RNWMP: Bride for Preston (Mail Order Mounties Book 6)

by Kay P. Dawson

  Spinning around quickly, she held her head up high and ignored the looks on the faces around her. She noticed Laurel, and the older woman who'd tried to tell her Preston loved her. They'd all witnessed the humiliation she'd endured on the street, having to find out her husband had been in love with this woman before she'd arrived, and had actually wanted to marry her instead. He'd only married her because he felt obligated to once she'd shown up.

  She could hear the woman telling Wesley to get his hands off her as he dragged her back toward the station. As she walked away, Lisa caught up to her somehow, even though Maryanne knew it had to have been difficult with her leg bothering her earlier. Her friend put her arm through hers and walked beside her, staring down anyone who happened to be looking their way with pity in their eyes.

  Choking back the tears that were threatening, Maryanne took the strength from her friend and let her walk her home. She needed time to think, and to figure out what she was going to do.

  Now she knew how it felt to have her heart broken, and she could understand why Preston hadn't been excited to marry. If this was how he'd felt when that woman had hurt him, he wouldn't have wanted to risk having it happen again.

  Because right now, Maryanne knew she would never let her heart care like this ever again. The pain was too much when it was broken.

  Chapter 16

  He was cold, tired, and hungry. Not to mention the fact he still wasn't sure he'd done the right thing. But it did make Preston feel good to know that his grandfather hadn't been successful in keeping his money away from his daughter. Preston was going to make sure that his mother received everything she'd been entitled to. It wouldn't make up for the years of heartache knowing her father didn't approve of her marriage, but at least it would be something.

  All he'd been able to think about during the days he'd been gone was getting back home to Maryanne. He couldn't wait to hold her in his arms, and he vowed he was going to make sure she knew how he felt about her. His eyes scanned the village as he rode in, hoping to catch a glimpse of her familiar figure moving along the street.

  He headed toward the stable, wanting to get his horse settled in after the long ride. The sound of his horse's hooves crunching through the snow that had already been packed by the people milling around the streets seemed loud as he passed by the villagers. When he waved his hand to them, it seemed like most of them were uncomfortable and just stared back at him without offering a greeting.

  What was going on? He'd thought over the past few weeks he'd started to earn the trust of the Indian tribes who lived in Moose Lick. He knew they loved Maryanne, and he'd hoped they would accept him as the law around here as they'd done with Wesley.

  But the way they looked at him now, left him feeling like he'd grown two heads.

  Spotting Wesley coming out the station’s door, he hopped off his horse to walk over to him. Just as his feet hit the ground, he heard his name being called.

  The voice sounded vaguely familiar, and with a sinking feeling, he slowly turned to see if it was who he thought it was.

  "Preston, oh thank goodness you're back! I've been treated so poorly by everyone since I've arrived here." She stopped and flung her hand in Wesley's direction as he walked over to them. "This horrible man has forced me to stay in some rundown old room that looks like the bedding has never seen a clothesline. And the man who runs the store has been awful, and doesn't seem to care about making the room more livable for me."

  Everything around him seemed to slow to a crawl as Lizzy spoke. What was she doing here? Slowly, he turned his head and could see the disappointment on the faces of the villagers watching the exchange. Somehow, they knew who this woman was and his stomach clenched as he realized something must have happened to make them feel that way.

  Lizzy threw her arms around his shoulders as she cried about how happy she was to see him, sure he would make things right.

  He needed to pull himself together and stop this. His eyes met Wesley's over the top of Lizzy's head and he could see the anger the man was fighting to control.

  Pushing her away, he set her in front of him. "Lizzy, what are you doing here?"

  She dabbed her eyes with her hanky and hugged her arms around herself. "I came here to tell you how sorry I was for everything that happened. And to tell you I was ready to be married. But when I got here, I found out that in your heartbreak, you'd already gone ahead and married some stranger. I'm sure it's not too late to get yourself out of that."

  She moved toward him again, but this time he was ready. Backing up, he shook his head. "No, I don't want to get myself out of anything. What about the fact that I still have Indian blood? Remember? That was the reason you didn't want to marry me in the first place. I was pretty sure that meant we were done. Or, did you somehow find out who my grandfather was? And that he'd recently died and left me all of his money?"

  Lizzy tried to put the pout on her face that she'd always used when she wanted to make someone feel sorry for her. "I only said those things because I was angry. I never meant them. I don't care about your Indian blood. Especially since it's obvious you aren't living like them. You've hidden it from everyone for so long, it’s like you’re white anyway."

  His blood, Indian and white, started to boil. Partly with anger at her, but just as much at himself. She was right. He had tried to hide it for so long, and he shouldn't have to. He was proud of his father's blood, and as Maryanne had pointed out, it was part of what made him who he was.

  "I'm not white, Lizzy. I'm part white, but I'm just as much Tutchone Indian, and I'm proud of that fact. And right now, I live among the Kaska Indians, and have no intentions of moving anywhere else to live. This is who I am, and nothing and no one will change that."

  He noticed some of the villagers looking at each other and nodding. He didn't know if they already knew about his Indian blood or not, but they knew now.

