Free White Wolf by Susan Edwards Page A

gloved fingers were swallowed in his large, callused hands. She tried to look away but his green eyes, darkened with love, held hers.
    “I want your word that you will not say or do anything to reveal the truth to anyone.”
    Coralie’s heart thumped when his thumb caressed the underside of her wrist. Staring down into his loving gaze, she was powerless to deny him. She tipped her nose upward andsniffed. “Well, she does look like a boy most of the time, so I suppose it shouldn’t be too difficult to pretend she is one. I’ll even try to call her Jessie—but I’m not very good at lying,” she warned with a pout.
    “Thank you, sweetheart,” Jordan said softly.
    Coralie grabbed his shirt when he stood and moved away from her. She leaned into his hard length, and in the blink of an eye, huge tears welled in her eyes. “But Jordan, you must make her be nice to me. She nearly ran me down with that huge horse of hers for no reason last week, ruining another gown.” She blinked the tears from her eyes, then dabbed her long blond lashes delicately with the corner of a pristine white lacy hankie.
    Elliot broke in. “Cut it out, Coralie. Pa and I heard you taunting Jessie. In my opinion, you deserved it.”
    Twin flags of rage brightened Coralie’s cheeks. Her lower lip trembled as she shook out her skirts. “You’re so mean, Elliot. You don’t know anything.” She peeped at her husband through wet lashes. “Are you going to believe him or me?”
    Jordan ran a hand over his jaw. His expression, more than words, let her know he wasn’t fooled by her female wiles. He tilted her chin, forcing her to meet his stern gaze. “It doesn’t matter who started what. What’s past is past.”
    He set his half-full teacup down and gripped her hands. “As my wife, you will go along with this. You and Jess are sisters by marriage now. I won’t have any more fighting from either of you. Understood?”
    Coralie lowered her gaze and nodded, hiding her resentment. “Yes, Jordie,” she replied, forcing meekness into her voice. What she wouldn’t give to one-up that tomboy Jessica.
    Jordan reached out to finger one long golden curl. “Good. Now, my family will be here by nightfall, thanks to your father’s kind generosity in allowing us to stay here until morning. You have the rest of this day to get used to the idea of thinking of Jessie as my little brother. In the meantime, Elliot and I have much to do, as do you. Pack your personal belongings while Elliot and I help your father. Remember, one small trunk.”
    Coralie flounced out of the room without a backward glance. Jordan cringed when her bedroom door slammed shut, shaking the whole house. The two men looked at each other and shook their heads.
    “As I said, this will not be a dull trip with our sisters along,” Elliot said. “I just hope we can keep them from killing each other.”

Chapter Five
    Dusty rose fingers of color raced across the pale blue sky, tinting the fluffy white clouds with the delicate blush of a newborn babe’s skin. Down below, dew clung to spring green grass, pooled on bright shiny leaves and freshened tiny wildflowers dotting the landscape. Sniffing the crisp morning air, a shaggy, white-furred wolf sat on his haunches beside a weathered gray barn. His ears perked forward, and his bright blue eyes tracked the movements of oxen pulling wagons past.
    From inside the barn, the animal’s master silently observed the frenzy of activity out in the streets as his wagon train prepared for its journey west. Wolf knew that by month’s end the Oregon Trail would be one endless stretch of white-topped wagons. While most emigrants set out around the first of May, he was leaving nearly two weeks earlier in the hope of getting ahead of the rush and avoiding clogged trails, long lines at the crossings, fouled water and trampled prairies.
    Stepping out into the weak warmth of the sun, Wolf saw the approach of the Jones family. He nodded to James and Jeremy,