Roberta: Bride of Wisconsin (American Mail-Order Bride 30) by Kirsten Osbourne Page A

pining for his dead wife. Why didn't he have the right to move on?
    "No, that's not it. They told me today they wanted me to marry their other daughter. They thought I would automatically marry her when Erna died, and they're angry that I didn't. I should have married a good German girl, so my boys would have the upbringing they deserve."
    "Do you think they're right?"
    He shook his head. "No, you were right. I needed to marry someone who wasn't like my first wife, someone who I wouldn't feel as if I was replacing her with. Marrying you, I feel like I've not replaced my first wife, but instead, I've found another woman who I could care for." He wanted to say love, but he wasn't sure he felt that for her yet. He wouldn't say the words until he knew. "If I'd married Dagmar I'd have felt like I married another version of Erna."
    "What would the boys have said about that?"
    "I really don't know. I never asked them. It never occurred to me to marry her. I wanted someone who wouldn't expect love from me." He laughed. "The day you got here, after we talked in the basement about you having your own room, I thought you would be perfect for what I had in mind. And then you changed your mind."
    She shook her head. "No I didn't."
    "You didn't change your mind?" he asked, confused.
    " You changed my mind. You and your kisses. Angry kisses or not, your kisses made me realize I'd be missing out on a big part of life if I kept to my idea of not having a sexual marriage. Thank you for changing my mind."
    He laughed. "Come over here, and I'll see if I can convince you to go to bed an hour early."
    She blushed. "I...I didn't know if you'd want me to move my things into your room, or if you'd want me to keep sleeping in the spare room, so I left them."
    He shook his head. "You'll be sleeping with me. In my bed. Every night."
    "All right. I'll move my things in the morning." She liked the idea of sleeping with him. She'd found herself pressed against him most of the night, his body keeping her warm long after the fire had died out in the fireplace.
    "Do you want to share a room with me? I guess I should ask that instead of decreeing what will happen. I'm not usually so bossy."
    She laughed at that. "I have a feeling you're always bossy, my dear. Bossy at work and bossy at home. That's all right, though. As long as you understand I will only follow the orders that make sense to me."
    He frowned. "Oh, really?"
    She nodded. "I've been a boss too, you know. I have my own mind, and I will use it, no matter what you think I should do."
    "Of course, I think you should use your mind." He stared at her. "Especially when it agrees with my mind. Like right now? I think you should be heading to put your nightgown on so you can get into my bed with me, and we can be friendly with one another."
    She laughed. "Is that what you call it? Being friendly?"
    He shrugged. "Call it whatever you want, but meet me in my bed in five minutes."
    "I can agree with that order." She stood, setting her knitting down. "I'm never going to finish this scarf, you know."
    "Make one less shirt tomorrow, and it'll appear like magic." He'd never seen anyone, man or woman, work like she did. She never seemed to move quickly, but she never stopped moving.
    "I'll race you," she said with a grin, disappearing into the hallway. She hurried and changed into her nightgown, startled when the door to her old bedroom opened behind her. "What are you doing?"
    "Just thought we might like this bed better than mine." He unbuttoned his shirt, pushing it off his shoulders.
    "You're crazy. I'll meet you in your room. The bed there is bigger."
    He continued undressing. "This one will force us to be closer to each other, he said, waggling his eyebrows at her.
    "Does that matter?"
    He nodded. "Matters to me!"
     
    *****
     
    Bobbie was finishing up her third shirt the following day when there was a knock at the door. "May I help you?" she asked the short woman with dark hair who stood before her.
    "I want