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Today, I am happy to spotlight Patricia PatJac Carroll, one of nine authors who have contributed to the western romance anthology,  Under a Mulberry Moon. As a special treat, she has included the first chapter from her book, Worth the Wait.

Adventure! Mystery! Romance! Nine award-winning and bestselling authors present sweet western historical stories to ignite your imagination and feed your passion for reading. Let us sweep you away from your daily cares and entertain you with our sigh-worthy novellas set between 1865 and 1900. What a line-up we have for you! UNDER A MULBERRY MOON is a bargain!

Buy Link Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DF3G465

Worth the Wait by Patricia PacJac Carroll

Chapter 1

June 1866
Charlie Ransom stared at the miserable piece of land he’d bought. The barren grass was nothing like the lush green of the farm he’d grown up on in Ohio. The war had brought a hard end to the farm. With him and his brothers gone, his father couldn’t make the tax payments. Charlie had come home to two graves and little else and never did hear from his brothers.
He’d left Ohio and finally made it to Texas and to Sundown Ranch. He stared at his new home, a caved in soddy hut that would have to be repaired before she came. What was he thinking when he ordered a mail-order bride? Sundown Ranch wasn’t fit for man or beast much less a woman.
So, he didn’t know anything about Texas. At least, he knew a thing or two about horses, or the grizzled old codger at the livery in Fort Worth would have sold him a bloated windbag. He kept a wary watch over the land. An old habit he couldn’t shake from the four years he’d spent in the war.
Charlie swung his leg to rest over the saddle horn, dug in his pocket, and reread her last letter. She was coming this week. He’d tried to postpone her arrival and had sent her a letter telling her to wait. Apparently, Ruby Lee Baker intended to come anyway. That’s what he got for ordering a Texas woman.
He wasn’t sure why he had the desperate longing to have a wife and children. Maybe it was all the death he’d seen, the lonely hill where his parents were buried, or his still missing brothers. Whatever the case, he longed to have someone at his side and children running in and out of his house. Charlie rubbed his bearded jaw. Basically, he wanted to experience time with the living.
A fly routed his thinking and took his attention from scanning the land. For spring, the day warmed like summer in Ohio, but this was Texas, and he wasn’t all too sure what to expect. He patted his Morgan stallion on the neck. “Well Biscuit, looks like we got our work cut out for us.”
Disgusted with the rundown ranch, Charlie dismounted and walked his horse to the remnants of the corral on the side of the hut.
“I thought maybe you weren’t coming.”
Startled, he looked up. How had he missed her? Lucky for him the war was over and she wasn’t a Johnny Reb, or he’d be needing a grave. The woman must have come out of the soddy, but mostly, he noticed the rifle angling down her arm to her legs.
She raised the gun level with his chest. “Charlie Ransom?”
He nodded, tearing his gaze from the gun to her face. “Ruby?” She wasn’t bad looking. He certainly could have done worse.
She smiled. “I told you I was coming. I stopped in Duston, and they told me how to get to here.” She waved a hand at the hut and corral. “Hope you didn’t pay much. Soddy can be fixed, but it’s going to take some doing.”
“I’d hoped to have it ready before you came. Wrote to tell you to wait—”
“I’ve been waiting all my life to be married. Grant’s army couldn’t have stopped me.” She stared at him. “You haven’t changed your mind?”
He shook his head but wondered why no one had asked to marry her before. What was wrong with her? He’d already bought a broken-down ranch. Stood to reason, she had her own set of problems. For one thing, she appeared to be headstrong.
Seeing her discomfort, he tied his horse and went toward her but stopped short, giving her room to get used to him. Besides, he’d not had a chance to have a bath in weeks. And there was that rifle. “I haven’t changed my mind. Have you?”
She lowered the gun and shortened the distance between them. “No. I’m not afraid of work.”
He doubted she was afraid of anything. “We can clean up, go into town, and get married. … Unless you’re not sure.”
Ruby blushed. “I’m sure … but I don’t want to marry you until you can say that you love me. Looking at you, I think you bought me like you did this ranch. My mama married out of need. Married a lowdown skunk that never cared for her or us eight kids. Not me. I’ll stay here on the ranch. We can be partners. I’ll sleep in the soddy. You can camp outside. Later you can sleep in the barn after we build it. It’s the first thing we need to do.”
Downright, bossy woman. Right now, he was too tired in body and spirit to argue with her. He sure couldn’t say he loved her. Not yet. Maybe not ever. But she did seem willing to work. “All right, Ruby Lee Baker. Partners for now.… Is there any water on this place?”
She eyed him warily. “You bought the ranch and didn’t even know if it had water?” She shook her head and pointed south of the hut. “A nice creek runs back of the soddy. Has a perfect place to dam it and make a pond, too. … You sure are a greenhorn. Suppose you don’t know nothing about cattle either.”
Charlie stared at her and was sure that it was going to take some time for him to tell her he loved her. If ever. “I’m a fast learner and hard worker. I know the North is starving for beef, and I heard that stray cattle roamed all over Texas. I’ll make it work.”
Ruby grinned at him. “That’s why I’m here. Your letters told me a lot about you. You’re worth waiting for.”
He took off his hat and raked a hand through his hair. “By the way, I ordered a load of lumber. I’m going to build us a proper house. Animals can wait for the barn.”
She shrugged. “I guess you’re the partner with the money. We can build a lean-to for the horses. And when we go into town, we’ll get you a proper hat.”
