The Sheriff and the Troubled Bride

  The Sheriff and the Troubled Bride

  The Brides of Sioux Falls

  Indiana Wake

  Belle Fiffer

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  Contents

  The Sheriff and the Troubled Bride

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Cowboys and Brides 11 Book Box Set Preview

  Also by Indiana Wake

  About the Author

  ©Copyright 2019 Indiana Wake

  The Sheriff and the Troubled Bride

  Welcome to this amazing new series of romances from bestselling authors Indiana Wake and Belle Fiffer.

  In this series we follow Doctor James Waters and see how he helps the women who have come to him in need. Each book is a complete story and can be read alone and in any order.

  Doctor Water has got himself a new post out in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, but he has a dilemma. His neighbour, Karla Barker, has just given birth and her husband was killed in a mugging before she found out she was pregnant. Now having given birth to a baby boy Stuart, Karla is suffering. No man will marry her with the burns on her face and her son in tow. She is in dire straits, and James feels he cannot leave her behind.

  Having discovered that women are in short supply out West he decides to take her with him and to see if someone will have her for a wife. Through his profession he knows of other women in similar circumstance. Through no fault of their own they have children of their own or from relatives and have no husband to help them.

  Once James has this idea, he decides to take them West as mail-order brides.

  The women are dubious, but five of them decide they have little hope and that this could be the new beginning they have been hoping for.

  If you missed the other books grab

  The Baby and the Burned Bride

  The Bride, the Boys, and the Bank Robber

  FREE with Kindle Unlimited.

  Chapter One

  The first thing Simone was aware of was that the banging in her head was not a dream. Rolling onto her back, she opened her eyes and came back to the land of the living. The dream went away, but the banging was still there. Not incessant, really, but methodical…

  Through the fog of her mind, Simone realized someone was at the front door. And it was the middle of the night. The moon shone brightly through the thin curtains framing the window in the room she and Luke stayed in at the boarding house, casting a silvery light across the wooden floor.

  The small bed that her nephew slept in was still neatly made. He clearly hadn’t come home. Simone groaned and sat up.

  “Oh, great. What now?”

  Whoever was pounding on the door had to be involved with something to do with Luke. Ever since arriving in Sioux Falls, he had been getting into a lot of trouble. More trouble than Simone could handle. And it was driving her mad. She tried to get Luke to see reason, but he simply pushed back. They were at logger-heads, and both were too stubborn to listen to the other.

  Simone couldn’t begin to count how many times the sheriff or one of his deputies had brought Luke back after he had caused some problem. She was beginning to wonder how long she had until Beth told her they had to leave for disturbing the other residents. That was going to be more embarrassing than having the sheriff bringing Luke back in the dead of night.

  Appearances were everything for Simone. She didn’t have much else to hold onto, not when she was turning thirty on her next birthday.

  There was a gentle tap at the door as Simone got out of bed and reached for her robe. Beth stuck her head around the door.

  “Sorry, Simone, but Sheriff Dickinson’s downstairs. He’s got Luke with him.”

  Simone sighed.

  “Again?”

  “Again.” Beth frowned. “Is everything all right with him? He wasn’t like this when he first arrived.”

  Simone gritted her teeth. Beth was a sweet woman and she meant well, but she didn’t want to discuss the ups and downs with her nephew. Becoming guardian to her sister’s twelve-year-old boy hadn’t been in the cards, and Simone felt like she had been thrown into the deep end with weights tied to her feet. And Beth did not need to see that.

  “He’s just trying to settle down,” she said lamely, hurrying past the other woman. “And he’s just going about it the wrong way.”

  Not waiting for a reply, Simone moved for the stairwell and made her way down the stairs to the bottom floor. Luke was in the hall, the sheriff standing beside him with a firm hand on his shoulder. Simone slowed as the sheriff lifted his head and their eyes met. Those hazel eyes had been the first thing Simone had noticed about him. They were hypnotic. She couldn’t help but feel drawn towards him.

  Keith Dickinson cleared his throat and took off his Stetson, giving Simone a polite nod.

  “Miss Cartwright. I’m very sorry to bother you at this time of night, but I’ve got someone who’s gone a bit astray tonight.”

  Luke scowled. He folded his arms and pouted.

  “I wasn’t doing anything wrong, Sheriff!” He protested. “I was just meeting some friends.”

  “And those friends love to cause trouble,” Dickinson replied grimly. He turned back to Simone as she came down the stairs. “When I found them tonight, they were causing trouble outside the saloon, bothering patrons and sneaking beer from the cellar. Robert said he wouldn’t press charges on condition that they left, but they wouldn’t go.”

  “And you’ve arrested them?”

  “Of course.”

  At least the sheriff was diligent with his job. Simone had met several lawmen in her lifetime who didn’t even know the meaning of the word “honest”. She frowned at Luke, though, despite that; he was acting like a petulant child.

  “If that’s the case, how come Luke isn’t locked up as well?”

  “What?” Luke protested. Dickinson blinked.

  “You want him locked up as well?”