  As he watched Lizzy, she tried to hide the ugliness from her eyes. How could he have ever thought she was beautiful? The only beauty she had was on the outside. He'd never been able to see past that to see what she had on the inside. As long as he'd been white, he was good enough for her. And of course, now that she thought he was rich as well.

  Crossing his arms in front of him, he shook his head. "I'm so glad you let me see who you really are. I'd never have been able to be who I am if I'd married you. The fact that you're only here at this moment is because you think I'm now a wealthy man shows me exactly the kind of person you are."

  She scowled, bringing her eyes together as she clenched her hands tightly in fists at her side. "So, you're telling me you’re happy being married to that mousy woman?"

  As she spoke, he realized with dread that Maryanne must have already met Lizzy.

  "Maryanne is truly the best thing that has ever happened to me. So yes, I'm very happy being married to her."

  Lizzy laughed coldly. "I hope you spend the rest of your miserable days remembering the beautiful woman you could have had. You’ll be stuck in your shack up here in the middle of nowhere with a woman who quite obviously could never hold a candle to a woman like me."

  Shaking his head at her, he smiled. "I think you're mistaken. The only woman who couldn't compare is you. Maryanne is more beautiful than you could ever hope to be. And I will be more than happy spending my days in my shack with her. I'll be sending a thank-you to the heavens every single day that I avoided being stuck for eternity with a woman like you."

  Lizzy huffed, then turned to storm away. As she did, Wesley shouted after her, "I'll be here tomorrow to make sure you get on the next train out of here."

  Preston turned to hand the reins of his horse to Wesley. "I need to get home and talk to Maryanne."

  Wesley nodded somberly. "Yes, you do. But before you do, I think I better tell you what happened here this morning. I'm afraid Lizzy got to Maryanne before I could stop her."

  Preston listened as Wesley filled him in on everything. Cursing loudly, he turned to run to his cabin.r />
  He just hoped he wasn't too late.

  Chapter 17

  As soon as he threw the door open, he knew something was wrong. The cabin wasn't big enough to hide in, but he went in to look anyway, hoping he just hadn't seen her on first glance. But she was nowhere in sight. And he knew she wasn't at Lisa's because as he'd run past her cabin, she'd thrown the door open and told him he better make things right with her friend or he'd have to answer to her.

  Where could she go? She knew a few of the Indian women quite well, so maybe they would know. Just as he turned to leave, something moving on the floor by the bed caught his eyes. Squinting, he moved closer, seeing a rabbit chewing on a piece of paper. He had remnants of carrot leaves sitting around him, and Preston realized that Maryanne must have been feeding and keeping the rabbit in the cabin while he was gone.

  Reaching down, he lifted the paper the rabbit was chewing on, knowing before he even turned it over what he was going to see. His heart sunk to his toes as he saw one of the drawings of Lizzy looking back at him.

  Maryanne had found the drawings.

  Why hadn't he just burned them long ago like he'd planned to do? Now as he looked at them, he realized he was even better at drawing than he'd even imagined, because somehow he'd managed to make a woman like Lizzy look beautiful. After hearing what she'd said to Maryanne today, Preston sunk to the ground and buried his head in his hands. Obviously, she'd found these drawings too and believed every word that horrible woman had said to her.

  How was he ever going to make things right? He realized the heartbreak he'd thought he felt when he lost Lizzy was nothing compared to the pain he was feeling in his chest right now.

  Suddenly, he heard a sound at the door that was still open. Lifting his head, Laurel and one of the elder Indian women stood there. Behind them, was just about every person from the village. Laurel walked in and looked at him.

  "Are you going to sit there or go find her?"

  He looked back at the people by the doorway. They were all dressed and ready to search. Somehow, they'd known Maryanne had gone. With the snow starting to fall once more, and the wind picking up, they all knew they had to get her home before night fell.

  "I'm going to find her."

  Leaning back against the shelter of the tree, she hugged her arms in close to keep the warmth inside her jacket. She had no doubt that if she'd still been wearing her flimsy sweater, she'd have frozen solid by now. The snow had been falling when she left for her walk earlier, but the wind hadn't picked up until she'd already gotten quite far from home.

  She hadn't thought things through, and now she was paying for it. The wind had erased all footprints and she was unsure of exactly where she was.

  She knew she'd been foolish, but she'd just been so upset, she needed to get out and clear her head. That's what she'd always done when she was a child. It seemed like running away to sort her problems out alone was the easiest way for her to get her thoughts organized.

  Except up here, she didn't know where she was going. She thought she'd only go a short distance, on the paths she'd been on with the people from the village. But somehow, she'd taken a wrong turn, and now she was sitting in the cold as darkness began to fall around her.

  Suddenly, the howling of a wolf cut through the quiet of the descending night. It sounded close. Her heart racing, she stood up and looked around for any kind of shelter. She couldn't just sit here and let the wolves eat her without a fight. After all, it wasn't just her she needed to think about now.

  Hearing the cries of the wolf getting even closer, she was sure she could hear the sound of padded feet walking across the snow-covered ground. Whipping her head back and forth, desperately looking for somewhere to hide, she spotted a tree with branches low enough for her to swing up off the ground.

