His Mountain Miss (Smoky Mountain Matches)

by Karen Kirst

  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. Grady had only a grip bag.

  Eddie whistled sharply, causing Grady to sob. Two men stepped from the building across the way.

  “Yeah, boss?” one called.

  “Boys, take these trunks to my house.”

  Linette watched the two cross the roadway in long, rolling strides. Their gait reminded her of the sailors on the ship. They had on Stetson hats, worn and rolled, unlike the new, uniformly shaped ones she’d studied back at the trading post in Fort Benton where she’d exchanged her fine English silks and bustles for frocks she considered more appropriate for living in the wilds—simple-cut dresses of calico or wool. She’d procured a dress for Cassie too but the woman refused to wear it. “I am who I am and I’m not about to pretend otherwise,” she’d said. Linette hadn’t pressed the point. Sooner or later the old garment Cassie wore would fall apart and then she’d be glad for what Linette offered.

  She glanced at her own dress. A little the worse for wear after crossing the prairie. She’d clean up once they got settled in case Eddie took note of her rumpled state.

  As they walked, the men jingled from the spurs on their boots. They yanked their hats off and squirmed inside their buffalo coats. “Ma’am.” They nodded to Linette and Cassie.

  “Miss Edwards, may I present two of my men, Slim—” he indicated the taller, thinner man. “And Roper.” The other man was heavier built. Solid. Younger. And he watched Cassie with guarded interest.

  Linette realized she hadn’t introduced her companion and did so. “Cassie Godfrey.” Then she indicated the boy half-buried in her skirts. “This is Grady Farris. He’s four years old.” He shivered enough to make her leg vibrate.

  The men nodded then jammed their hats back on and took the trunks into the house.

  Eddie spoke privately to the driver who then swung up to his seat and drove from the yard. Linette stared after the coach, knowing she now had no escape. She was at Eddie’s mercy. Her resolve hardened. Only so far as she chose to be. She’d be no man’s slave. Nor his chattel. Any arrangement between them would be based on mutual benefit. No emotions involved to turn her weak.

  The stagecoach no longer blocked her view and she saw, on the hill overlooking the ranch, a big two-story house, gleaming in its newness. It had the unfinished look of raw lumber and naked windows. They must be expecting neighbors. People who put more value in their abode than Eddie. When would these people finish the house and move in?

  “I suppose you would like to see your quarters.” Eddie indicated they should step toward the low dwelling.

  She turned from studying the house on the hill to closer inspection of the cabin. It looked even smaller than she expected. But she didn’t care. She’d escaped her father’s plans and the future beckoned.

  * * *

  Eddie resisted the urge to squeeze his neck. It was tight enough to withstand a hanging. He’d expected the mail would contain a message to meet Margaret. He’d planned to marry her at the fort before bringing her to his home. He’d thought of her every day as he worked on the new house. He’d counted the days until she joined him.

  Margaret was the ideal young lady for him. He remembered many a pleasant afternoon sharing her company in her family home in London before he’d left for the British Territories. He’d grown quite fond of her and she of him. Or so he thought. In time their affection would grow. He anticipated the day she would arrive and marry him. Margaret would grace the big house he would have completed by now except for the necessity of making sure the breeding stock he’d had shipped from Chicago was herded safely from Fort Benton to the nearby pens.

  Instead, a ragamuffin of a woman stood before him in a black woolen coat that practically swallowed her. As it flapped open he saw a crude dress much like those he’d seen worn by wives on hopeful dirt farms and the half-breed women in the forts. She looked ready to live in a tepee or log hut, which was likely a good thing because the latter was all he had to offer her.

  The cold wind reminded him he’d hurried outside without a coat. “We might as well go indoors.”

  How Linette managed to make her way to the house with the boy clinging to her side like a giant burr amazed him.

  She was an Edwards daughter if he believed what she said. He wasn’t prepared to believe anything about her at the moment. How had he ended up in such an awkward position? And with an Edwards woman! His father had had some business dealings with Mr. Edwards years ago and had expressed distaste for the other man. “A churlish man,” he’d said. “Thinks because he inherited money through his wife it makes him an aristocrat, but he lacks any sense of decorum or decency. I vow I will never have business dealings with him again and I intend to avoid any social contact.” Eddie couldn’t think the Edwards daughter would warrant any better opinion from his father.

  Slim and Roper hurried out and jogged back to work. Not, he noted, without a backward glance at the women. They’d be filled with curiosity for sure and spend the rest of the day speculating about this turn of events.