  “Of course.” Simone folded her arms. “If he’s committed a crime, he needs to take the punishment. He should absolutely be locked up.”

  “Aunt Simone!” Luke whined, but Simone shook her head.

  “You know my stance on crime and you causing trouble, Luke. If you don’t want to be locked up, you shouldn’t have been causing trouble for others in the first place.”

  “That’s not fair!”

  “Life never is.” Simone glanced at Dickinson and turned away. “Just take him back to your lockup, Sheriff. He’s not going to learn if he keeps coming home.”

  For a moment, she thought Dickinson was going to argue. He looked as stunned as Luke did. But then Dickinson grunted and put his Stetson back on, taking Luke’s arm.

  “All right. Come on, Luke.”

  “No!” Luke began to cry. “Aunt Simone, please!”

  But Simone stayed strong, moving into the lounge. She couldn’t bend just because Luke didn’t like it. If he had done something wrong, he needed to accept the punishment. Even if it pained both of them. Simone could feel the urge to turn around and run back, pleading for Luke to be let go.

  However, he wasn’t going to learn that way. Simone’s father had always said that they needed to learn the hard way at times, whether they liked it or not. Simone had taken that advice to heart.

  It was a pity she wasn’t as strong as her father. Or her sister.

  Simone sagged into a chair by the roaring fire and stared into the flames. This was not how she expected Life to be. She had lost the opp
ortunity to be a married woman a long time ago through no fault of her own, and she had settled to the realization that she would be alone and childless for the rest of her life. Nobody wanted a woman pushing thirty as a wife.

  Becoming a mother had certainly not become part of the plan. And Simone had never expected to be taking charge of her older sister’s son. Luke was a good lad, for the most part. But this behavior from him was something Simone couldn’t handle. She had no idea how to speak to him on the matter. They always ended up shouting at each other. It broke Simone’s heart that she had lost her sister and was running the risk of losing the relationship she had with her nephew.

  Sioux Falls was meant to be a new start for both of them. Right now, it wasn’t a start Simone wanted for either of them.

  “Simone?”

  Simone looked up. Then she shot to her feet. Dickinson was in the doorway, his Stetson in his hands. He looked a little sheepish, the light from the fire making his brown hair look like burnished gold. The fire light outlined the rugged lines of his face, the squareness of his jaw and the broken nose. Not handsome, by any means, but Simone felt a fluttering in her belly whenever she saw him. There was something about him that drew her to him, and it wasn’t just his eyes.

  He had encountered Luke several times in the months since Simone and Luke had arrived, and he had always brought her nephew home. Simone didn’t ask him to do that but the sheriff persisted to do so. Simone didn’t know what to make of that.

  “You…” She cleared her throat. “You put him back in the lockup, then?”

  “I did.” Dickinson entered the room, turning his Stetson over in his hands. “His friends weren’t giving him any sympathy when he came back and I left.”

  Simone winced. Luke was not going to forgive her for that.

  “I wish I didn’t have to do that.”

  “But you did.” Dickinson’s expression softened. “You were right, I did something stupid. Luke isn’t going to learn if I keep bringing him home after causing trouble. That’s not a good example.”

  At least he was learning. Simone nodded briskly and sat again. It was either sit or collapse from weakened knees. She was very much aware of the sheriff’s presence. It wasn’t intimidating, but it was enough to know that he was in charge. Always in charge. Simone didn’t know what to make of that.

  Dickinson moved into her line of sight, looking into the fire.

  “I’m sorry about waking you.”

  “Don’t be sorry.” Simone bit back a yawn. “I was mostly awake worrying about him.”

  “I see.” Dickinson paused. “How long has this been going on for now?”

  “Pretty much since we got here. I think it’s his way of lashing out. I’m not his mother and I’ve got different rules, ones he doesn’t like in the slightest.” Simone shrugged. “I guess this is his way of mourning his parents.”

  She cast a glance up at the sheriff and saw him watching her. He wasn’t judging her at all. If anything, he looked understanding. Sympathetic.

  “It happens to everyone,” he said quietly. “It’s just more unfair when the person mourning is so young.”

  Simone couldn’t argue with that. She sighed.

  “I understand that he is hurting, and that he wants his mother and father back, but he’s stuck with me now. I promised my sister that I would look after him. And I feel like I’m failing her.”

  “It’s not a failure. It’s not easy taking on someone else’s child, even if they are blood to you.”

  It was the way he spoke that had Simone sitting up. There was something about his voice, the sadness, that caught her attention. She looked up at him, but Dickinson wasn’t looking at her.

  “Are you a father, Sheriff?” she asked.

  Dickinson’s jaw tightened. He didn’t speak for a moment. Then he turned back to her and spoke abruptly.

  “Listen, if you need any help with Luke, perhaps I can help in some way.”

  Simone’s mouth fell open.

  “How could you possibly help me?”

  “I show him a few things that he could do. He gives me a hand at the sheriff’s building, for example, cleaning up and what not. That would keep him out of mischief.”

