The Cowboy's Surprise Bride. Linda Ford

      She blinked back her silent arguments lest he guess at her thoughts.

      He edged forward, forcing her to retreat until they were again out of sight and hearing of the interested party waiting at the stagecoach. “You might want to reconsider this rash decision of yours. It’s wild out here. There are no luxuries. No chaperones.”

      “I brought my own chaperone.” If he found her arrival a burden, he was not going to like her next announcement. She tipped her chin and faced him squarely. Not for all the roses in her mother’s garden would she reveal so much as a hint of trepidation. “And a child.”

      “A child?”

      “Yes, I brought a child.”

      He swallowed hard enough to lose his Adam’s apple. “You have a child?”

      He thought the child was hers? Embarrassment, laced with a heavy dose of amusement, raced through her at the shock on his face. Her amusement could not be contained and she laughed delicately, feeling her eyes dance with merriment. “He’s not mine.”

      “Then why do you have him?”

      “I met his mother on the boat. She died in the crossing and asked me to take the child to his father.”

      “I’m not his father.” The poor man almost choked at the thought.

      She laughed again, thoroughly enjoying his discomfort. “I didn’t mean to imply you were. His father met us in Montreal and when he heard his wife had expired, refused to take his son.” A dreadful scene had ensued as Linette tried to convince the man of his duty. “I had little choice but to bring him along.”

      Eddie choked again.

      Maybe she would have to thump him between the shoulders, and found the idea rather satisfying. With every passing moment, he proved more and more annoying. She’d expected a welcome of some sort, guarded perhaps, or even perfunctory. She assumed he would have made arrangements to have someone present to perform their emotionless union. But never in her many far-flung imaginings had she considered this possibility.

      He cleared his throat. “I think a place the size of Montreal would have a foundling home. I think the nuns have—”

      “Are you suggesting I should have abandoned him to strangers?”

      “It’s not called abandon—” He must have read the challenge in her eyes for he stopped short. “Seems to me that’s what a sensible woman would have done. Besides, wouldn’t he be better off there with schools and playmates?”

      She pulled herself as tall as she could, annoyed she still had to tip her head to glare at him. “We better get something straight right here and now. I have no tolerance for the pharisaical affectations of our society. I refuse to stand by and not offer help to someone when it is within my power to give more than an empty blessing. I could not, nor would I, turn my back on a small child.” Helping others was one of the many things she and her father had warred about. She expected things to be different in the British Territories of Canada.

      She planned to make sure they were.

      Eddie stared at her then scrubbed at the back of his neck. “All I have is a small cabin. Only one bed.”

      She had gained a small victory. No need to push for more at this point. “We’ll take the bed.”

      “And I’m to what?”

      “I understand from your letters to Margaret that there is a bunkhouse for men who work for you.”

      “I will not sleep with them.”

      His words had a familiar, unwelcome ring to them. “Does it offend your sensibilities to share quarters with the men who work for you?”

      “Not at all, but it would be awkward for them. I’m the boss. They deserve a chance to relax without thinking I’m watching them.”

      His reply both surprised and pleased her. She admired a man who thought of others. But her admiration did not solve what he perceived to be a quandary. She didn’t see a problem. “I believe the cabin has two rooms. You can sleep on the floor in the other room.”

      “You are too generous.” The look on his face made her want to laugh, but she sensed he did not share her amusement.

      “Eddie boy,” the driver called. “I’d like to get on my way before nightfall.”

      Eddie and Linette did silent duel with their eyes. Although their weapons were invisible she understood her life and her future hung on the outcome of this battle. Finally he sighed. “Come along. Let’s get your things.”

      “There’s something I better tell you first.”

      “You mean there are more surprises? Let me guess. Another child? A brother or sister? A—”

      “My chaperone is a woman I met in Montreal. Her husband died and she has no family.”

      “You traveled from England without a chaperone?”

      She flicked him an impatient glance. It was easy to see that rules meant a lot to him. She’d prayed he wasn’t like her father. Now he seemed frighteningly so. “Of course not, but Miss Snodgrass was eager to return, and when she saw I intended for Cassie to accompany me, she got on the next boat home.”

      He waited, aware there was more.

      “Cassie is a little...well, I suppose you could say she’s having trouble dealing with her grief.”

      “Trouble? In what way?”

      Words came quickly to her mind, but none of them seemed the sort to make him kindly disposed toward Cassie. Perhaps the less she said the better. “Let’s just say she’s a bit sharp.” She hastened to add, “I’m sure she’ll settle down once the edge of her grief has passed.”

      He scrubbed at his neck again. “Let’s see what you have.”

      She hurried past him, fearing if he thrust his head in the door and ordered the pair out, the ensuing reaction would give them all cause for regret. The kind gentleman who had assisted her from the coach watched for her return, doubtless listening with ears cocked. She wondered how much he’d heard. Not that it mattered. He’d already managed to get most of the story from her as they bounced along for several days with nothing to do but stare at each other. He held the door for her and with a quirk of his eyebrows silently asked if things had gone well.

      She gave a quick nod, grateful for his kindly interest, then turned to the other occupants. “Cassie, we’re here. Come out. Grady, come here.” She reached to take the four-year-old from Cassie’s lap.

      Grady seemed to shrivel into himself. Only at Cassie’s gentle insistence did he let Linette take his hand and lift him to the ground. He took one look at Eddie and buried his face in her skirts. She knew he would stay there until she pried him free.

      Cassie grabbed her small travel valise and paused in the open doorway. The look she gave Eddie blazed with anger.

      Please, God. Keep her from saying something that will give him a reason to put us on the stage again without any regard for where we’ll end.

      “He’s passable, I suppose.”

      Linette’s breath stuck halfway to her lungs. She stole a glance at Eddie. Surprise flashed in his eyes and then he grinned. He had a nice face when he smiled, but more than that, his smile made her feel he would be patient with Cassie, who often expressed her pain in meanness. Relief poured through Linette like a warming drink.

      “Thanks,” Eddie said.

      “Wasn’t meant as a compliment,” Cassie murmured.

      “I’ve been told worse.” He held his hand out to assist Cassie, but she pointedly ignored him and accepted help from their traveling companion.

      Linette’s attention was diverted as the driver handed down the two trunks she’d brought.