Read Misty's True Love (Mail Order Brides of Pioneer Town, Book 2) for Free Online Page B

him. “I said, this
is where we should have our picnic.” Her voice was filled with
anger.
    Cody shrugged. “As you
wish.” Rosamund is
unpleasant , he thought. Surely my mother can see this for herself .
    Rosamund, at any rate, appeared to
have lost interest in speaking, and simply wanted to sit in the sun
and eat lunch.
    Cody opened the picnic basket he had
carried up, and found sandwiches wrapped in paper and tied with
pretty ribbon. No doubt his mother has given strict orders to the
cook for the contents of the basket.
    “ Isn’t this nice,” Rosamund
said, wiping some chicken from her mouth in not quite a ladylike
fashion. “Imagine, this is what life will be like when we’re
married.”
    Cody nearly choked. “Rosamund,” he
said, trying to keep his tone even, “we shall not be getting
married.”
    Rosamund’s face turned an unpleasant
shade of beet red. “What do you have against me?” Her voice rose
shrilly.
    Cody studiously avoided a direct
answer to that question. Instead, he said quite firmly, “I am in
love with Misty. Misty and I will be getting married.” He
pronounced each word separately and distinctly, and with
emphasis.
    Cody expected outrage, but to his
discomfort, Rosamund smiled and looked quite smug. “That’s what you
think.”
    The tone of her voice made the hairs
on the back of Cody’s neck stand up. What did she know that he
didn’t?
     
     

Chapter 8

    As Mrs. Olivia Mills waited for the
servants to bring her tea, she sat in the drawing room, patiently
awaiting the return of Rosamund Swire and her son, Cody. She was
anxious to see how the picnic had played out that day, but knowing
her son, things probably hadn’t gone as planned. It was difficult
to tell if he already knew what they were trying to do or not, but
either way, he had been resisting them both at every
turn.
    Moments after her tea was brought in,
she heard the bell at the front door. Olivia looked over toward the
doorway of the room in anticipation of her impending visitor. The
butler finally walked in, introducing the guest as he did. “My
lady, Ms. Rosamund Swire is here to see you.”
    Olivia looked up and smiled, nodding
to let him know that it was okay to leave. She then indicated the
seat opposite her. A maid leaned forward to pour the two ladies tea
before Olivia dismissed her as well. “So, my dear, how was your
picnic?”
    Without sitting down, Rosamund sighed
and shook her head. “You would not believe how he treated me!” she
whined, throwing up her hands like a helpless child.
    “ Whatever do you mean?”
Olivia asked, unconvinced that her son would have been so overly
rude. Cody could be a bit hard-headed at times when he thought his
heart was leading him in the right direction, but he had always
been a gentleman.
    Rosamund paced back and forth briefly,
her eyes darting between the floor and Olivia. “It certainly seemed
as though he had no desire to be there. He looked so bored and
upset the entire time. I do not think our plan worked, not even a
little bit.”
    “ Well then, that means we
need to come up with another,” Olivia said, sighing as she bit her
lower lip and racked her brain for ideas. “But please, sit and
drink tea with me,” she said, extending her hand toward the chair
one more time.
    Rosamund did as asked, but once she
was seated, she did not seem to care much for the tea. After a sip,
she slid the cup back onto the table, causing it to spin slightly
until it came to a stop of its own volition. Olivia watched
silently, more focused on how to fix their current predicament than
how to fix the woman’s damaged ego.
    Minutes later, Olivia was still void
of ideas, slowly going through the motions in her mind. Leaning
forward in her chair, she stared at Rosamund intently as she took a
long sip from her tea. Steam billowed from the cup that she held
firmly in her hands. Looking down at it for some time, she watched
the steam carefully as it slowly rose toward the ceiling, but