Free A Bargain For A Bride: Clean mail order bride romance (Montana Passion Book 1) by Amelia Rose

the nearest town? What if they’d never come at all, and this injury had happened when Pryor was simply out working on his land? The gravity of it all weighed on them.
    "I don’t know what we’re to do,” Moira finally whispered, looking down at her hands as though she could still see traces of Pryor’s blood in the creases. Gretchen got up and came to her, standing behind her mistress and comforting her in her gentle hug. “What if we could not have saved him, what if he had died? This is all too real, Gretchen. This is not a game for children, this playing at adventure. This… makes me wonder if we would not have fared better back in Ireland.”
    “My lady, no. Do naw say such a thing! You, married to that terrible man? You think that would be better than having your freedom?”
    “At least there, I would know what to do if a man’s life was in danger.”
    “But mistress, you did know what to do! You took care of him, just as your mother taught you by her knee. You’re only now feeling the fear that you pushed down when you needed to be strong, that’s all.”
    “I hope you’re right, dear. But this has made me see Montana with new eyes. And Pryor…”
    “Yes, my lady? What of him?” Gretchen asked, puzzled at the silence that Moira’s sentence left hanging between them.
    “Oh, no, that’s all.”
    “If you’ll pardon my saying so…” the maid began, but she, too, let her sentence hang unfinished for the space of a moment.
    “Yes, Gretchen? You were going to say?” The maid shook her head, thinking better of her boldness. “Well, don’t stop on my account! You’ve been doing nothing more than begging my pardon ever since we left Brennan!” Only instead of a fierce glare from the lady, Gretchen was relieved to see a hint of humor touching Moira’s eyes, even if she wasn’t yet ready to smile after the day they’d endured.
    “I was only going to say, ma’am… you seemed… worried. For Mr. MacAteer, I mean.” Gretchen immediately pressed her lips together, willing herself to keep quiet.
    “Why, of course I was worried. He could have bled to death right before our eyes! It was… frightening, to say the very least!”
    “I meant to say, it seemed… more.”
    “More?” Moira looked up at Gretchen with a confused look. Her maid nodded fervently, still pressing her mouth closed. “Pray, explain yourself?”
    “You just seemed… overly concerned, that is all.”
    “Of course I was! I’ve already said that an accident to Mr. MacAteer could have been disastrous for all three of us, not the least of which is because he could have died!”
    “I know, you’re right, forget I spoke.” Gretchen turned to wash out the dishes and cloths they’d used to work on Pryor, smiling to herself when her back was turned to her mistress. She knew what she’d seen, and it warmed her heart. Moira had been afraid of losing Pryor, and not only for the reasons she voiced aloud.
     

Chapter Twelve
     
    “Oh, no, you don’t, you’re in the bed today!” Moira called out from the kitchen table where she sat, already ready for the workday ahead of her, eating a meager breakfast while Gretchen prepared heartier fare—recuperative food, at that—for their patient. “I will handle your chores, just tell me what to do!”
    Pryor eyed her suspiciously, not certain whether or not this was a joke they were playing on him, or if he was still experiencing a concussion from his slip up the day before. It could just as well have been sleep deprivation that had his mind playing tricks on him, he reasoned, as they’d taken turns waking him during the night to see that his head injury wasn’t worse.
    “Oh, you will, your highness? You’re going to shovel out the animals’ stalls, do the milking, and put up six new fence posts before dinner time? I’d like to see that!” he scoffed, his usual quiet nature replaced by the irritability brought on by the pounding in his head and the itch of the woman’s