Aaron's Montana Bride (Sweet, Clean Western Historical Romance)(Montana Ranchers and Brides Series)

by Maya Stirling

  "Thank the Lord," Mrs. Bell shrieked. Aaron looked up at the housekeeper and saw the relief etched on the woman's face.

  Aaron sat Eva up and cradled her. Eva looked over at the house. "No! The house!" she cried and tried to stand.

  Aaron held her tight. "You stay here, Eva. There's nothing you can do. The men are doing their best to get it under control," he said.

  "But. Look at it. No!" Eva cried again, burying her head against Aaron's chest. Her eyes were wide with disbelief and after a moment the tears came.

  "You're safe, Eva," Mrs. Bell said. "That's all that matters right now. You leave the men to try to get that fire out."

  "But, how did it start?" Eva demanded, her voice a shrill moan.

  "I don't care," Mrs. Bell declared. "As long as no-one has been hurt."

  Eva went quiet for a few seconds, resting her head against Aaron's chest and staring at the flames. The men were dousing the area at the end of the house with buckets of water. They seemed to be making some headway for the moment. Aaron thought that the fire looked like it wasn't spreading as quickly as it had been when he'd arrived.

  Eva looked up at Aaron, her eyes red, her face tear streaked. He'd never seen her like this before. Neither had he held her this close before. As if realizing what Aaron was thinking about, Eva leaned her head back. "How did you get me out of there?" she asked softly.

  Aaron smiled and looked down at her pale, beautiful face. "Doesn't matter how. You're safe. That's all that's important now."

  Eva's body suddenly buckled and she started to cough once more. She shook with violent, distressing spasms. This time wasn't a hard as before, but it still took her a long while to settle down. Aaron looked up at Mrs. Bell and frowned. "We need to get Eva somewhere comfortable."

  Mrs. Bell looked over at the house, shaking her head. "There's the men's bunkhouse, I guess," she offered.

  Aaron shook his head. "No way. She won't have any privacy. Eva needs time to recover," he stated firmly. "I don't know how long it's going to take to get that fire under control."

  Eva's breathing was still labored. She closed her eyes again, tiredness taking hold of her. Once again she settled her head against Aaron's chest.

  "She can come to my place," he said eventually.

  Mrs. Bell's brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

  "Get one of the carriages and hitch up a horse. Eva's coming to my ranch. You can come too, Mrs. Bell."

  The housekeeper's eyes widened. Then she simply nodded and moved off quickly. Aaron saw her collar a couple of the ranch hands and drag them over toward the faraway stable.

  Aaron looked down at Eva. He was relieved to feel her breathing steady and even against him. He reached down and shifted the loose hairs away from her forehead. Eva opened her eyes, not fully, but enough so that Aaron could see the expression of acceptance and gratitude in them. And when Eva managed to smile at him, even though it was the barest and tiniest of smiles, it made something leap in the heart of Aaron Stewart.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Eva awoke with sunlight shining through a bedroom window. The soft light illuminated an unfamiliar space. It was a bedroom alright. Just not one of her own.

  Eva tried to sit up, but immediately a racking cough took hold of her. She lay back down on the bed, coughing and holding her chest. Eventually it subsided.

  She realized she was dressed in someone else's bedgown. She ran her fingers along the cotton fabric and delicate insets. She didn't recognize the gown, but it was comfortable and soft.

  Eva didn't recognize the room she was in, either. But within a moment, the recollections started bubbling back up into her mind.

  The fire!

  Eva tried to sit upright, but that only prompted another convulsive cough. Settling herself, she gazed around the bedroom. There was a neat dressing table with mirror, a porcelain wash jug and bowl, two chairs and a large wardrobe the doors of which were open, revealing some ladies attire hung up inside. The wooden floor was covered with an ornately patterned rug. All in all, it was a comfortable room.

  Eva tried to pull back the bedclothes, but to her complete amazement, she discovered she hadn't even the strength to tug them away to the side of the bed. Her arms utterly lacked the force or energy to do even that simple thing.