  Running over, she grabbed the lowest branch and tried to swing her leg up. Her skirts made it difficult, weighing her down as she moved. Trying again, she was able to get one leg over so she pushed herself to get the other one up too. Once she was on the branch, she reached for the next one up, then stood to climb. Just as she was about to put her foot up, the branch below her broke with a snap that echoed among the walls of the forest surrounding her. She fell hard, twisting as she came down. She knew instantly from the heat trickling down her skin that she was bleeding.

  Now the animals would be able to smell her blood and would be moving in faster. How was she going to get away?

  Her heart stopped as the first wolf walked out from behind a tree, across from where she sat sprawled on the ground. She turned her head slightly as movement caught her eye, showing another wolf coming from the other side. Sobbing, she grabbed at the branch that had broken, hoping she could at least try to fight them off.

  The animals just seemed to stand there, watching and waiting for the right time to pounce. She yelled for them to go, hoping she could scare them away.

  Suddenly, a low growling sound could be heard from just behind her. She'd never heard a sound like it before, so she slowly turned her eyes to the sound, afraid of what was coming up from behind her.

  Clara? Maryanne knew she'd been set free after she was better, but she never thought she'd ever see her again. She was still so small compared to these wolves, yet she was standing there growling and facing them, ready to pounce. "No, Clara, you'll get yourself killed."

  Just as she whispered the words, though, a much larger cougar stepped out from the trees. It must have been the mother. And she was standing beside Clara, ready to pounce if one of the wolves made any movement. Maryanne didn't know what to do. She knew cougars were just as dangerous as wolves, and as she sat in the middle of the snarling animals staring each other down, she knew there was no way she was getting out of here alive if she didn't do something quick.

  With tears pouring down her cheeks, she softly whispered to her unborn baby, saying how sorry she was for being so foolish and running off into the woods on her own.

  But she had to try. Standing slowly, she started to back away, hoping the animals would forget she was even here. One of the wolves spotted her, though, and started to move toward her. Just when she was sure it was going to lunge at her, the mother cougar came and stood in front of her, the fur on her back standing up as she growled at the wolf she was facing.

  Clara came and stood on the other side, growling at the other wolf. The sounds they were making terrified Maryanne, but she was even more afraid to move.

  Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the wolves backed away, then turned and ran. Clara and her mother stood growling, making sure they were gone, before turning to face her. Maryanne couldn't breathe as she waited to see what they would do. Clara came over closer, and sniffed at her hand, briefly letting her touch her soft fur before going back to her mother.

  In shock, Maryanne watched as the mother cougar simply looked at her, then seemed to nod her head and turn to walk away, with Clara right behind her.

  Surely Clara wouldn't have remembered her. And how would the mother cougar have known she'd helped save her baby?

  Yet, somehow, Maryanne knew the wild cat had known and had returned the favor by saving her life.

  Sinking to the ground, Maryanne let the sobs escape from her throat. She'd never been so scared in her life. She knew that she'd been lucky this time, but she had to get home. She couldn't survive out here on her own. She was so cold, all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and sleep.

  Maybe if she just rested her eyes for a moment, she'd be able to think about what to do.

  Chapter 18

  He'd heard the sounds of wild animals fighting, and his heart jumped from his chest. He prayed Maryanne wasn't anywhere close to that as he rode his horse through the thick woods as fast as he could. As he came closer, wolves raced in the other direction.

  What if he was too late?

  He couldn't bear to think about what would happen, so he kept riding, determined he would find her. Thankfully, the moon was almost full, giving off enough lig
ht in the darkness around them that he could at least see where he was going. His horse moved steadily through the forest, following the sounds they'd heard earlier.

  Suddenly, his horse stopped and reared up slightly. Something had spooked it, and as Preston fought to bring it back under control, his eyes spotted two cougars watching him. Pulling his gun from his holster, he was ready for them if they decided to pounce. But after looking at him for a moment, they turned and raced off into the darkness.

  He needed to find Maryanne. Yelling as loud as he could, he fought against the panic he was starting to feel.

  Coming through the brush into a small clearing, he spotted a figure lying on the ground. Leaping from the back of his horse, he raced over, saying her name. She wasn't answering him, and as he got closer, he noted the stick she held tightly in her hand. He lifted her head and he saw the tear stained cheeks, and the blood that was trickling from a gash up by her eye.

  His heart ached as he cradled her in his arms. He noticed the tracks of animals all around her that hadn't been covered by the snow yet. She had to have been so scared.

  This was all his fault. Looking down into the face of the woman he loved more than anything in the world, he tenderly brushed the hair back from her eyes. "I promise you, Maryanne. If you just hold on, I will make it all up to you. Please, don't leave me."

  Lifting her in his arms, he gently set her on his horse and climbed up behind her. He pulled her in close, determined to give some of his warmth to her.

  This woman had become his world, and he wasn't ever going to let her go.

  Her eyes opened slowly, fighting against the soft glow of the fire that flickered in the fireplace. The only other light in the room was the lantern that was turned down low, sitting on the table across from her.