RNWMP: Bride for Preston (Mail Order Mounties Book 6) Read online

  Maryanne snickered and shook her head at Miss Hazel as she put her arms around the woman. "Oh, Miss Hazel, how can I ever thank you for everything you've done?" She pulled back and smiled into the face she'd grown to love. "Can you promise to check in on my parents now and again? I worry that they might struggle now without me there to help."

  Miss Hazel clicked her tongue and patted her on the shoulder. "I will keep an eye on them. But they'll be fine. Stop worrying about them and let yourself find your own happiness. I'm sure they want that for you too."

  Feeling tears well up in her eyes, she nodded. "I wish you could stay longer." She knew Hazel was leaving to go back home tomorrow.

  "You have Lisa just down the road, and the other girls aren't too far away. From what I understand, the men get together every Monday, so I'm sure you'll get the chance to see them when they come to town."

  Miss Hazel squeezed her close for one more quick hug, then turned to open the door. "Now, I need to get off to find where I'm spending the night. From what I understand, the man who runs the store with the room for me probably won't have kept it fit enough for a swine to sleep in. So I better go take care of that."

  Maryanne smiled to herself as she watched Miss Hazel leave. She almost felt sorry for the man who was about to come face to face with a woman unlike any he'd have met before.

  Chapter 5

  He'd watched as his new wife walked to Wesley's cabin and went inside. He knew she'd be in there helping Wesley's new wife get unpacked and settled. As she'd walked along the dirt road in the small village, he'd noticed her smiling as she looked around her. She seemed to take in everything her eyes could see.

  "You know, the sooner you decide to pay attention and help me get this paperwork finished up, the sooner we can both get home to our new wives."

  Preston turned his head back to look at Wesley. "It would appear that our wives are good friends. I see mine has already found her way over to your cabin."

  Wesley shrugged. "I'm glad. Lisa could use some help getting her things unpacked."

  Preston tried to concentrate on the documents he was supposed to be reading over so they could be sent out on the train tomorrow. But his eyes kept looking out the window.

  "So, are you still angry that I suggested you get married? You know once the local tribes hear you've taken a wife, they'll find themselves more trusting and willing to believe you're going to stay here and help them." Wesley leaned back in his chair and stared at Preston. "I don't know why you just don't tell them about your background anyway. You know it would make them trust you more."

  Preston shook his head. "No, it wouldn't and you know it. Men with mixed blood are considered even less trustworthy than the white man by the tribes. They will think I've sold myself out to become a Mountie."

  Wesley shook his head. "I think there's more to it than that, but I won't push it. It seems to me you aren't willing to let anyone know about your Indian blood."

  Preston turned back to look out the window. "I have my reasons. I'm proud of my father and of my Indian blood. But sometimes it's just easier to keep things to myself."

  He didn't want to try explaining to Wesley things he couldn't even understand himself. It was hard growing up with mixed blood, especially when his mother's white family had spent his entire life pretending he didn't exist.

  And while the Indian family tried to make him feel like he belonged, he'd always felt as though he was an outsider there too.

  Then when his fiancé had decided to leave him just before their wedding after finding out about his bloodline, it had only made him realize even more that some things were better left unsaid. He didn't expect anyone else to understand.

  "The fact that you became a Mountie so you could help the tribes who are being threatened speaks a lot about the man you are. So, regardless of what you believe, you've never sold yourself out."

  His eyes caught the flicker of fabric coming out the door at Wesley's.

  "Well, I'm done all my paperwork, so I will see you tomorrow. I have a new wife I'd like to walk home with." He jumped from the desk and didn't even wait for Wesley to argue with him.

  He wasn't sure why he was so intent on spending time with her. But he knew he wasn't going to be able to concentrate on anything else anyway, so he may as well just catch up and walk home with her. He tried to make it seem like he was just heading that way, and hadn't just sat for the past hour watching for her to come back out the door.