  Eva's head flopped back down onto the pillow. What had happened to her? Then she remembered. The smoke. Sinking down onto the bed. Her own bed in her own home. The terrifying sensation of everything slipping away. The certainty that her time was up and that there was nothing she could do to stop it. Then the feeling of arms seizing her; being clutched hard and close to someone else; still finding breath impossible; the sensation of movement, rough and uncompromising; then the ecstasy of air entering her lungs once more and the reassurance of being with someone.

  And then she really remembered. The soothing comfort of being held by Aaron.

  Eva tried to swallow and felt her throat was hard and raw. Every effort to swallow prompted a sharp, searing pain.

  So, where was she? The memory of Aaron's voice amidst the din of voices and the roar of fire.

  Eva suddenly knew she was in a bed in Aaron's ranch house. She drew the collar of her gown tight around her neck. How had she come to be undressed and dressed again if she was in his home? Then Eva recalled Aaron had his own housekeeper. Mrs. Lang. That would explain it. Mrs. Lang must have settled Eva into her room. She felt a rush of relief.

  Eva had hardly any memory of the journey from the Gillespie ranch to the Stewart ranch. She'd slept during most of the ride over to the ranch. With a surge of color to her face, she recalled being seated on the buggy, leaning against Aaron while he held the reins with one hand. Mingled with that memory were sensations of being held by his other arm, close and tight, as well as the distinctive combination of scents she'd noted before.

  Eva tried to clear her throat and winced at the harsh pain she felt.

  So, here she was. Spending time at the Stewart ranch presumably recovering from her ordeal. With a start she wondered what had happened with the fire. Had the house completely burned to the ground? The mere thought of that made her groan. Her heart sank just thinking about the sight of flames consuming her beloved ranch house. Had anyone else been hurt? How had it started? She needed to know answers to the questions that were tumbling about in her mind.

  Where was everyone? Didn't they know she was awake? What time was it? So many darned questions.

  Then she saw the tiny, bronze bell. It lay on the small table by the side of the bed. She reached over and shook the bell, the sound of it filling the room. After a few minutes the door opened. Eva's eyes widened when she saw Aaron lean his head around the door. She quickly pulled the bedsheets up around her neck.

  Aaron's face wore an expression of earnest enquiry. "Eva. You're awake, at last," he said with a smile. "How are you feeling?"

  Aaron held his place at the door, obviously hesitant about coming all the way into her bedroom.

  Eva nodded. "I guess I feel as good as could be expected. What happened with the fire?" Aaron leaned against the door. He was dressed in plaid shirt, jeans and boots. It looked like he was ready for a day's work on the ranch. But the speed with which he'd answered the call of the bell told her he hadn't been too far away.

  "The men got most of it under control pretty fast. But one side of the ranch house is pretty badly damaged. Most of the house is still intact. But there's smoke damage. Speaking of which. I heard you coughing," he said, his eyes filling with concern.

  Almost in response to what Aaron had said, Eva felt a tickling spasm in her chest. She struggled hard to contain it, but after a moment it burst out with a cough that seemed unnaturally loud in the confines of the small room.

  Aaron immediately abandoned all pretense at propriety and strode into the room, grabbing one of the chairs and settling down by the side of the bed. Eva felt her face redden, and not only with the efforts of the cough she struggled to get under control. Aaron went to the pitcher o
f water which was on the side table and poured out a glass, handing it to Eva. She took it from him, their fingers touching briefly.

  The water felt good, cooling the harshness of her throat. Aaron waited until she'd finished drinking before taking the glass from Eva.

  He placed the glass down and looked at her. "The doctor's coming up today to see you," he told her.

  "Doctor!" she exclaimed.

  "You took in a lot of smoke when you were in that room. Even though you weren't there very long," Aaron said.

  "I don't need a doctor," Eva said trying to sit up. Immediately the coughing resumed and she sank back, her eyes widening at him.

  "I'll be the judge of that," Aaron said emphatically.

  "You're not my keeper," she stated firmly. Eva could see that Aaron's gaze was firm and unflinching.

  "I never said I was. It's just that Mrs. Bell and I agree, you need the doctor to check you out. Make sure there's no lasting damage," he said.

  "Mrs. Bell's here?" she asked.