  Eddie had always done his best to live up to his father’s expectations. After all, he owed the man so much. Coming West and starting a ranch to add to the Gardiner holdings, establishing a home that would make his father proud provided him an opportunity to repay his father for giving him the Gardiner name. Randolph Gardiner had married Eddie’s mother when Eddie was an infant. If not for that, Eddie would have been an outcast bastard child and his mother would have lived in shame and disgrace.

  He held the door for the ladies and Linette stepped inside first. The sigh that whistled from her lips drove back the gall in his throat and made him grin. Had she been expecting something fancy? No doubt this crude cabin shocked her. It was only temporary and then would serve as quarters for a foreman. If the man was married and had a family, Eddie would add on to it but had not seen any need for that now. It had solid walls. It was warm and dry. It served as a place to put his feet up and have a cup of coffee and somewhere to ca
tch a comfortable night’s sleep. Not much else.

  The letter clutched in his fist crackled. Margaret had changed her mind. As if he didn’t measure up. His insides twisted in a familiar, unwelcome way.

  He studied the woman he was stuck with. Linette was almost plain. Her eyes too direct. Her lips too narrow and stubborn, almost challenging. Her hair was light in color. Neither brown nor blond and coiled in a braid about her face. Her eyes were so pale they didn’t deserve to be called brown. She was too small. Built like a struggling sapling out on the prairie. In fact, everything about her was wrong. Quite the opposite of Margaret. No way would she fit into his plans. His father’s instructions were clear. “Find suitable land and build a house. A replica of our home and life back here in England.” Eddie had been surprised his father had entrusted him with the task and vowed he would make his father proud.

  Linette Edwards could not be allowed to ruin his plans.

  But he couldn’t send her away with the weather threatening to turn nasty. He’d shelter her until it moderated...which likely meant for the winter. Then, under armed escort if necessary, he would see her returned to England or wherever she might have a mind to go...just so long as it wasn’t here.

  Trouble was, she wasn’t alone. Not that she should be. But the woman she’d brought along looked as if she’d been rescued from the gutter. Her clothes barely missed being called rags. Her untidy black hair and scowling face indicated she was not happy to be here. He snorted silently. At least they shared that. He wasn’t happy to have any of them here.

  Then there was the boy with a flash of blue eyes and a mat of blond hair sticking out from under his cap. He often thought of children to fill the rooms in the big house, but children bred with a woman like Margaret. Not waifs.

  Cassie hesitated at the doorway. The noise that escaped her mouth was full of anger and discontent. “I had more room back in Montreal.”

  Linette laughed softly—a merry sound full of pleasure. She didn’t seem the least bit distressed about the conditions.

  “You slept in the train station after your husband died and left you stranded in a strange city,” she said to Cassie. “Of course it was bigger. But it wasn’t home. This will be home.” The word was full of promise and warmth.

  He figured he better make sure she remembered it was temporary. “Until better weather.” Silently, he again acknowledged that might not be before spring and the thought made his neck muscles spasm. “Then you’re headed back to your father.”

  “There’s many a slip between the cup and the lip.”

  Her disregard of his warning made him chomp on his back teeth. It took an effort to release the tension so he could speak. “There’ll be no slips here.”

  Cassie edged forward into the room and stood with her arms crossed. He figured her eyes would be crossed, too, and full of displeasure. Good. If both women found the situation intolerable... But it was a long time until spring. A crowded house with two women dripping discontent would be miserable for everyone.

  What had he done to deserve this?

  Margaret’s letter said she didn’t think she could face the challenges of frontier life nor live in small quarters. He’d meant the big house to be a surprise. Now he saw keeping it a secret had been cause for her to think she’d be confined to some sort of settler’s shack. His mind kicked into salvage thoughts. Miss Edwards would see the house. She’d realize it was almost finished. She could report its fineness to Margaret. Margaret would change her mind. She’d be pleased to join him. Tension drained from him so quickly his limbs twitched.

  He realized the interior of the little house lacked warmth and closed the door behind him. He’d been about to leave the cabin and had let the fire die to embers. “I’ll get some heat in here.” Deftly, he added wood, and in minutes welcoming flames sprang to life. Now he’d have to plan on heating the house all day. He’d have to get more firewood chopped. These women and the boy were going to be a nuisance as well as a threat.

  “I didn’t realize how cold I’d grown,” Linette said, holding her hands toward the stove. “Is it usually this cold in October?”

  “Snow comes early this close to the mountains, though I hope it holds off for a time yet. The cows are still up in the higher pastures.”

  “And you would prefer to have them where? Down here?”

  “Yes. Down in the lower meadows where they’ll be able to get to the grass.”

  “You don’t feed them?”

