s what Harper Ranch needs.” At that, Royce’s straight-backed posture slumped. “Lila, I’m getting on in years. I feel every winter creeping in my bones. I need to see you settled, young lady, before I can ascend to heaven with a clear conscience.”

“Pa? Are you feeling poorly?” she asked in alarm.

“I’m over the hill. And I won’t be seeing seventy again. Please, Lila dear, help your old Pa settle my earthly obligations before the Lord calls me home.”

Lila tried very hard to see her father’s side, but she knew there wasn’t a happy future for any Harper so long as Boone Daniels was in it.

“Let me get this straight, Pa. You want me married for your peace of mind?”

“You hit the nail on the head, Lila. Marrying Boone for the sake of the ranch is not the priority here. Seeing you safely hitched to a decent fella is all I could wish for. That’s why I went for the deal Boone offered.”

“Surely, there has to be another eligible man in Texas who would be willing to take me on?”

Her father rose from the chair, looking tired, and drew out a handkerchief to mop his face. Dimly, she was aware of the fading light from the sun starting to sink in the west, the sound of cowboys heading back to the bunkhouse for dinner, Corbin whistling for the dogs to stay back at the kitchen.

“You’re wasting your life away here while you wait. Believe me, Lila, a marrying man will hear that you have no dowry and head for the hills. I’m afraid it’s Boone or nothing. You have to admire the man for taking you on under such circumstances.”

“Pa, no. He’s a horrible man who doesn’t love me. He only sees people as things to possess—or to boss around.”

Watching the ranch hands return through the window, her father sighed.

“Take your time and think about it. You’ll see it’s not all bad. I’d better go escort Boone to the stables before it gets too late for him to ride back. If you can find the strength within you, dear daughter, give him a wave out of the window when you see us go by.”

Feeling as wooden as the staircase, Lila did as she was asked. She leaned out the window and fluttered her handkerchief until the two men were out of sight. Then, in desperation, she slumped to the floor.

She couldn’t stay, but nor could she leave to live with Boone Daniels.

Shuffling on her knees to the edge of her bed, she clasped her hands together.

“Please, God, show me a way out of this pit of despair. If I am to be a good and faithful Christian woman, I must obey my Pa. But I know he would never be asking me to do this if the ranch was doing well and Jacksboro was full of eligible young men. No one wants me without a dowry, and Pa can’t spare a dime away from the ranch right now. If there is a man who needs me to help him with his family the same way Margaret helped us, then show me the way to him. In heaven’s name, Amen.”

Chapter Two

“Good morning, sunshine.” Margaret gave a deep chuckle when she saw Lila’s sad face the next day. “I take it Mr. Daniels left without a kiss and a promise?”

Lila half-smiled. She was feeling a little more herself after praying, but not much.

“Morning, Margaret. Pa always says that if I can’t say something nice, then I shouldn’t say anything at all.”

With those words, Lila sharpened her knife on the whetstone and began to peel potatoes, a familiar task after all these years of working with the older woman. The kitchen was large enough for them to move around without getting in each other’s way, and Margaret or Lila often sang hymns or ditties to make the chores go faster.

Instead of singing, however, this time Margaret moved her chopping board to Lila’s table counter.

“A problem shared is a problem halved, Lila, dear. You’ve always run to me whenever you hit a snag, and I daresay there isn’t a single trouble in the world that doesn’t feel lighter when you say it out loud.”

Plopping a peeled potato into the bucket of water, Lila sighed. “You could make a daisy flower open up on a cloudy day, Margaret, you know that?”

That got them both laughing. Margaret set to grating the potatoes as Lila peeled, and a friendly silence settled in the kitchen. That was one thing Lila loved about Margaret. Not only did she know how to ask a question, but she also knew when to give the reply time to arrive.

“Pa wants me to accept Boone Daniels’s offer, Margaret, but it does not sit right with me. There is no grace in the way Mr. Daniels asks. He simply demands my obedience on the matter, and that’s the end of the story.” Plopping another potato in the bucket, she went on. “Truth be told, even if Boone wooed me proper, I still would not want him. Yes, I know he accompanies his ma to church every Sunday, but it’s only so he can show off his clothes. In fact, the Daniels family are all like show ponies. And…I’ve heard Boone always tries to kiss his partners at the barn dances.”

“Yep.” Margaret kept her eyes on the grater as she slid the raw potato up and down. “I got that opinion of him as well over the years. Back when you were still a child, I would hear rumors about Boone’s wandering hands and bullying ways. At the end of the day, a lady has to have her standards.”

