Free A Bride for Noah by Lori Copeland

standing around them watched, their faces a series of helpless masks. Though she tried to think of an encouraging word, Evie came up blank. If there was a bright spot in this moment, it was too buried in gloom and rain for her to see.
    Someone ran up from outside the group to stand behind their log, and in a moment rain stopped pelting against her head. She turned to find Noah holding a dirty yellow Macintosh like a canopy above her.
    â€œHere, some of you men, take these and give the ladies some shelter.”
    He tossed more coats into eager hands, and before long the ladies sat beneath a canopy of rubber and thick wool. Then Noah rounded the log.
    â€œHere, what’s this?” He crouched down in front of Ethel and gently pulled her hands from her face. “Are those tears? I can’t tell for all the rain.”
    The poor woman’s puffy eyes were as red as her nose, but her shoulders heaved in a half-hearted attempt at laughter. “Truthfully, I can’t either.”
    He turned a grin toward Lucy. “I’d give you my handkerchief, but it’s as wet as my shirt.”
    That brought a trembling smile to the girl’s lips. Some of the pressure in Evie’s stomach lessened at the sight of it.
    â€œThere. That’s better. Now, as soon as this rain lets up, we’ll get you to camp.”
    A dangerous prickle started behind Evie’s eyes. Had he spoken harshly she could have steeled herself, but a show of kindness was enough to bring her to tears.
    â€œIs there room for us?” The note of despair that crept into Evie’s question made her cringe.
    â€œSure there is. Arthur and I have it all settled. You’ll stay in the command tent tonight, and then tomorrow we’ll figure out a more permanent arrangement.”
    His confidence gave her a flicker of hope. “Command tent?”
    â€œSort of like a field office. We’ll move everything out of your way and scrounge up some cots.” Even his grimace held a hint of kindness that set loose a warm spark deep in her shivering body. “Not ideal, but they’re more comfortable than the bunks on the ship.”
    The ship. She looked toward the dock, but the rain obscured everything in the distance behind a dismal gray curtain. “I am sure the captain would let us remain in our bunks for one more night.”
    â€œNo.” Ethel’s reply was instant and insistent. “I shall not spend another night in that miserable, heaving cabin. Even if it means sleeping in a wide open field, I am staying on dry land.” She extended a hand into the downpour. “So to speak.”
    It was clear there would be no persuading her to return to theship, not that Evie could blame the woman after the terrible sickness that had plagued her all the way from Charleston.
    Evie turned a smile toward Noah that she hoped was not as brittle as it felt. “Thank you.” She meant the words to hold gratitude for more than arranging their beds for the night. He might be irritating most of the time, but at least he could be gracious when it counted.
    And so could she.

    Dark had fallen by the time the ship’s cargo was unloaded and the ladies settled for the night. Noah had fended off so many questions from men eager to know how he came to find four women willing to come to the lumber camp that he couldn’t bring himself to go to the cook shack to eat. Instead he grabbed a plate of venison stew and headed for the tent he would share with the Denny brothers and Uncle Miles for the night. He hadn’t been there long enough to eat a bite before the flap opened and Arthur entered, his brother David on his heels.
    â€œWhat were you thinking to bring them here?” Arthur covered the distance between them in two long strides to stand squarely in front of Noah, fists planted on his hips. “A lumber camp is no place for women.”
    Noah almost took a backward step at the force in his voice and blazing