  "She came over with us. Her room is down the hall." Aaron smiled and Eva felt an immediate, subtle, but real change in how she felt. "We've got two housekeepers now. It's turning out to be quite a battle of wills. They've each got their own ideas of how to run a ranch house," he said with a smile.

  "I'll bet. There's only going to be one winner," Eva said.

  "We'll see," Aaron answered.

  "How long have I been sleeping?"

  "About twelve hours. It's nearly lunchtime," Aaron said.

  Eva suddenly felt a surge of anxiety. "I can't stay here long, Aaron. You know that. Don't you," she said firmly.

  Aaron's eyes narrowed and he seemed to search Eva's, judging and evaluating her statement. Then, after a moment he answered her in a decisive but gentle tone of voice. "You're going nowhere, Eva Gillespie. You are going to remain at my ranch until you are fully recovered. There's no way you're going back to that smoke damaged mess, until it's fit for you to live in," he declared, laying a hand on the side of the bed.

  Eva's mouth opened and hung slack and loose for a moment. Had he just ordered her to do something?

  "What do you mean? I can't go back to my own home?"

  "Not until it's safe," Aaron said.

  "What do you mean, safe?"

  "Exactly what I say. We don't know how that fire started. Or who started it," Aaron said. His brows furrowed and his jaw set tight.

  "You think it was started deliberately?" Eva asked.

  Aaron shook his head. "I don't know for sure. All I know is that there was no sign of Jude last night," he said.

  "What do you mean? That Jude set that fire going? That's ridiculous," she said.

  Aaron sighed. "Maybe so. But I'm not taking any chances with you. Not after what you asked me," he said.

  Eva tried to contain her reaction to those words. Of course. That was why Aaron had come back to the Gillespie ranch just at the time of the fire. He'd returned to give her an answer.

  But, what answer?

  She had no idea how she should open up that line of conversation. Was he going to give her an answer right her, right now. It seemed somehow inappropriate, with Eva flat on her back and trying to recover from almost dying in a fire. Had he come back to her last night to tell her that he accepted her offer? Or had he come back to reject it? Eva could only gauge that by the way Aaron had treated her; the urgency he'd shown after bringing her out of the smoke filled house; the tenderness he'd shown her. But she knew she could still be wrong.

  "Aaron. Can I ask you something?" she said.

  Aaron's eyes fixed on her. The blue shimmer of his gaze made her heart flutter. She hesitated.

  Suddenly she heard footsteps in the hall and Mrs. Bell came bounding into the room, her eyes eagerly scrutinizing Eva.

  "You're awake!" the housekeeper ejaculated.

  Aaron looked up and smiled. "She certainly is, Mrs. Bell."

  "What did I tell you. Eva has the spirit of a bronco," Mrs. Bell declared. "There's nothing that will keep her down."

  Eva extended a hand out and Mrs. Bell came to the side of the bed and took Eva's hand in her own. "Eva, my dear. How are you feeling?"

  Eva forced a smile. "I'm better Mrs. Bell. The sleep has done me good."

  Mrs. Bell flashed a look across the bed. "And what has Mr. Stewart been telling you?"

  "That the house is still mostly intact and that no-one was harmed."

  "Those ranch hands earned their dinner last night. Even if it was only beans and cold grub steak," Mrs Bell said.

  Eva saw Aaron smile.

  "You need to rest a while, Eva. You may think you're recovered but I can tell you, there's a way to go before you'll be moving back to the Gillespie spread," Mrs. Bell said.

  "But what about the ranch hands. What are they going to do without me?"

  Aaron spoke: "They'll do what they're paid to do. Look after your ranch."

  "But I need to be there to supervise, make sure everything's done right," Eva insisted.

  Mrs. Bell laid a firm hand on Eva's arm. "You are going nowhere. Aaron here has kindly made his home available to us. His hospitality has been more than generous. Even if his own housekeeper takes a bit of persuading about how to run things around here," Mrs. Bell said with a shrug of her shoulders.

  Eva smiled. "But I can't possibly impose on Aaron," Eva said looking at him and seeing no sign of compromise. "What'll people think about a woman living in his house?"

