Free Cole's Montana Bride (Sweet,clean Western Historical Romance)(Montana Ranchers and Brides Series Book 7) by Maya Stirling Page A

was heavy with anticipation.
    What could she tell him? Could she say that her decision to leave Billings had been made almost on impulse? Would he possibly understand what had driven her to pack her bags and head for another town to start a new life, with her own destiny in her hands? Could he understand how much it had taken for her to make the decision to try and strike out on her own?
    Maybe she could tell him that her decision hadn't been the result of anything he had done, but had been caused by her own youthful, rash impatience to start a new life. Would he understand? She wasn't sure. Perhaps the best thing she could do would be to spare him the truth. But didn't he deserve the truth? Didn't he have a right to ask her that one, crucial question? The one question she wasn't sure she dare answer.
    Looking up at last, she peered into his burning, hopeful gaze.
    Victoria sighed. "I don't know how to answer that, Cole."
    "Try," he said simply and quietly.
    Victoria shook her head. "I don't know that I can."
    Cole ran a hand through his dark hair. He straightened in his chair, the seat suddenly looking small, as if it wouldn't contain the sheer, pent up strength in his body. Victoria could sense the impatience in him, a restlessness for answers which had been building up inside Cole for years. She didn't fear what she saw in him. She merely noted it and tried to figure out how she could tell him about the choice she'd made. Finally she realized that one of the things he was asking from her was an account of her past. Maybe he just wanted to know what her life had been like all these years.
    "Life has been..." she hesitated and glanced again at him. Cole had leaned forward, realizing that, at last, she was about to open up to him. His eyes were locked on her. "Different from what I expected," she said after a pause.
    Cole's gaze didn't shift from her for a second. His attention was rapt and focused. Victoria looked away from Cole, feeling a sudden need to break that contact.
    Victoria lifted her chin up and turned to him again. "Life as a matchmaker has, of course, been very interesting. I've had the opportunity to meet some very fine people, and had the chance to bring some happiness into those people's lives. I think that's quite an achievement."
    Cole's mouth twisted at the corner, then he said: "But has all that business made you happy, Victoria?"
    She leaned her head to one side and scrutinized him for a moment. "I thought that it would. When I left Billings and arrived in Helena, it seemed like the easiest thing in the world to find a little office and advertise my service. I was filled with such excitement and hope for the future. I soon had a few clients and I threw myself into everything that was involved in being a matchmaker. People seemed to be happy with what I did for them."
    "Did you forget about me so quickly?" Cole asked suddenly.
    Victoria squinted at Cole. "How could I have forgotten about you at all, Cole. After what we'd had together. How could I possibly have forgotten any of that?"
    Cole shook his head, wordless, and turned to gaze toward the stove.
    Victoria shifted in her chair, feeling a chill sweep across her bare feet and legs. Cole seemed to notice her discomfort. "Are you feeling the cold?"
    Victoria pressed her feet into the soft material of the folded sheet. "No. I'm fine."
    Cole went down on his knees and wrapped the corners of the sheet over her feet. Victoria smiled at him as he looked up at her. Cole sat back down on his chair.
    "I'm getting the impression that life in Helena wasn't quite what you'd hoped it would be," Cole said.
    Victoria shook her head. "Being an unattached woman who finds wives and husbands seems to attract the wrong kind of interest from certain types," she said.
    "I can believe that,"Cole agreed.
    "Let's say that for every genuine man looking for a wife, there are at least two more who seem to think that matchmaking agencies offer something altogether quite different,"