Lila gave a bitter laugh. “Only I can’t afford to have standards. Pa’s bank money is a nest egg—nothing to spare for a dowry. I might end up having to use the cash in the tea canister to buy my bridal!” She didn’t mention her father’s age and how dearly he prayed for his daughter to be married. Margaret already knew Royce Harper’s wish to see Lila happily settled.

Margaret stopped grating.

“Come.” Slipping her arm around Lila’s shoulders, the older woman drew her to the back door and pushed the top half open.

Dew still clung to the leaves in the vegetable garden. The drops of water sparkled with the sunrays as the rosy dawn light turned from pink to orange. Sounds of the ranch hands getting ready for another day’s work could be heard coming from the bunkhouse.

“See all this land, Lila? It is there to remind us that no one who works hard will ever starve. ‘I lift my eyes to the hills from where my help comes. Help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth’. That’s my favorite Psalm. It means that heaven and earth help us when it’s meant to be, because God moves in mysterious ways.”

It was hard to stay downcast with the sunrise lifting her spirits. Giving Margaret a hug, Lila went to pour the simmering pan of water over the coffee grains and set the pot to brew on the stove. “Are you saying that Pa is worrying for nothing?”

Margaret was solemn. “I’m saying Harper Ranch will survive with or without Boone’s help, Lila. But running a ranch makes a man worry about the present and the future all the time. If you want to be a good daughter, you should try to ease at least one of those problems off your Pa’s burden. He wants you to marry for your own sake, not his.”

“I know Pa wants the best for me. Maybe Jacksboro is the problem if the best it has to offer is Boone!” Lila gave a sly smile. “The next time we go to the county fair, I will not leave until at least three gentlemen have asked if they might call on me later on in the week. Maybe I’ll drop a hint at the next church social. Would baking a cake in the shape of a heart be a big enough clue?”

Margaret shook her head. “Your Pa would have a turn if he heard you say that, dear. You can’t prance around the county fair on the lookout for beaus. I’m afraid that when it comes to marriage, there has to be a carrot to lure the donkey—and we’re fresh out of carrots.”

As they spoke, they loaded the bread, bacon, and thickly sauced pot of beans into a wooden cart. Margaret waited for Lila to put in the large flask of coffee, sugar, and cream. Then, together, the two ladies pulled the cart to the bunkhouse.

“I was joking.” Lila smiled. “And that’s my problem. I’m all fun and games in the safety of my home, but for some reason, I get all shy at society gatherings. I think gentlemen like their women with a bit of pepper and salt.”

Margaret chuffed. “No, they don’t. Men like a friendly spark of encouragement. A kind hand extended with a polite smile. Leave all the spice for the more seasoned ladies.”

“Men like to raise the roof at dances, though.”

“Huh. Of course they do. It’s called whiskey, and that’s another thing you must never do.”

Corbin and Pa were seated at the table in the kitchen when they came back. Using hog fat from the bacon, Margaret squeezed the water out of the grated potatoes and formed them into neat rounds dusted with flour, which she then passed to Lila to cook up mixed with eggs.

“Boone Daniels stayed over at the foreman’s cottage last night. He claimed it was too late for him to ride back to Jacksboro.” Corbin thanked his sister for the plate of food she set in front of him. “You want to know what I think? Dear ol’ Boone is going to return today for an answer. If you don’t want Boone, why can’t you marry one of the ranch hands, Lila? They all think the world of you.”

“They think the world of my cooking, you mean, little brother.” Lila patted his shoulder as she sat down.

Pa was not amused. “Lila must marry a landowner, Corbin. She’s a rancher’s daughter at the end of the day. If Boone comes back, please be gracious enough to say yes to him, Lila. I don’t want this arrangement to fall through just because you can’t see the long-term benefits.”

She held her tongue, but Lila didn’t like Boone being so close. The foreman’s cottage was only a couple of miles away from the ranch house. Pa saw her concern and stopped to give her a pat on the arm before he rode out.

“I told Boone not to enter the house while Corbin and I were on the range, Lila,” he said reassuringly. “You can get on with the housework in peace—but please accept his offer. You had the whole night to pray on it.”

Her brother and father had hardly left the kitchen before Lila couldn’t hold back anymore.

“I did pray on it, Margaret! And I would put my hand on the Bible and swear that the answer came back for me to refuse.”

