Mail Order Bride service.

God, am I really going to do this?

Anna stared at her computer screen, not sure if she was really going to go through with this. Financially, it was exactly what she needed, a lifesaver that would help her get out of debt, but more importantly, it would give her brother and mother that security that they needed right now.

She picked up her cell and looked at the most recent text from her brother.

Jack: If you have any extra money this month I could really use it for mom‘s meds. I’m scraping by as it is.

She quickly typed her reply.

I’ll send what I can. I’m picking up a double shift tonight so the extra I get on my check next week I’ll send that too.

Her heart broke, knowing there wasn’t much more she could do financially.

But there is.

Be a mail order bride.

With Anna living a few hours away, barely making ends meet herself, working full time and going to school part time, any extra money was sent to Jack and their mom. It was an uphill struggle, and more times than not Anna was so close to giving up school and moving back home. But there was no work in her hometown of Charles. She’d tried, looked until she’d been so stressed out she was on the verge of a breakdown. The little extra she did make, though, she sent home.

But it still wasn’t enough.

Anna exhaled and closed her eyes, bracing her hands on either side of her head. She was starting to get a headache, one from stress and worry no doubt. After a few moments she opened her eyes and stared at the screen again.

Mail Order Bride opening. Flat rate given. Time frame negotiable for select applicants. Stipulations applied if selected. Must be mentally and physically checked by in-house physician. Background check required.

Time frame negotiable. At least there was that. Maybe she could just be a wife of convenience? Maybe she’d get lucky and it would only be a year term until her prospective husband did whatever he needed to do that required a wife?

But what if he wanted children, an heir? No, she couldn’t do that. She wouldn’t. Anna wouldn’t bring up a child that wasn’t created out of love, or at least out of mutual desires. What she was doing, if she did decide to be a bride for hire, was strictly a business transaction. At least that’s how she saw it.

And what if it was longer? Could she actually sign up to marry someone, a stranger?

If it’ll help my mom and Jack, I have to do it.

With school letting out for the summer she’d at least have one less thing to worry about there, for the time being anyway. And with the fee she’d get from the bride agency she wouldn’t need to worry about money for a long while.

Anna glanced at a picture that sat on her desk, the one of her brother and mom that was taken last year, the silver frame shining softly under the dim light above. It was when her mother had first started cancer treatment, before she’d been too sick to even get out of bed. The remission hadn’t lasted very long, and now her poor mother was back in treatment and trying to kick this cancer in the ass.

She had to do this for her mom. She had to do this to help her brother.

Anna exhaled, straightened in the chair, and started entering in her info. She didn’t even know if the agency would pick her. And even if she went in for the initial interview, she’d still have to go through the rigorous interview to even get on the damn site.

She sighed and rubbed her eyes. Hell, she didn’t even know if she’d get chosen. The women on the site were beautiful, exotic, and probably had men lined up. Anna, on the other hand, had always been plain, felt frumpy, and had been considered overweight her whole life. Although she’d much rather consider herself curvy.

But she stared at the screen, at where the cursor hovered over the submit button. And then she clicked it, sat back, and knew that what she’d just done might possibly change her life completely.

* * *

Landon tossed the last piece of cut wood into the pile and walked over to his garage to grab a rag. He wiped off the sweat that covered his brow and neck. The sun was especially brutal today, and the heat scorching. He was trying to keep busy, though, trying to keep his mind off the email he’d gotten earlier this morning.

His membership to the mail order bride agency had been confirmed and he was free to start looking for a woman.

Living away from society, and barely having the convenience of modern technology meant that Landon was a recluse, a loner. But he’d preferred that his entire life. He had no siblings, and his mother and father had moved away after they’d retired. He was well and truly on his own out here, and it hadn’t bothered him until this past year.

Until he realized he wanted a woman. A family.

He grabbed his water bottle and took a long drink from it, staring at the home he’d built with his bare hands from the ground up. It wasn’t anything extravagant, but it was two stories, and he owned about five acres. Most of it was wooded. It was exactly what he’d always wanted, and he’d worked his ass off to make it his dream.

It was plenty for him, and would soon be filled with a companion. A wife. A woman who would give him children.

And because he was anti-social as fuck, and the whole dating scene wasn’t his thing, this was the best route for him to go.

He made his way onto the front porch and pulled the door open, taking his boots off and walking on the hardwood flooring over to where his computer was set up. If he’d had his way, and money wasn’t an object, he would have ditched the Internet and phone lines. But he had to make a living, and because most of his work required online sales from his woodworking projects, this was a necessary evil.

He was impatient as he brought up the agency’s webpage and immediately started searching the available women. He didn’t want a high maintenance wife. He didn’t want one who wore high heels and required a full face of makeup every day. He wanted a wife that could work hard beside him, reap the bounty of their fields. He wanted a woman who was down to earth.

But all the women he saw looked like ones that he was staying away from. They were not what he wanted.

And just as he was about to turn off the computer he saw her. She had long dark hair, and bright blue eyes that were round, wide, and vulnerable, calling out to the male side of him. She wasn’t wearing a stitch of makeup, and the full body image of her told him she was made for a man … for him. She was curvy and perfection. His cock got hard instantly, and every possessive side of him roared out that she was the one. She was the one Landon would make his.

Mine.