  By the time he caught up, he was a bit winded and had to try to slow his breathing down so she wouldn't know he'd raced to catch up.

  "Did you get Lisa unpacked?" He struggled to keep his voice even and not show how fast he was breathing.

  Maryanne whipped her head around and waited for him. She pushed her hair that had come loose from her clips, away from her eyes. "I did. I'm sorry I won't have dinner ready for you, but it shouldn't take me long at all to get something put together."

  He kept walking, and she fell into step beside him. "It's fine, Maryanne. I don't expect you to be making me a big meal on your first day here. I know it's been a long trip and you're likely tired. I've been looking after myself for a long time now. I can manage one more day. I could likely even make something edible enough that you could eat it too." He grinned over at her and his heart warmed to see her smile at him.

  "It has been an eventful day."

  He laughed at her understatement. "How about if I take you for a walk and show you around Moose Lick? It's not big, so it wouldn't take long. Might be nice to have a chance to stretch your legs a bit." He didn't want to admit he was enjoying the chance to just walk beside her.

  As they walked, he found his eyes moving to watch her as she listened to everything he spoke about. She loved the scenery and said she'd never seen such open space before.

  They met up with a few of the local Kaska tribe who were riding past, and he watched as her eyes grew bigger and followed them until they were out of view. Without knowing it, she'd moved herself closer to him.

  His heart clenched as he recognized the familiar signs of fear by someone who didn't know any better.

  "We live with a local Indian tribe here, so you'll have to get used to seeing them." He didn't mean the words to sound so harsh, but the sting of seeing how she'd reacted to seeing the men was too real. How would she feel knowing her husband was carrying the same blood?

  "I'm not worried. I was just a bit shocked to see them dressed. All of the images I've seen or heard have described Indian men on horseback wearing hardly any clothes at all."

  He raised his eyebrow and looked at her in shock. "That's the only thing you noticed? You weren't even a little afraid of them?"

  She shrugged and looked back over her shoulder at the men who were in the distance now. "Not any more than I'd be afraid of any man I suppose, if I were alone. But you're here, so I feel safe enough."

  He couldn't believe she wasn't more shocked or afraid to see the men on horseback, but he was learning that getting to know this woman was going to be full of surprises.

  "Did you grow up in Ottawa?" He realized he'd never really paid much attention to any of the information in the letters that had arrived describing the woman he'd be marrying. He didn't know much about her at all.

  She nodded and kept her eyes on the sky in the distance. "My parents owned a small mercantile in one of the older neighborhoods in the city."

  "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

  She stumbled slightly, and he reached his hand out to steady her. Immediately her face hardened and the smile was gone from her eyes. "I had a sister. She recently passed away."

  He could hear the pain in her voice.

  "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up painful memories."

  He'd kept his hand on her elbow and he could feel her tighten her arms as she crossed them in front of her.

  "It's not your fault. I'm still having a hard time believing she's gone, even though she'd been sick for quite a while. The doctor said it
was pneumonia."

  Sensing that she might like to talk about it, he waited for her to continue.

  "She had an accident when we were just kids, and ended up unable to walk on her own. Eliza spent a lot of time in bed, although sometimes she'd let me help her to go outside and sit in front of the store." She looked lost in her memories now.

  "She was the most beautiful girl I've ever known. Everyone said so, even when she was just a child. I was always so jealous of her."

  She brought her hand up quickly to cover her mouth as though she couldn't believe she'd let the words slip out. Her eyes widened as she turned to stare at him in shock.

  "Why would you have been jealous?"

  "Oh, that was an awful thing to say. I shouldn't have said it."

  He stopped walking and turned her to face him. "But you did say it, so there must have been a reason."

  She looked at him in confusion. "I already told you. Because she was so beautiful. Everyone noticed her. I was always just the older sister who wasn't anywhere near as stunning as the blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty of Eliza. No one noticed me."

