Free Linda Ford by The Cowboy's Surprise Bride

words out like hot pebbles.
    “I’ve yet to see any evidence supporting that claim.” He held up his hand to silence her arguments. “It’s a moot point. I don’t need or want a pioneer wife.”
    “You don’t know what you’re missing.”
    “And yet I don’t seem to mind.” He again returned to the window and stared out. Spring was a distant promise. If the sun came out and stayed. If a Chinook took away the snow. If the stagecoach headed back to Fort Benton or even Edendale, Miss Edwards and her entourage would be on it.
    But the snow continued to fall, shutting him in the tiny cabin with Miss Edwards and her entourage.
    A few minutes later, she announced breakfast was ready.
    Acrid smoke still clung to the air, drowning out any enticing aroma, but still she served up a passable meal. He’d had worse. A lot worse. Some from his own hands.
    Afterward, Cassie favored him with a defiant look as she helped Linette clean up.
    Life had gone from simple to challenging since Linette thrust herself into his home. He shifted his chair toward the stove and pulled out a newspaper that had come in yesterday’s package of mail. Linette and Cassie worked in silence and Grady huddled at the corner of the table, darting regular glances toward Eddie. The skin on the back of Eddie’s neck itched. He refused to scratch it, but like the presence of the others in the room, it would not go away. The walls of the cabin pushed at his thoughts. “I’m going to check on the stock.”
    Grady nudged Linette and indicated he wanted to whisper in her ear.
    She bent to hear his words. Her gaze slipped toward Eddie as she answered the boy. “Not yet.”
    She straightened and returned her attention to the dishes.
    Whatever Grady said had something to do with him. “What is it?”
    “Nothing,” Linette replied.
    He waited. He would not be ignored or dismissed in his own house.
    Linette lifted one shoulder. “He wanted to know if you were taking him to see the horses.” She smiled down at Grady. “It’s still snowing heavily.”
    Eddie studied the boy. The air around him vibrated with expectation—whether in anticipation of seeing the horses or fear of being told no, Eddie couldn’t be sure. Seemed the boy had every reason to expect rejection. “Grady, as soon as it’s decent out I’ll take you to the barn and you can visit the horses. It’s a deal.” He held out his hand. Perhaps the boy would trust him enough to shake, but Grady shrank back against Linette.
    Eddie lowered his hand. “Well, then.” He grabbed his coat and ventured out into the cold. It would take time. Trust didn’t happen all at once.
    The heavy wet snow reached his ankles. It would be even deeper farther up the mountains. If the men hadn’t been able to hold the herd... He refused to think of a disaster. Yet how many stories had he heard of cows driven by the wind, trapped in a box canyon, found dead in the spring?
    He stomped through the snow. Things were different here than back in England. The elements were more challenging, but his father would not accept that some things were out of Eddie’s control. Gardiners didn’t let the elements get the best of them. Gardiners conquered challenges. And his father had sent Eddie West to do exactly that. He expected regular reports at their London home informing him Eddie had dutifully fulfilled those expectations. Eddie was determined he would live up to his father’s faith in him and maybe prove himself worthy of the Gardiner name.
    He flung the barn door open and stepped inside. Several of the horses nickered a greeting. He breathed in the sweet smell of hay, the pungent odor of horseflesh and sighed. He was at home here. For a few minutes he could forget his problems—the cattle needing to be brought down from the mountains and the people claiming shelter in his cabin.
    But both threatened his peace of mind.

Chapter Four
    S ilence filled the room after Eddie left, as if everyone held their breath to see