Hat? What was wrong with his hat? Persnickety woman. Then again, he hated to tell her he only had one horse. She’d probably have some kind of bossy comment about that, too.
She pointed to the back. “My horse is tied up back of the hut. She’s a sturdy mustang. We can round up wild horses too.”
“I suppose you can break horses and round up cattle. Anything you can’t do?” The idea of loving her was getting further and further from his possibilities.
Her bottom lip trembled. Only for a quick second, but he saw it. He reached out to her. “Ruby, I’m sorry. I’m just tired.”
She sat down on the step. “I can work hard. Figure out how to do just about anything. Anything but get someone to love me.” She looked down and cried softly.
He closed his eyes. Now he’d done it. He walked to her and gently put a hand on her shoulder. “Look, I’m sure once we get to know one another, the love will come. You’re pretty. Smart. What’s not to love?”
She shook her head. “No. They all say I’m too bossy. You’ll come to hate me just like every other man that has ever taken an interest in me.”
He twisted one of her golden curls on his finger. “Come on, now. Who else is going to teach this Yankee boy how to be a Texan?”
She pulled her hair from him. “That is impossible.” Standing, she faced him, her grin returning. “Can’t teach anyone how to be Texan. Either you got what it takes, or you don’t.”
He did like her grin. “Let’s get dinner started. That is if you can cook?”
Walking past him, she went to what looked like the remnants of an old, outdoor fireplace. “I’ll cook. You gather the chips while I get things ready.”
He looked around. “There’s hardly any trees, where do you get wood?”
With a sly grin, she pointed out to the prairie. “Since we don’t have an abundance of trees, we use buffalo and cow chips for fuel. … Cow plops.”
He had a lot to learn about this wild Texas country. He looked at Ruby as she went about cleaning out the old fireplace. Maybe he hadn’t made a mistake with her.
* * *
Ruby dusted off the hearth and pulled out weeds and broken rock that had fallen in. She’d brought along flour, bacon, and some utensils. She hoped her wayward Yankee had thought to bring some staples. Wasn’t as if he’d come back with a rabbit for stew.
She gazed at the hut and the land. It would make a good ranch. Charlie was right. Unbranded cattle roamed freely across the range. All they had to do was catch, brand, and drive them north. She’d probably have to teach him how to do that, too.
Curious, and looking for supplies, she went to his horse and opened the saddlebags. She found a can of beans. Clothing. His shaving kit. A picture. Feeling guilty, she hurriedly stuffed his things back in the bag. She wondered about the picture. His family? In his letters, he’d said they were all dead.
She snorted. She’d left her family because they were stifling the life out of her. Not that it was their fault, but with seven brothers and sisters, and she in the higher end of the middle, there just wasn’t much time, food, or clothes left.
Looking out at the wide-open land allowed her to breathe free and easy. Yes, she’d have to work hard. She reckoned Charlie wasn’t a slacker. He had dreams and ideas on how to make a successful ranch. She could have done worse.
A gunshot echoed in the distance. Couldn’t be Charlie. He was afoot and couldn’t have gone far. Comanche? Outlaw? A desperate rebel killing a Yankee for revenge? Her heart pounded. She should have never sent him out by himself.
She bolted from the hearth and grabbed the rifle. “Charlie!”
Footsteps crunched from behind her. She whirled, gun ready.
Charlie grinned at her. “Scared you, didn’t I?”
She forced her jagged breathing to slow. “That’s not funny. You could have been shot.”
“I found a few, chips. Heard a gunshot and was worried about you.”
Her heart sped up. Did he really mean he cared about her? “I was worried about you. There’s Indians and outlaws roaming this land.”
He patted the handgun at his side, and then his eyes hardened. “I spent four, long years learning how to survive. You don’t have to worry about me.”
Taken aback by the swift change in him, she took the chips from his arms and started a fire in the pit. “I’ll have dinner soon. I took the can of beans from your saddle. Hope you don’t mind.”
He stood with his back to her. Even with his shirt on, she could see that his muscles were tense, his posture stiff and unbending. For the longest time, he didn’t answer. Slowly, he turned and stared, but she wasn’t at all sure he was seeing her.
One of her brothers had come home from the war with the same haunted look. But Ray’s expression never changed. Always angry. Always haunted. He sat on the porch all day. Sometimes shouting. Other times screaming as if his guts were on fire. Or maybe he was remembering when they took off his leg.
She glanced at Charlie. Was he a man she even wanted to marry? His letters had sounded so pleasant. Could he claim his dream? Or would the nightmare of war claim him?
She finished making the food into a decent meal. “Dinner’s ready. I don’t have any dishes.”
He turned his gaze on her. His face blank. After a few minutes, he nodded. “In my bedroll. Only one plate. We’ll have to share.”
She went to him, reached up, and pushed on his shoulders. “You sit here. I’ll get it. I’ll serve you dinner.”
He didn’t respond but slid down on the rock.
Her heart sinking, she ran to his horse and untied the bedroll. What had she gotten herself into? Charlie Ransom seemed as crippled as her one-legged brother.

Patricia PacJac Carroll~ I am a writer, Christian first, and blessed beyond my imagination. I live in the Dallas-Ft Worth area of Texas with my wonderful treasure of a husband, my spoiled dog, Jacs, and my awesome son, Josh. Did I say I was blessed? The PacJac is from my initials and my husbands. I wouldn’t be able to write if it weren’t for him. I love adventure and the open road. The stories of the western era have always been a favorite of mine. I enjoy writing, and my goal is to write stories readers will enjoy.

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