  He could see tears forming in her eyes. "And I always felt so guilty for feeling like that. I feel like it's my fault she had her accident."

  His hand reached up to brush away a lone tear that was making its way down her cheek. "You know that's not true. You can't cause someone to have an accident because of your thoughts."

  She swallowed hard as she looked up at him.

  "And sometimes what one person considers beautiful isn't always what another might. I've learned that it's always best to know someone from the inside before judging their beauty."

  Her mouth dropped open slightly and he watched as her eyebrows pulled together. "After years of hearing everyone who saw Eliza comment on her beauty, I learned to stop hoping to hear the words for myself. When she had her accident, I spent the next eleven years trying to make it up to her for the thoughts I'd had. Everything I did was for her. I stopped caring what anyone else thought, or at least I thought I did."

  As he looked into her eyes, he could see the hurt she still carried with her. And he finally understood why he'd had the dreams of this woman coming to marry him.

  His father's people believed their dreams would speak to them and guide them to those who needed them.

  Or maybe it was him who needed her.

  Chapter 6

  She rolled over, careful not to wake Preston. The bed squeaked loudly, so she cringed as she sat on the edge peering into the darkness of the room toward where her husband had set his bedroll. She'd been here for a couple of days now, and today Lisa had left her in charge of a baby cougar she'd found along the road.

  Her friend had known she'd do anything for her, so when Wesley had started to get suspicious, Lisa had convinced her to take it to her house.

  Maryanne hadn't been sure keeping the wild animal under her bed was a good idea. So after Lisa had left earlier, she'd quickly moved it outside into a box that would hold their wood over the winter. Right now, it wasn't completely full so she'd been able to put the box inside and make it warm and safe for the injured animal they'd named Clara.

  She smiled to herself at the thought that being friends with Lisa had already been quite the adventure.

  She pulled a sweater over her nightgown and grabbed the milk and cloth she'd carefully hidden by her bed when she'd turned in for the night.

  Opening the door slowly, she made her way outside. The cool air hit her face, and she immediately worried that perhaps it was too chilly out here for poor Clara to be sleeping. Those fears were soon put to rest as she opened the lid on the sturdy box and saw her curled up inside where it was as warm as inside the cabin.

  Reaching down, she lifted Clara, careful not to cause her any pain from her wounded leg.

  "Hi there, sweet kitty. Are you hungry?"

  Never in all her years would she have imagined she'd be sitting alone in her nightgown, outside at night in the wilds of the Yukon Territory, feeding a baby cougar.

  If she wasn't actually doing it, she wouldn't believe it herself.

  But as Clara squeaked up at her and started to suck on the cloth that had been soaked in milk, Maryanne had to smile.

  She was a far cry from the mercantile in Ottawa.

  Cradling the cougar in her arms, she sat down on the step and let herself enjoy the warmth of the small body tucked up close to her. Maryanne might have given Lisa a hard time about keeping the wild animal, but she knew she'd have done the same thing if she'd found it.

  They couldn't just leave it to the mercy of the other savage beasts outside who would kill it if the mother didn't return. They had to give it a fighting chance.

  "Just because you're hurt, doesn't mean everyone should just give up on you, does it?" She smiled down at the big eyes that stared up at her as she drank.

  Maryanne knew her husband would be angry if he found Clara. Wesley had already heard from the Indian women that there was a wild cat being kept in the woman's houses, but so far they'd managed to keep her hidden. Hopefully the animal would heal fast enough that she could be released before they got caught. When the men came to town on Monday, Maryanne was going to try getting one of the other girls to take her.

  She didn't want to cause any problems between Preston and her. The past two days had been nice, and she was starting to feel like she could make this her home.

  When she'd been walking with Preston that first night here, she'd been shocked at how easily the words she'd held private for so many years started to tumble out. But something in the way he'd looked at her had broken down any of the walls she'd put up to keep those thoughts to herself.