  "They'll think what they like," Mrs. Bell said firmly. "It's none of their business, anyway. Besides you have me here, my dear. That'll keep everything looking respectable and above board. Isn't that right Aaron?" Mrs. Bell said glancing across at him.

  "I guess so," he admitted with a wry grin.

  Eva looked at both of them and had the distinct impression that this wasn't the first time they had both discussed Eva's unexpected stay at the Stewart ranch.

  "Now. Let me bring you up some of the soup I've made. You need to build up your strength, my dear. And there's nothing better than soup for doing that," Mrs. Bell said.

  Aaron stood. "I better be going," he said. Eva felt something shift inside her as she looked up at him. Aaron looked at Mrs. Bell. "You let me know immediately the doctor arrives," he told her.

  Mrs. Bell nodded. "Don't you worry. You'll be the first to know. Just like you asked," she said to Aaron.

  Eva began to wonder what kind of conversation had been taking place downstairs. And, as she watched Aaron move languidly away, she asked herself just how long it would take before she got the answer to the only question that really mattered to her.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Aaron sat in the kitchen of the Stewart ranch and waited for the doctor to finish attending to Eva upstairs in her room.

  Mrs. Bell and Mrs. Lang were having an animated conversation about the right way to make chicken soup. It seemed there were indeed different recipes. Depending on what was used, the soup would either help Eva get better or would simply satisfy a hunger without providing any healing properties. One thing was for sure, life was going to be mighty interesting while the two housekeepers were living under the same roof.

  Aaron decided to leave them to it and took his cup of coffee and made his way outside to the porch. He sat down on the long seat and took a sip of the tepid liquid. The doctor seemed to be taking an inordinately long time with Eva. Aaron hoped there was nothing wrong. Thinking about the previous night, Aaron was sure he couldn't have acted any faster, nor any more decisively than he'd done. Even while reassuring himself that he'd done the right thing, Aaron shivered when he thought that Eva could have perished in that smoky room.

  All day he hadn't been able to fix his attention on the affairs of the ranch. Not while Eva was trying to recover, not while he still hadn't told her what he'd decided. Aaron wondered, not for the first time in the last few hours, whether his decision still stood. He took a deep breath and sighed.

  Of course it did. There was no way he was going to
change his mind. The thoughts that had plagued him since racing through the burning house had made him realize just how much was at stake. He'd tried to force those thoughts of what could have happened to Eva out of his mind, but they were persistent and disturbing. He kept on remembering how soft and almost lifeless her body had felt as he'd lifted her up off the bed. The memory sent a chill up his spine.

  And how had it come to this? So fast and with so much intensity. Only a day before the idea of marrying Eva Gillespie might have seemed not only unlikely, but entirely ludicrous.

  But not now.

  Aaron hadn't known just how much he'd been nurturing a hidden attraction to Eva. Of course, they'd locked horns in the past; they'd faced each other down over ranch business. But that was what it had only been. Business.

  Now, everything felt so different. So surprising. So very personal.

  Aaron drank some more coffee and took a deep breath.

  It had taken a near tragedy, as well as Eva's circumstances taking a turn for the worse, to focus Aaron's mind. To bring those unacknowledged feelings to the surface. He guessed it was inevitable, to some extent. Eva and Aaron had known each other, had almost grown up side by side, protected from each other by the twin forces of ranch life and her father's possessive nature. Her father had been one of the main reasons Aaron had never shown Eva even the slightest hint of how he'd felt about her. Gabriel Gillespie had always made it clear that his daughter was as off limits as the boundaries of his ranch. And, he'd gone to great lengths to protect Eva from mixing business with any hope of something more personal.

  It looked to Aaron like Gabriel had gotten exactly what he wanted. Even going so far as to choose that lowdown Jude Arabin as a suitable husband for Eva.

  Aaron still couldn't believe that Gabriel would stoop so low. It didn't seem right. Everyone knew what Jude was like; what he was capable of. Surely Gabriel couldn't have been blind to the danger he was placing Eva in. Gabriel had always struck Aaron as a sensible, perceptive man. Someone able to see the true qualities of a man. That was why it just didn't make sense.