  Simone wasn’t sure about that. Her sister had moaned about how she could never get her son to clean up after himself. The older he got, the more he was less inclined to listen. Simone could see what she was going through now.

  She frowned up at the sheriff.

  “Do you think that will work?” she asked.

  “I believe it will. At his age, if you give him some responsibility, it should calm him down.”

  “Or make him worse,” Simone muttered.

  Dickinson arched an eyebrow, a slight smile tugging at his mouth. That smile was just as fascinating as his eyes. Simone often wished he would smile more.

  “Are you always like this?”

  “Like what?”

  “Constantly pessimistic?”

  Simone grunted and looked away.

  “It’s why I’m still unmarried. Nobody likes a pessimistic wife.”

  Dickinson was silent. Simone thought he had left the room, but when she looked up, he was staring at her. And it was a strange look in his eyes. It made Simone uncomfortable, but she found herself wanting to get closer instead. Keith Dickinson was a man she wouldn’t have encountered before back in Ohio, and yet he was more intriguing than anyone Simone had ever met.

  They stared at each other for what seemed like a long time. Then Dickinson flushed and looked away with a cough.

  “If you want, I can start with Luke tomorrow. Better starting now than later.”

  “All right.” Simone stood. “And make sure he gets to school. I want him to keep having his lessons.”

  “That will be sorted.” Dickinson’s expression relaxed, his eyes drifting over her face. “Don’t worry, I’ll deal with it.”

  He looked like he was going to say more, but then he turned and started towards the door. Simone suddenly wished he wouldn’t go. She stepped after him but stopped short when she realized how stupid she was being.

  “Sheriff Dickinson?” He stopped. Simone licked her lips; her mouth suddenly felt very dry. “Why are you being so nice to me? I haven’t done anything to you to warrant it.”

  Dickinson said nothing for a while. Then he turned and his hazel eyes speared Simone to the spot.

  “You don’t need to do anything to warrant kindness from me.” Then he put his Stetson on, giving her a curt nod. “Goodnight, Miss Cartwright.”

  And with that, he left the room. It was only when the door closed behind him that Simone could breathe clearly again.

  Chapter Two

  Keith had known the moment he saw Simone Cartwright that she was going to be trouble. And not the sort of trouble that meant he had another visitor to the jail. Medium height and pleasantly plump with raven hair that was kept in perfect form in the various styles she put upon it. Except at night. Whenever he dragged Luke Drayton back to his aunt after catching him at some caper, Simone had her hair down, curling about her shoulders.

  She looked like a fairy tale princess. And Keith couldn’t stop himself from coming back to see her.

  Ever since Megan had walked out on him, Keith had sworn he would never give his heart to another woman or even contemplate another woman in his life. They would simply betray him as well. However, he couldn’t keep away from Simone Cartwright. She had snagged his attention, rather unknowingly, and she wasn’t letting go.

  He had to be mad suggesting that he would keep Luke out of trouble, just to please her. But Keith felt as though it was his duty to do something for Simone, to make her smile again. To know someone was on her side. She had been alone for a long time and then she was suddenly a parent to a boy on the cusp of turning into a man. It would be difficult for anyone.

  And yet, Keith couldn’t just walk away. He had to be mad.

  He was still thinking that as he stood in the doorway to one of the cells
with Luke, watching the boy’s expression. Luke had just been informed that he was to clean out the cells on his own. Luke was looking as though he wanted to be anywhere but there right then.

  “Seriously?” he whined. “You’re telling me I need to muck out this place after I’ve been to school?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Luke scowled.

  “What if I don’t want to?”

  “You will.” Keith folded his arms. “Or I’ll throw you in it again for another night.”

  “I could just go home or run off after school,” Luke shot back. “Or not go to school at all. You wouldn’t be able to find me.”

  Keith found himself roaring with laughter at this.

  “I’d like to see you try. I grew up around here, so I know all the places a boy can hide. And my sister is your teacher. She’ll make sure you stay in. And if you don’t do as you’re told, you’ll be going in there again.” He waved his hand at the cells. “Clean it out or sit in it. Your choice.”

  Luke clearly didn’t want to do either. But his shoulders slumped and he sighed heavily.

  “Fine. I’ll clean up after school.”

  “Good.” Keith indicated the door. “You’d better go. My sister doesn’t like tardiness, even if I’m the one keeping you late.”

  Luke was still scowling as he left. Keith didn’t follow him. His sister would send word if Luke didn’t go into the school, and Keith knew all the hiding spots, everywhere that would be perfect for a boy to hide in. The youngsters kept wondering how he knew where they hid, but Keith wasn’t about to tell them he had found every good spot long before they were born.

  At the end of the day, Keith got himself ready to go over to the school. He had a feeling that he was going to need to collect Luke and walk him back. The boy would be kicking and screaming. And yet, as Keith stepped out onto the porch, Luke appeared across the street, crossing in front of a horse and cart. The horse snorted as it darted to one side and the driver shouted something unintelligible at Luke. Luke made a rude gesture at them and turned back to Keith.