His Secondhand Wife. Cheryl St.John

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      The bearded giant was silent the entire ride to the livery, as well as while he prepared the wagon, tied his horse to the rear and ushered her up to the seat. The brim of his black felt hat shaded his face the whole while, so without deliberately staring, she still hadn’t had a good look at the man.

      For several minutes Kate studied the plain pine box that held her husband before settling herself and determinedly looking ahead. She hadn’t had time to absorb all that was happening and still felt a little numb. She was sure reality would catch up with her later.

      Finally, Noah Cutter climbed up beside her and took up the reins in hands sheathed by tanned leather gloves.

      “How far is Copper Creek?” she asked.

      “’Bout a day and a half’s ride west.”

      “You mean, we’ll be traveling all night?”

      “We’ll camp to rest the horses.”

      She nodded and prepared herself for the journey and the new experience. Her stomach felt a little queasy now that she was going through with this. “I’ve lived my whole life in Boulder.”

      He didn’t respond, so she took her last look at the city she detested, thought of all the miners’and well-to-do residents’ clothing she’d washed and ironed over the years, and said a silent good riddance.

      Even if she had to do laundry for this man and his family for the rest of her years, it would be less of a burden than scraping out an existence on her own. “Tell me about your home.”

      “Run several thousand head on the Rockin’ C. Good water and grazing.”

      “What about the house?”

      “My father built it. Two stories, a front porch. The hands eat in a separate building.”

      “Do you have a family there?”

      “Levi was my family.”

      No wife or children? “Where will I stay?”

      “Four rooms upstairs, one is mine. You can have one on the opposite end.”

      “I will work for my keep, I was serious about that.”

      She felt his gaze on her, as though he was sizing her up for her usefulness. She glanced toward him, but he looked away, hair and hat brim once again shading his face.

      “Is the Rockin’ C where Levi grew up?”

      He nodded.

      “He never told me much about his family. I never knew where he was from. Does your father know about…about what happened to Levi yet?”

      “My father’s dead.”

      “Your mother?” she ventured.

      “Mother, too. Wired Levi’s mother. She’ll be ex-pectin’ us.”

      “You and Levi had different mothers?”

      He nodded again.

      Kate studied the countryside, weary of pulling information from the taciturn man. There was snow on the mountain peaks, but the conifers blanketing the lower regions were a dozen shades of vivid green. A craggy range blanketed in white caught her attention and she pointed. “Look how much snow is left.”

      “Indian Peaks,” he replied.

      They crossed a river at a shallow spot where farther down, it fed into a wide lake. “Oh, it’s so pretty. It’s turquoise.”

      He squinted toward the lake she indicated without comment and guided the team up the bank.

      Noah followed a rutted trail that cut around rock formations every so often.

      “The rocks are so big! You can almost imagine that the shapes are animals or faces, can’t you?” Kate studied the enormous jutting stones. “Have you ever seen anything equal to them?”

      He glanced at her, then away.

      She straightened her skirt primly. “You’re thinking I’ve lived in Boulder all these years and never seen much of anything. It’s a shame, isn’t it? I always wanted to travel, to see all the sights and the country beyond the city. Levi was going to take me after—well, he was going to take me. Have you traveled many places?”

      “Not many.”

      She’d СКАЧАТЬ