Free The Barefoot Bride by Joan Johnston Page A

wasn't about to admit she had met her match. Molly Gallagher might marry her pa, but that didn't mean they had to stay that way. And they wouldn't. Not if she had anything to say about it. She would find a way to make Molly Gallagher call it quits. Before the brief Montana summer was through, those Gallaghers would be long gone.

 
    Molly stared at the simple gold band on her finger in awe. She had worn James's ruby and diamond family ring for eleven years. Now it was gone, replaced by a circlet as elemental as the wilderness to which she had come. She looked up into the face of the man who had just become her husband. His gray eyes were somber.
    “You can kiss the bride, Doc,” Reverend Adams said with a wide grin.
    Seth's hands framed her face, and she felt his breath on her cheek an instant before his lips brushed hers. Oh, the softness, the sleek dampness of his mouth! She stared, stunned, as Seth let her go and stepped back.
    “Congratulations, Doc,” the reverend said. “That's a mighty fine-looking woman you got for yourself.”
    “You're a beautiful bride, my dear,” Mrs. Adams concurred.
    Molly blushed as Seth murmured hisagreement. An instant later, she was gathered up in a bear hug by the man Seth had introduced as his partner and best friend, Ethan Hawk. She recognized him as the man who had removed her hat after her dousing in the river.
    “Seth deserves a little happiness,” Ethan whispered in her ear. He chuckled and added, ‘I'm sure you're just what the doctor ordered.”
    Molly found the young man so approachable that she led him aside to ask, “Do you think you could arrange to buy a pair of shoes for me?”
    Ethan immediately looked down. From his startled expression, Molly knew he had detected her bare toes peeking out from beneath her skirt. “What happened to your—” “Shhh! I don't want Seth to find out.” Ethan raised a brow in speculation, then grinned and said one word: “Patch.”
    Molly couldn't help laughing. “How did you know?” “I know Patch. How'd she manage it?” “With great aplomb,” Molly said. “I promise to tell you the whole of it later. Would you —could you buy me a pair of shoes so thatwhen we leave here I don't have to do it barefoot? I have some money—”
    “Keep your money. It'll be my wedding gift to you, Mrs. Kendrick. Just let me have another quick look so I can figure out a size.”
    Molly felt self-conscious as Ethan took her hands, stood back at arm's length, and looked her up and down.
    “Don't worry,” he said. “I'm a pretty good judge where these things are concerned. I'll be back in a heartbeat.” He winked mischievously before he turned and slipped out of the hotel parlor.
    Seth scowled at the sight of Ethan leaning close to his wife. His eyes narrowed when Ethan took Molly's hands in his. He knew Ethan with women. The man could charm the feathers off a duck. Well, Ethan could just find somebody else to charm. Molly belonged to him!
    Seth snorted in disgust at his idiotic musings. The feelings of possessiveness that rose in his breast were unfamiliar and left him feeling foolish.
    He had married Molly Gallagher to have a mother for his daughter, not to have a wife to warm his bed. And yet whenever he looked at her—at the curve of her bosom, the flare ofher hips, the velvety brown of her eyes, and the soft, pink lushness of her lips—he found himself painfully aroused. He had visions of his body mantling hers, of holding her in his arms and feeling her soft breasts nestled against his chest, of his hips thrust in the cradle of her thighs.
    He deeply regretted the inference in his letters to her that this was to be merely a marriage of convenience.
    So why not renegotiate the terms of your agreement?
    The thought hadn't been far from his mind since the moment he had laid eyes on Molly Gallagher. And why not? They were married. It wasn't wrong for him to desire her. Or for her to desire him.
    He licked the small drops of sweat from