Read The Duke's Dark Secret (Historical Victorian Romance) for Free Online

Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Comanche tribes and the white settlers. Though she was herself a settler, she felt sympathy for their cause. No one had invited people like herself to come to the west and claim these lands. It would have, perhaps, been more conducive to a civil society if folks like herself stayed East.
                  She reflected on these thoughts as she gazed out the window onto the eastern plains of Colorado, with her first real glimpse of the Rocky Mountain range fast approaching. She felt a bit like an interloper, an adventurer who was seeking a new life among a quickly-shifting backdrop. On the positive side, she could start a whole new life here, create her own identity without any preconceptions from her old life.
                  On the negative, she was marrying a man she knew almost nothing about.
                  The pictures they had exchanged gave her some hope. She looked to her locket to see his face again. He seemed an ordinary sort with a youthful, handsome face. His large mustache obscured part of his face, and he parted his hair down the middle. Louisa hoped that he was as kind as his letters had made him seem.
                  All of that would be settled soon enough. She could see that a few ranch houses were now in view, signs that they were approaching the town. The engine was slowing, and she smiled as she thought of the possibilities.
                  Eventually, the train stopped and she let out a deep sigh  of relief, glad to be leaving the rocking train behind her at last.
                  She stepped off the train and waited to see Thomas, the man she’d been corresponding with over the past few months. To her consternation, she couldn’t place him. But as she pulled her bags off the train and waited, a trio of people approached. They included an older man, a young man around Thomas’s age, and a similarly young red-haired woman.
     
                  “Pardon me, ma’am.” The young man began. He had a brown mustache that somewhat resembled her Thomas. “We might be wrong, but would you be Miss Louisa Forest of Baltimore, Maryland?”
                  “That is I.” She confirmed, feeling uncomfortable. “I had hoped to meet Mr. Thomas Bradford here.”
                  “My brother.” The man said, and by his tone, she sensed she was about to receive some bad news. She wasn’t disappointed. “I’m sorry, there was no way to give you warning. Thomas died two days ago.”
    *****
                  “You’ve all been so kind to me. I couldn’t eat another bite.” Louisa said, pushing away her plate.
                  Louisa had been invited to the Bradford home after the initial shock of the discovery. She was trying to be as polite as possible with the traumatized family. Though she too had suffered a loss of sorts, she had only known the man through his letters. She felt she had no right to grieve.
                  The older man, Jim, pushed away from the table as well. “Another wonderful meal, Ann. You’ve done well.”
                  “Thank you, uncle.” She kept her head down, her expression difficult to read. The other in their quartet, Jeb Bradford, had said little as well, leaving Jim to handle virtually all of the social interaction with their guest.
                  She felt as though she were intruding on their grief, and after clearing her throat, offered a thought. “You have been so generous, but I must ask one more favor. Before it becomes dark, would you be so kind as to find me a boarding house for women of good character? I am so new here-”
     
                  “No, no.” Big Jim Bradford insisted, brushing his huge white beard. “We won’t hear of it. You’ll stay here as long as you please. No debate on that, now.”
                  “I have no desire to impose