Princess and the Ox: A Sweet Victorian Romance Novel (The Colby Brothers Book 1) Read online

  Princess and the Ox

  The Colby Brothers Book 1

  Copyright 2014 Peggy Ann Craig

  Published by Peggy Ann Craig

  Cover Design by Melody Simmons of eBookindiecovers

  Edition License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Erika Snowden was the envy of all the young ladies of her acquaintance. However, beneath her smiles and proper demeanor, Erika nursed a lonely heart. In her search for true love, she turns to the town’s most beloved man. However, her chance at happiness is threatened by her dominating grandfather’s disapproval and obvious dislike for her beloved’s brother, Jay Colby. So unlike his brother, Jay was the least favored man in town. Nicknamed Paul Bunyan by the locals, Erika however saw him more in the role of the ox. A large crude and obnoxious man. His blunt and rough-spoken tongue left no question as to his displeasure in her grandfather and in Erika, herself. However, Erika is startled to find herself drawn to the big burly man whose boorish behavior she discovers hides a pain that went far deeper than she could ever imagine. And would test her strength and heart against all she had come to believe.

  Interested in reading a FREE prequel to the Colby Brothers Series? Gypsy and the Sheriff takes place twelve years before the series begins. It is the story of a traveling gypsy and a no-nonsense sheriff who meet when she starts peddling a love potion in Placid and causing a whole lot of trouble.

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  Table of Contents

  Acknowledgements

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  About Peggy Ann Craig

  Other books by Peggy Ann Craig

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  For my own princess who encouraged me to pull out my manuscripts from storage and publish them. Thanks for believing in me.

  Chapter 1

  Placid, 1884

  On a day marked by the characteristics of a sad sky and cold gale, an impenetrable chill hovered over the dark and choppy waters. Large mournful ships sat moored along the docks while a thick and dreary fog descended upon the pier. A lone woman stood clutching her shawl, eyes strained to the sea as she awaited the return of her beloved—

  “Dammit, Erika, you’re blocking my docking post again.”

  Erika Snowden gave a heavy sigh and rolled her eyes before drawing her shawl closer and turned toward the half ox, half man in the fishing boat approaching the wharf where she stood. “Must you always use such foul language, Mr. Colby?”

  “As long as you continue to sit on my docking post, I must,” he retorted, gathering up his anchor rope.

  “I was not sitting on your post.”

  “Oh, well then.” He shot her an insincere look. “My apologies...moaning on my docking post.”

  “I was not—” she began again, then broke off abruptly. Her jaw clenched as she worked hard to control her temper as she always did with Jay Colby. She would not allow him to draw her into a public dispute. It seemed as long as she could recall, he gained great pleasure in coercing a person into a heated argument. “You know very well I am waiting for Ryan’s ship.”

  His boat came abreast the dock and he easily maneuvered the distance in one large stride, coming to stand next to Erika on the wharf. Immediately she was assaulted by the smell of fish on his person. She placed an index finger beneath her nostrils and looked up at him. Because of his close proximity and great height, she was forced to crane her neck all the way back.

  He stood far taller than any other man in town with an equally impressive size and build, which years ago had earned him the nickname of the town’s very own Paul Bunyan, the legendary logger of enormous size and strength whose mythical stories of super power had been recounted numerous times to the ears of Placid’s captivated children. However, it was Jay’s brusque personality that made him the least favored person in Placid. If only he were of no relation to her beloved Ryan.

  “Then, as I see it, you’ve got yourself a long wait,” he told her. “With that fog, Ryan’s ship will more than likely be coming in late.”

  Erika had already come to that conclusion and eyed the ghost-like clouds surrounding the harbor, which sat on the eastern coast of Lake Huron, and noticed an eerie calm hover over the port. She knew the Francesca, a four-mast schooner transporting Ryan home, would have difficulty navigating through the unrelenting fog.

  “That’s assuming he’s even on it.”

  This drew her attention unwillingly back to him as she automatically stiffened her spine and placed her hands on her hips. “Oh, rest assured, he’ll be on it.”

  Erika knew full well Jay’s snide remark resulted in years of jealousy toward his younger and more adventurous brother.

  “I’ll rest just grand, thank you. I’m not the one concerned whether he arrives home tonight or not.”

  “I’m not concerned,” she immediately snapped in return.

  “Right.” His lip curled in a sarcastic snarl. “Then am I to believe it was for me you were mooning down here on the dock for?”

  “Absolutely not! And I’m not moon——” She stopped herself, realizing he was doing it again, trying to lure her into yet another argument. Forcing herself to sound calm, she told him, “I already told you, I am waiting for Ryan.”

