Free Madeline: Bride of Nebraska (American Mail-Order Bride 37) by Mia Blackwood Page B

well in hand, her lessons would take place outside after lunch, weather permitting.
    One day, just as they finished eating lunch, Caleb looked at Madeline and smiled. “Would you like to go outside and start your shooting lessons?”
    Madeline, who had begun to clear away the lunch dishes from the table, stopped dead in her tracks with a plate lifted halfway off the table. She raised her eyes to Caleb’s to see if he were teasing her or if he really meant it. He appeared to be serious. “I’d like that very much,” she said with a smile. After a moment, her smile faded. “I need to clean up this mess first, though.”
    Caleb shook his head and stood up. “Leave it until later. It can wait.”
    Madeline hovered over the table and chewed her lip, plate still in hand. She hated leaving dirty dishes sit around, yet had been looking forward to this moment since Caleb agreed to teach her. Indecision ate at her insides like a hungry bear.
    A sudden knock on the back door startled Madeline and she nearly dropped the plate on the floor.
    “Look, Walter’s here!” Caleb told George, who hurried to the door to let the ranch hand in.
    George took Walter by the hand and began to pull him through the kitchen toward the stairs to his room, chattering on and on about some big battle they were going to have. Walter laughed at George’s antics. He quickly took off his hat and bowed a quick hello to Madeline on his way through the kitchen, with a polite, “Ma’am.”
    Madeline watched them leave, then glanced at the table. “At least let me move the dishes to the sink for now,” she pleaded with Caleb. She wanted to ask him to just wait while she washed them. They didn’t take long. Yet she knew he needed to get back to his duties on the ranch, whatever they were. She would have to ask him about that one day.
    Caleb smiled. His wife was so beautiful that it was hard for him to say no to her. “Whatever you want, darlin’. Here, let me help you.”
    Together they quickly moved the dirty dishes from the table to the side of the sink. Madeline could barely contain her excitement as she put on her bonnet and her cape. She could not decide what was more exciting—learning to shoot or spending some time alone with her husband. She thought back to the quick kiss he had given her at their wedding and her lips began to tingle in anticipation. Would he kiss her again? Today, maybe?
    Caleb watched his wife put on her bonnet and her cape. How he longed to wrap his arms around her, much like her cape was doing now. Soon, he told himself. Soon he would have his arms around her as he taught her how to hold the rifle. He grinned like a fool as he imagined holding her and quickly turned to open the door for her before she caught him doing so.
    “Thank you,” she murmured politely as she preceded him out the door.
    He picked up the rifle, a box of shells, and followed her outside. He nearly plowed her over when she stopped suddenly and turned to face him. He had been busy admiring the way her hips swung as she walked and had not been paying attention to where he was going.
    Madeline laughed as Caleb literally ran into her. The sound of her laughter was like music to his ears and pulled a boyish grin from him.
    The sight of that grin nearly took Madeline’s breath away. She had found Caleb handsome the moment she laid eyes on him, but that grin transformed his face. “Someone needs to watch where they’re walking,” she teased.
    “Sorry, ma’am,” Caleb instinctively replied, though a slow blush crept up his face. He wondered if she knew that he had been admiring the view, though he could have sworn she had been doing much the same thing just the other day.
    Madeline smiled broadly. “I realized I was leading the way, but I have no idea where we’re headed.”
    Caleb grinned and offered her his arm. She took it gladly and they set off for the fence line near the creek, arm in arm.
    When they arrived at his pre-chosen location, she saw