  She sure was full of questions. “Do you know anything about ranching?”

  “A cousin raised cattle. He always kept them in barns and pens in the winter and fed them hay.”

  He chuckled. “Hard to build a barn big enough for a thousand head or more.” The way she widened her eyes in surprise gave him a moment’s victory then he wished he’d kept the fact to himself. If she was a gold digger he’d provided her with more to dig for. “I have some hay. Most ranchers don’t think it’s necessary, but one of the first men I talked to when I came out here was Kootenai Brown. He’s lived in the mountains for years and says only a buffalo can survive without hay. They dig through the grass like a horse. He told me if I want to succeed in this venture I should plan to have hay available.” Why was he telling her all this? Surely she didn’t care. But her pale brown eyes flashed with intelligent interest. Not the fake batting of eyelashes he’d seen from women who seemed to think any sign of intelligence would frighten off a man.

  “Kootenai Brown? Isn’t Kootenai the name of an Indian tribe?”

  He couldn’t hide his surprise. Didn’t even try. “How do you know that?”

  “I’ve read everything I could find about the Northwest.”

  He turned his attention to stoking the fire to conceal his reluctant admiration.

  Cassie groaned. “And she likes to talk about it all day long.” She moved marginally closer to the stove as if reluctant to allow herself any comfort her circumstances might provide.

  Linette laughed softly. “I didn’t realize I was boring you.”

  “You and that gentleman from the coach. Did he say he was going to another ranch?”

  “Yes. I believe he said he was an investor with the OK Ranch and intended to check on its operation.” She turned back to Eddie. “Would that be correct?”

  “Could be. Good thing if it’s true. The OK bunch has run into some trouble.”

  “What sort? Wild animals? Rustlers?” She practically quivered with excitement.

  He studied her more closely. Was she the sort to be bounding into trouble just because it sounded adventuresome? He did not need that sort of aggravation. He answered her question first. “They lost cows by driving them north too hard. The rest of the herd is weakened. If they don’t see them properly fed I fear they will lose the works.” He intended to make sure she wasn’t about to turn his life inside out and upside down and put his peace and security at risk—any more than she had already. “You don’t find trouble to be exciting, do you?”

  “If you think I’d be happy to hear of a herd of cows suffering—” Her eyes snapped with anger.

  “I was thinking you seem overly anxious to think there might be wild animals or rustlers. I warn you I won’t tolerate anyone deliberately putting themselves or others at risk simply for an exciting experience.”

  “What will you tolerate?” Linette demanded.

  They studied each other with wariness. And a startling sense of shared determination that shifted his opinion of this woman. Of course, they shared that. Only in different directions. He was determined to carry out his original plan to marry Margaret and establish a home he could be proud of. She meant to upset his plans. “While you are here, I expect you to conduct yourself wisely and in a ladylike fashion.”

  Her nostrils flared. “You mean play the lady of the manor.”

  Behind her,
Cassie snorted.

  She’d no doubt been raised as such. Why didn’t she offer to be so here? Not that it made any difference. He wasn’t about to toss Margaret aside over a misunderstanding. Softly, he asked, “What do you see your role as here?”

  She ducked her head so he was unable to see her expression. “I suppose I thought you meant to marry me.” She lifted her head and faced him with her eyes flashing courage and challenge. “I will make a good pioneer wife.”

  “I never got your letter or I could have warned you I’m not desperate for a wife. Besides, you can’t simply substitute one woman for another as if they are nothing more than horses.”

  “Why not? Are you madly in love with Margaret?”

  Love? There was no such thing as love in an arrangement like theirs. “We suited each other.”

  “She doesn’t seem to share your view of suitability.”

  He guessed she meant if she had, Margaret would be here instead of her. He pointed toward the window. “I mean to correct that. Did you see that house out there?”

  She nodded.

  “I built it for Margaret.”

  Linette’s eyes widened. “But she said...” She looked about at the tiny quarters and shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

  “I wanted it to be a surprise. I see now I should have informed her about the house. But you can write and tell her how special it is. Once she knows, she’ll reconsider and come.”

  She fixed him with a direct stare. “You really believe that’s all there is to her refusal to come?” Her gaze demanded honesty.

  His neck knotted and he squeezed the back of it. He thought Margaret wanted to share his life. He still believed it. Surely what he had to offer was acceptable to Margaret. She only objected to meager quarters and that would soon be a thing of the past. He looked about the small room. “I obviously don’t need help running this place. And I don’t need or want a pioneer wife. My wife will have a cook and housekeeper to help her run the big house.” He returned to confront her demanding look. “But with winter coming on—”