  “Which could have been accomplished up at your grandfather’s palace since it does overlook the harbor.” He turned and hauled his day’s catch over his shoulder. “Instead of planting your rump on my docking post.”

  She had heard his mocking reference to her grandfather’s villa as a palace before, so ignored it and instead told him, “I was concerned about the weather. The harbor isn’t so clear from the house when the fog rolls in.”

  “Either way, you’ve probably wasted your time. Whether or not he’s on that boat, she probably won’t make it in this weather.”

  “He’ll be on that boat, Jay Colby.”

  He sighed wearily, and then turned to go. “Right, as he was so many previous times before.”

  “There were logical explanations on those occasions.”

  “As I’m sure there will be today.”

  “You’re wrong,” she stated, placing her hands on her hips. “Tonight the celebrations for the Spring Festivities kick off and Ryan will not want to miss
his favorite holiday.”

  “Well, then. Go right ahead and make your pretty little ass comfortable on that there post of mine as seeing I won’t need it anymore today.”

  “Watch your tongue, Jay Colby!” Erika snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. “Mind who you are talking to. I won’t have you referring to my backside in such a vile manner.”

  “My apologies, princess,” he said over his shoulder as he turned and headed away from the pier, but just before he did, added, “In future, I’ll try and remember to keep my tongue and your bottom a safe distance apart.”

  She gasped and shot a quick glance around the port to ensure no one was within earshot of his vulgar comment. Inside, she felt herself begin to boil. It was hardly possible that big offensive oaf of a man was related in any way to her beloved Ryan. There wasn’t anything she liked about Jay Colby.

  Erika released an angry huff at his departing figure and slumped down on his docking post. Just as swiftly, she leaped to her feet as if she had just scolded her backside. She wanted nothing of that filthy man to touch any part of her person. Particularly, her bottom.

  * * *

  Jay turned the buckboard down the road along the flats where it ran parallel to the coastline. He could hear the incoming tide lapping the frozen shore, even though the fog was so thick he could scarcely make out the lake. He knew the Francesca would not be arriving any time soon. Such was typical of sailors. Their schedules depended entirely on the weather. Something Erika Snowden had a hard time grasping.

  Which didn’t really surprise Jay. After all, she had grown up watching her grandfather control nearly everything in Placid. If it so much as tried to move, it wasn’t without his consent.

  The morning was already getting late, and unlike Erika, he did not plan to wait around for Ryan’s ship. He was hungry and looking forward to his mother’s steak breakfast. His younger brother would have to find his own transportation back to the farm.

  Jay rounded the wagon near a growth of bush along the flats. The wind had picked up considerably on this open stretch of beach causing the trees to roar. In the opposite direction, he could hear the miners hammering and chiseling down at the quarry. Even with the noise levels of both these sounds, the obnoxiously loud clamoring of the construction site from where he was headed nearly drowned them out. When the massive wooden structure appeared in his path, Jay instinctively felt his insides coil.

  The blasted monstrosity spanned a good two hundred yards wide and three stories high. And a complete eye sore on the otherwise spectacular shoreline.

  As he drew up alongside, he groaned inwardly at the sight of a formally dressed gentleman standing on the first floor scaffold. It was bad enough being forced to speak to Erika Snowden so early in the day, but now her grandfather as well.

  The tall, white-haired man turned at the sound of Jay’s approaching wagon. “Come to your senses at last, boy?”

  He knew Gerald Snowden was fully aware of his feelings regarding the building of this oversized playhouse, and only intended to irk him with this comment. “I’ve told you before, I’m not interested. I’m only here to pick up my brother.”

  “A boy like yourself could use the work.”

  Jay clenched his teeth. He knew exactly what type of boy Gerald Snowden thought he was.

  “Even your brother has enough sense to take a good paying job when it’s offered.”

  “My brother makes his own choices in life,” he said as he glanced beyond Gerald Snowden in search of Garrett Colby. He sighed with irritation when he made no appearance. “Besides, it’s not the work I’m against. Just your building.”

  “The resort?”

  “If that’s what you’re calling it.”

  “You have an issue with my building a tourist attraction that will bring in thousands upon thousands of tourists to Placid?”

  Jay hesitated, knowing better than to get into a heated confrontation with Gerald Snowden. The man was far too powerful around town for Jay to make any headway. It simply was a waste of his time.

  “Tell me, Mr. Colby, what is it exactly you would prefer I do with such an enormous building?”

  At that, Jay did not hesitate. “Convert it into a hospital.”

  The older man barked with laughter. “A hospital? In Placid? Have you any idea how much it would cost to hire enough staff for a hospital of that magnitude?”

  “I would image the same as it would to staff a resort.”

