The Cowboy's Surprise Bride. Linda Ford

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СКАЧАТЬ the coffers. But how much was enough to satisfy her father? She wondered if enough existed.

      “He should have servants to do those things,” Margaret had fumed when Linette badgered her to arrange instruction.

      “It will be an adventure to do something useful.”

      Unless Eddie changed his mind, her lessons seemed destined to be useless. She stiffened her spine. Failure was not an option.

      Eddie turned his gaze back to her then with a great sigh eased toward the stagecoach.

      She followed at his heels. “I’m a hard worker.” She would press her point but she wouldn’t beg.

      The driver stood at his horses, staring at the horizon and shifting from one foot to the other. “Eddie boy, the wind has a bite to it. Winter is likely to clutch us by the throat any moment.”

      She’d wondered at the earliness of the snow, but the man in the coach had explained it was due to being in high country. “Snow can come early and stay or leave again. There’s no predicting it.”

      Eddie turned to speak over his shoulder. “I’m to be stuck with you then. But only until the weather moderates then I’ll send you back.”

      “Stuck? Seems you’re getting the better part of this bargain.” She had no intention of staying one day more than she must, but she silently prayed the winter would set in early and be long and cold, preventing travel. That would give her sufficient time to persuade Eddie to change his mind.

      She would not—under any circumstances—return to her father and his despicable plan for her.

      Despite her lack of funds, she considered setting off on her own but she must acknowledge the facts—her father would not let her escape his clutches. He had ways and means of tracking her wherever she went. And he wouldn’t hesitate to use them. She knew she couldn’t hide from him even if she found a means of surviving on her own.

      Eddie still provided the only answer to avoiding her father’s plans. Winter provided a reprieve. She would use the time to prove to him she was the ideal pioneer wife. She would make him want to keep her. He’d beg her to stay.

      Eddie ground to a halt and turned to face her.

      She blinked back her silent arguments lest he guess at her thoughts.

      He edged forward, forcing her to retreat until they were again out of sight and hearing of the interested party waiting at the stagecoach. “You might want to reconsider this rash decision of yours. It’s wild out here. There are no luxuries. No chaperones.”

      “I brought my own chaperone.” If he found her arrival a burden, he was not going to like her next announcement. She tipped her chin and faced him squarely. Not for all the roses in her mother’s garden would she reveal so much as a hint of trepidation. “And a child.”

      “A child?”

      “Yes, I brought a child.”

      He swallowed hard enough to lose his Adam’s apple. “You have a child?”

      He thought the child was hers? Embarrassment, laced with a heavy dose of amusement, raced through her at the shock on his face. Her amusement could not be contained and she laughed delicately, feeling her eyes dance with merriment. “He’s not mine.”

      “Then why do you have him?”

      “I met his mother on the boat. She died in the crossing and asked me to take the child to his father.”

      “I’m not his father.” The poor man almost choked at the thought.

      She laughed again, thoroughly enjoying his discomfort. “I didn’t mean to imply you were. His father met us in Montreal and when he heard his wife had expired, refused to take his son.” A dreadful scene had ensued as Linette tried to convince the man of his duty. “I had little choice but to bring him along.”

      Eddie choked again.

      Maybe she would have to thump him between the shoulders, and found the idea rather satisfying. With every passing moment, he proved more and more annoying. She’d expected a welcome of some sort, guarded perhaps, or even perfunctory. She assumed he would have made arrangements to have someone present to perform their emotionless union. But never in her many far-flung imaginings had she considered this possibility.

      He cleared his throat. “I think a place the size of Montreal would have a foundling home. I think the nuns have—”

      “Are you suggesting I should have abandoned him to strangers?”

      “It’s not called abandon—” He must have read the challenge in her eyes for he stopped short. “Seems to me that’s what a sensible woman would have done. Besides, wouldn’t he be better off there with schools and playmates?”

      She pulled herself as tall as she could, annoyed she still had to tip her head to glare at him. “We better get something straight right here and now. I have no tolerance for the pharisaical affectations of our society. I refuse to stand by and not offer help to someone when it is within my power to give more than an empty blessing. I could not, nor would I, turn my back on a small child.” Helping others was one of the many things she and her father had warred about. She expected things to be different in the British Territories of Canada.

      She planned to make sure they were.

      Eddie stared at her then scrubbed at the back of his neck. “All I have is a small cabin. Only one bed.”

      She had gained a small victory. No need to push for more at this point. “We’ll take the bed.”

      “And I’m to what?”

      “I understand from your letters to Margaret that there is a bunkhouse for men who work for you.”

      “I will not sleep with them.”

      His words had a familiar, unwelcome ring to them. “Does it offend your sensibilities to share quarters with the men who work for you?”

      “Not at all, but it would be awkward for them. I’m the boss. They deserve a chance to relax without thinking I’m watching them.”

      His reply both surprised and pleased her. She admired a man who thought of others. But her admiration did not solve what he perceived to be a quandary. She didn’t see a problem. “I believe the cabin has two rooms. You can sleep on the floor in the other room.”

      “You are too generous.” The look on his face made her want to laugh, but she sensed he did not share her amusement.

      “Eddie boy,” the driver called. “I’d like to get on my way before nightfall.”

      Eddie and Linette did silent duel with their eyes. Although their weapons were invisible she understood her life and her future hung on the outcome of this battle. Finally he sighed. “Come along. Let’s get your things.”

      “There’s something I better tell you first.”

      “You mean there are more surprises? Let me guess. Another child? A brother or sister? A—”

      “My СКАЧАТЬ