  She couldn't understand why, but somehow she just knew she could trust him.

  Her heart skipped a beat as she thought about Preston. He had the darkest hair and eyes she'd ever seen on a man before, and she was sure he was far too handsome to be real. His hair was a bit longer than she'd have thought proper for a Mountie, but she had to admit it added to his appeal.

  She knew she wouldn't want to be a bandit or a crook meeting up with him. He looked dangerous, yet when you got up close to him, there was a sincerity and a kindness in his eyes that took away any fear.

  Although she suspected if he was angry, he would be quite formidable. So, she wasn't prepared to find that out just yet.

  Standing up, she tucked Clara back into her box and wrapped the blanket they'd put in around her. Clara yawned and looked at her with sleepy eyes. "You'll be safe here, Clara. Don't you worry."

  "Maryanne? Are you out here?" Preston's voice startled her, and she almost dropped the heavy lid of the wood box. Carefully setting it in place, she turned back around to face him, leaning back against the box and smiling widely as though she hadn't just been placing a wild animal back in to sleep.

  "I'm sorry, I hope I didn't wake you." She also hoped her voice wasn't shaking as much as her legs.

  The moon was bright, and she could make out the features on his face clearly. But it wasn't his face that held her attention. He'd obviously rushed outside to find her, and had only thrown his pants on and a shirt that he hadn't buttoned up. Her cheeks burned as she realized she was staring at him with her mouth still open.

  He quickly pushed his hand through his tousled hair and moved down to sit on the front step. "I was worried when I woke up and didn't see you in the bed. You shouldn't be coming out here on your own in the dark. You never know what wild animals will be lurking around."

  "I couldn't sleep, so I thought maybe some fresh air might help me." She hated lying to him, but she couldn't admit that she'd just finished feeding one of the wild animals she was supposed to be afraid of.

  She sat beside him on the step, careful not to get too close to him. In the moonlight, with his hair disheveled, he looked far more intimidating than he did during the day.

  "Wesley told me there's a wild cougar that's been hanging around town. Likely had a baby that's been killed and is hanging arou
nd trying to find it. Just be careful and try not to go out too far on your own."

  She'd been to the pumpkin patch with Lisa the other day, and had walked a bit around the village, although mostly to Lisa's cabin and back. She'd never really thought too much about the mama cougar that would be looking for her baby. She just hoped it would stick around until they could nurse the baby back to health enough to leave it alone in the woods for her mother to find her.

  "I'll be careful. And I'll be sure to keep a better eye out when I'm out with Lisa. She'd be unable to run if anything came after us."

  He shook his head and smiled at her. "Well, that's true, and I appreciate how much you always think about the needs of your friend. But trust me, if there was something after you, you wouldn't be able to run away either. You're not living on the streets of Ottawa anymore, so you need to be more careful."

  She was starting to feel annoyed at his insinuation that she wasn't being smart enough around here to keep herself safe. She ignored the niggling voice that reminded her she did have a wild animal sleeping in a box just on the other side of the step she was sitting on.

  Standing up, she walked toward the door, pulling it open. "I appreciate your concern. However, I am quite capable of knowing what's safe and what isn't. I didn't come all this way to cower inside my house because of a few animals that might be dangerous."

  She closed the door loudly behind herself, knowing full well she was being childish. But the truth was, she was feeling guilty about Clara and if she was being completely honest, a bit nervous about the warnings he'd just given her.

  She was going to have to be careful, and hopefully they could get Clara back to her mother before Preston found her.

  If not, she didn't think it was the wild animals she'd have to fear.

  Chapter 7

  "Maryanne, I am going to check this cabin top to bottom. And there better not be anything hiding in here. I'm telling you now, the Indian women in the tribe would not tell lies about this. Wesley searched their cabin a few days ago when Laurel first mentioned it, and I told him he was being crazy. But now, I'm starting to think maybe there's something more going on."