  That made Gerald Snowden pause, but only momentarily. “However, you are forgetting that you need people to fill those beds. Sick people. I hardly think there is enough regular sick patients in the whole of Placid and county to account for the hiring of a resident doctor. Let alone, a hospital full.”

  “Right,” Jay said, trying to control his irritation. “One cannot forget there is no profit in healthy patients.”

  Gerald Snowden’s face stiffened as he raised his chin and placed his hands behind his back, but otherwise made no reply.

  Garrett finally appeared from the scaffolds below and Jay breathed a sigh of relief and gave Gerald Snowden the slightest tip of his hat in farewell as he pulled the wagon away. He truly hated looking upon the construction site. It made him literally feel ill.

  A horrible pounding began at the back of his head. Automatically, he reached up and rubbed it.

  “Head giving you trouble again?” Garrett asked.

  Jay simply shook his head. It was too damn early in the morning to deal with the Snowdens. Both the old man and his argumentative granddaughter.

  Hell, she contradicted everything he said. It hadn’t always been that way, but over the years her tongue had grown sharper. No doubt due to the influence of her grandfather. She might have matured into the prettiest girl in town, but she was also the iciest princess he knew. And a right miserable thorn in his side for years. He didn’t envy his little brother one bit.

  * * *

  On an embankment high above the south banks of the Granton River where it emptied into Lake Huron, Erika watched somberly from the large glass window in the front foyer of her grandfather’s Italianate style home. The majestic home sat overlooking the breath-taking shoreline on a grand estate of equally spectacular gardens.

  The house itself was the largest in the entire town of Placid. Built as a replica of a European villa, Erika could remember as a young girl fantasizing about getting lost in the countless rooms and staircases.

  At the time, she was still living with her parents in a fine home of their own in one of the many streets branching off the town’s main square. Until that day thirteen years ago.

  A horrible stagecoach accident had brought her beloved parents’ lives to an early demise. It was from the events of that tragic day that she came to live permanently in the home and under the guardianship of her grandfather.

  Erika gave herself a small shake and as usual quickly cleared her head of those haunting memories. It pained less when she did not allow her mind to travel back to the past.

  Outside the glass-pane window, she saw the coach pull up in front of the house. Giving a glance down the bluff one last time to the harbor below where the Francesca sat docked, she sighed with disappointment once again.

  Her wait lasted several hours after Jay had left her alone on the pier. When the boat finally did break through the thick fog and passengers and crew disembarked, she was disappointed to discover Ryan was not one of them.

  A fellow shipmate had told her Ryan had elected to stay behind at their last stop in Detroit and would find alternative arrangements home. A tidal wave of disappointment had overcome her, not the least was the realization Jay Colby had been right. Again.

  Behind her, the sound of footsteps echoed along the long corridor.

  “You look very beautiful tonight, Erika my dear.” Her grandfather’s voice drew her attention away from the window as he entered the grand foyer where she sat gazing out the large window overlooking the entrance. “I see that you have taken my advice and elected
to wear your hair sensibly up.”

  She touched the elegant blonde locks wrapped at the back of her head and smiled for her grandfather, pleased to make him proud.

  Initially, she had chosen to wear it down and in ringlets as so many young single girls did today, however Gerald Snowden felt the style improper for a lady of her status. Naturally, she conceded to his wisdom in such matters and returned to her room to have Fiona, their do-it-all housekeeper, help restyle her hair.

  Her attire for the night, however, she was pleased met with his approval. She had chosen to wear one of her favorite gowns from the collection he had bought her from a Paris catalogue. The dress was in a beautiful crimson color of silk satin with a tiered skirt of red ostrich plumes. Its off the shoulder design exposed plenty of skin in a seductive and enticing manner which admittedly when chosen, Ryan Colby was at the forefront of her mind.

  She slid the waist-length cape in a matching shade of dark scarlet over her shoulders, then fastened it at her neck and gave her grandfather a smile. “Thank you, Grandfather.”

  “I have arranged for Mrs. Westbrook and Mrs. Delbridge to be your companions for the evening.”

  Her smile wavered before she quickly collected herself and forced it back. However, her grandfather was too astute.

  “Do you object with my choice?”

  “No, of course not, it’s just I was hoping to spend the evening with Rosalee and Trista.” The girls were closer in age to Erika and had been dear friends since childhood.

  “It’s important that you maintain an appearance of proper etiquette in social functions. The girlish behavior you exhibit with your young friends is not acceptable. It’s best you restrain your acquaintance with them to private visits.”

  Erika nodded her head, keeping her chin down so as not to reveal any more of her disappointment.

  “Shall we leave?” He offered her his elbow and led her out to the waiting coach. The town square was not far and the drive would be short which Erika was glad.