“You heard your Pa, Lila. Boone will head back home and not come by here. Relax.”

Relaxing was the last thing she could do. Washing and scrubbing waited for her—and after that, she had to hang the wet clothes on the line. They would dry in the crack of a whip; the day was going to be a scorcher.

Lila heard Margaret singing to herself as the housekeeper shook the rag rugs out of the sash windows and dusted the sills. The washroom was small—just a simple stone basin filled with water from the pump and a mangling roller with a hand crank—but the work went quickly as Lila scrubbed the dust-encrusted clothes on the board.

Only after the rush basket was full of rinsed and mangled clothes did she move to hang them on the line. Pa and Corbin had whittled the clothes pegs by the fire in winter using pine wood from the mountains. She liked their clean resin smell as the damp cotton flapped around her.

The sheets were done last, being the largest and heaviest items. Lila was tempted to call Margaret to help her because the wind had picked up, making the wet cloth snap and flick as she stood on tiptoes to peg it down.

But before she could, the sunlight dimmed. and a shadow stepped up to stand behind the sheet. And Lila’s mouth went dry as she recognized the snakeskin boots below it.

Boone Daniels.

Her heart hammered in her chest. Boone was back at the ranch house, but not inside it. Sneaky and fond of bending the rules to suit his purpose—that was Boone Daniels all over.

Summoning patience, she stepped around the sheet.

“If you are trying to creep up on me, Mr. Daniels, you’re going to have to change those boots.” She hated to greet visitors with her sleeves turned up and her pinafore on, but the man had not given her a choice. “I would go tidy myself for your visit, but then I seem to remember that my pa asked you not to come by the house today.”

Checking quickly around to see that no one was watching, Boone grabbed Lila’s wrist. “I don’t like your sass, Lila Harper.”

She did not struggle, just stared at his hand on her arm until Boone got all red in the face and let go of her.

“Your behavior yesterday proves my point, Miss Lila,” he went on quietly. “You have no idea how to act toward your future husband. In fact, you must learn to behave and not set yourself up to be so high and mighty.”

Lila stepped back and put her hands on her hips.

“You don’t scare me, Mr. Daniels. You might think that I am acting prideful when I dare to turn down your offer of marriage, but I have inspected my heart and can find no pride there.”

She wanted to tell him that the only emotion she felt towards Boone was avoidance at all costs, but once again, good manners stopped her. Good manners or not, however, her answer made Boone’s face turn red with mingled rage and embarrassment. Closing the gap between them with one hasty stride, he grabbed her by the shoulders.

“Besides your pretty face and baking talents, you have something that I want, Miss Lila.” He pressed his jowls close to her ear. “You will either accept me as your husband in peace—or I will force your hand for you. Don’t think that I won’t.”

When he let her go and swaggered away, Lila knew she would have bruises on her tender skin the next day, and teared up with rage. No man had ever dared manhandle her before.

She had to whisper a quick prayer from Ephesians, one she relied on in cases like this. “Do not act when angry. Never let the sun go down with anger in your heart, for that gives the devil a foothold.” Boone might not be the devil, but he was definitely no angel either.

Leaving the basket by the washing line, she ran inside to find Margaret.

“Boone was here!” Shaking, she caught hold of the old housekeeper’s hand. “He threatened me… told me he would take me by force. Oh, Margaret, what do I do?”

Hushing her, Margaret took her back to the kitchen. After checking to see the hitching post for the horses by the water trough was empty and that Boone had gone, she sat Lila down on a chair.

“Did he lay hands on you?”

Swallowing hard, Lila nodded. “I will have bruises, but I can’t say anything to Pa or Corbin. Pa’s too elderly to stand up to a bully like Boone, and Corbin is too young.”

“I haven’t wanted to mention this before, Lila dear, but there is a way out of this mess.” Margaret stroked her hair soothingly. “Remember how I came to find Harper Ranch and your sweet family, three darling souls who needed my help so badly?”

Lila nodded. “Yes. Pa wrote to a housekeeper agent in Dallas and asked for someone suitable. He had to pay a fee first. But we thank God for your arrival every day.”

“That he did. But housekeepers are not the only ladies gentlemen ranchers write to the agency asking for, Lila.”

“They aren’t?”

“Sometimes having a housekeeper is not enough, Lila, especially when the man is still young enough to need more than a housekeeper. And that is why I am going to help you become a mail-order bride.”