Free Whispers on the Wind by Brenda Jernigan

dangerous to the mystery
man.
    Would he come after
her?
    Mary shivered. He couldn’t
possibly find her. Once the marshal had picked her up, that should
have thrown him off the trail if he had been following her. She
didn’t even know exactly where she was.
    My God. She’d gone from
being simple Mary to being wanted by everybody. Just the thought
made her short of breath. She just couldn’t deal with all the
possible unknowns that faced her, so she shoved them to the back of
her thoughts. Later, after she was fully recovered and had her
strength back, she would decide what she had to do.
    In the meantime, she had
settled into her temporary home. A home she felt completely safe
in as long as they didn’t know her true identity. She couldn’t deny
she liked the way Judith pampered her. In all her life, Mary had
never been treated so special. She figured it wouldn’t hurt to
indulge herself for a little while. Plus, in a strange way Mary
found that her being here at the ranch had helped Judith. Mary was
glad of that She heard Carter say that it had been a long time
since his mother had smiled so much.
    It was almost time to go
down for dinner. Mary walked over to the wardrobe to choose a
dress. She couldn’t get used to changing clothes just to eat
dinner. The rest of her family would laugh at her for even
suggesting such a thing, but on the other hand, Judith might also
laugh if she knew that Mary’s previous wardrobe had consisted of
three dresses.
    Now, what to wear? After
looking for several minutes, she chose a peacock-colored wrapper
dress for dinner. Lisa had liked bright colors, Mary was finding
out. It was such a shame that she’d died at such a young age. She
was a very lucky young woman to have had Judith as her
mother.
    When Mary first caught a
glimpse of Lisa’s wardrobe, she was overwhelmed. Lisa loved
brilliant colors and so did Mary. Her wardrobe had consisted mostly
of varying shades of brown when she was growing up.
    She stepped into the
petticoats and eyed the bustle. She didn’t know exactly how to wear
one of those things, and she was too embarrassed to ask, so she
tossed it to the side.
    Once she had finished
dressing, she brushed her hair. She wanted it to shimmer tonight,
so she left it hanging down her back. She’d had to tuck it up under
a cap for so long that it felt good not hiding her female traits.
Not that it ever did her any good. The way she saw it, she’d failed
as a woman.
    Mary couldn’t help
wondering where she’d be if her horse hadn’t thrown her. Probably
some small town where she would have bought a house, but she’d
still be alone and in trouble. Mary really couldn’t remember when
she hadn’t been in some kind of trouble, but nothing like this. So
in the long run, perhaps things had worked out for the best At
least she had Judith to keep her mind off the murder.
    Earlier, Judith had told
Mary that Carter and Rick would be having supper with them tonight
It would be the first time since she’d arrived that everyone would
be present at supper. The men had spent most of the week in town,
returning late at night and leaving before Mary had awakened. She
often wondered if they were avoiding her, but then she realized
that couldn’t be possible since they hardly knew she was
alive—especially Carter.
    No matter, Mary found she
was looking forward to seeing them; though, she wasn’t sure why.
She told herself it was because it would be somebody different to
talk to. It had nothing to do with the fact that they were two of
the best-looking men she’d ever laid eyes on.
    They looked nothing like
the grubby miners with their dirt-stained clothes and filthy hands.
These two were men in every sense of the word, not that she’d seen
all that many men. There were a few on the wagon train that she’d
thought were nice looking, especially Hank. He’d given Mary her
first kiss, awkward as it was, but when she left the wagon train
she’d lost all contact with him.
    And, of