Axel hefted the chest over the side into the back and cleared his throat. “Eliza, it means a lot to me that you were willing to come all the way out here, thousands of miles from home, to marry a man you’ve never met, but before we go any further, there is something you need to know.” His tone suggested apology. But what would he have to apologize for unless he planned to send her back? All that way?
“What would that be?”
He scratched the chopped curls at the nape of his neck. “Honesty and keeping one’s word is bedrock to me, and I won’t let this marriage be built upon lies.”
Elizabeth felt the blood rush from her head. She should have known he’d see past her charade.
“I didn’t write you those letters.”
“What? Pardon me?” The muscles in her jaw slackened from both relief and surprise. “Then who—”
“My father.”
“Your—”
“He thought I needed some prodding because I’ve never made much effort courting. None really. The ranch is important to me. I actually grew up in New York too, but it was never the life for me. So I convinced my Pa we should come west. I’ve spent over five years working for others, learning the ropes, and the last three years have been sunk into making a go of this ranch.” He gave a chuckle and a shake of his head. “What I mean to say is, I haven’t had the time for finding myself a wife, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want one. I’ve read your letters, and Pa probably did a well enough job portraying me in the ones he wrote. We’re more alike than I often care to admit, but there it is. I’ll keep his word and marry you, if that’s what you still want.”
The thought that she had been writing Lars Forsberg and not Axel the past few months seared her chest. At least Axel was the less guilty of the two. And now he stood here asking her what she wanted. She had answers enough. To not marry him. To have her parents alive. To go home to the life she’d enjoyed as a child.
But there was no going back.
Axel ducked his head and rubbed a knuckle against his temple as a smile tugged at his mouth. “Truth is, Eliza, I wasn’t so sure about this whole arrangement, but after seeing you, I think I might be coming around. And not just because you’re as pretty as you are. When I saw you climbing down from that stage, it occurred to me the kind of courage it must have taken for a woman like you to travel all this way on your own. And I respect that. I don’t think marrying you is a decision I’m going to regret.”
Elizabeth’s face warmed. Not from his praise, but from the fact that making him regret this marriage was foremost on her mind.
“Do you need time to think about it?”
“No.” She squared her shoulders, the verse in the Bible about not looking back after setting a hand to the plow coming to mind. Strange. She hadn’t read the book since Mama’s death. “I agreed to marry you, and I shall.”
***
Axel couldn’t help but raise a brow to Eliza Danton’s confident answer, because he’d honestly expected the dark-haired beauty to breathe a sigh of relief and hurry back to the stagecoach. He couldn’t miss the rigidness of her spine, or the narrowing of her gaze when she’d first looked across the street at him. Was he not what she expected? Or was she simply exhausted from her journey and wished to have this ordeal over with.
Ordeal. For some reason that wasn’t a word he’d associated with his own wedding. But understandably the woman—Eliza—just wanted a nice comfortable place to rest and recover from thousands of miles of track and trail. The strangest thing was the calm he’d felt upon finally seeing her. And not just because she was pretty. Nope. There was something about her, a familiarity. He could only assume it was the good Lord’s way of letting him know Eliza was right for him.
Axel reached past her to grab his hat from the seat. He shoved it onto his head. “Then we’d best hurry.”
“Hurry?”
He waved his hand to the stagecoach. “We don’t have our own preacher here, but Pastor Hartley has been in town for the past two weeks and leaves on today’s stage. In another half hour the horses will be changed and Sam, the driver, will have had his dinner and be ready to go on to Prescott.”
Eliza’s cheeks lost an ounce of their color, and her hand pressed to her stomach as she glanced from the stage to the wagon and then to him. She raised her pretty chin. “If we must.” Her tone carried a barb, and her dark eyes turned hard. Perhaps he’d spoken too fast about no regrets.
“Whether the preacher was leaving today or not, wouldn’t have made much difference. As you can see, there isn’t anywhere suitable for a single woman to stay here in town, and it wouldn’t be proper for you to come out to the ranch unchaperoned.”
Her shoulders slumped. “Of course.”
Axel took two steps toward the station where the pastor waited, and then turned back. She hadn’t moved. Was the reality of this situation so much worse than she had imagined? Or was it the realization that she was marrying a complete stranger? He had just admitted to not writing those letters.
“Is there anything you would like to know about me before we proceed?”
She met his gaze but said nothing.
“I’m not given to drink or losing my temper, though I admit to having one. I’ll work hard to make sure you never want for anything, and I put my faith in the Good Lord.” His smile came easier as he thought of the words in her letters of devotion to God and her love of the Bible. “I’m glad we’ll have that to share.”
Axel extended his arm, and she took it. Nothing else was said as he led her across the street and into the station office where the pastor sat with his luggage. The older man stood as they approached, and straightened his black suit.
“Good, good, she did make it in time. I’m so glad, but with how fast Sam is shoveling food into his mouth,” he motioned to where the driver sat with a plate of beans at a small table on the opposite side of the room, “I suggest we hurry.” The pastor gave a wink and stepped around his suitcase.
Axel removed his hat. He wasn’t sure it was necessary, but it seemed the thing to do. He tapped the brim against his leg as the pastor quoted a short verse from Genesis about leaving parents and cleaving to one’s wife, and then began with the vows. Axel gave a ready yes. He’d already promised as much. Eliza answered as quick.
“Before God and this witness,” the pastor again waved to Sam, who nodded, “I declare you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride, Mr. Forsberg.”
Axel looked to Eliza, who stood resolute, not an expression on her face and not looking at anything in particular. As much as her full lips beckoned, it wouldn’t be right to take advantage of their marriage until she was ready and willing.
***
Elizabeth pressed her eyes closed as the warmth of Axel’s mouth brushed her cheek, his nearness smothering. He squeezed her shoulder as he drew away, and then turned to the parson to thank him. A few minutes later, he led her back to the wagon and helped her up onto the seat.
It was done. She was now his wife. As a young girl, she may have dreamed of such, but now it was nothing more than the price of her retribution.
Chapter 3
“Bumble Bee seems rather sparse.” One of the wheels dropped over a rut, and Elizabeth gripped the edge of the wagon seat to keep from being thrown. Even the stagecoach had been smoother than this.
“Yep.” Axel seemed unaffected by the rough terrain as they traveled higher into the mountains. “You have to ride down to Phoenix, or on to Prescott, if you want anything but the basics. I often just order what I need and they bring it on the stage, or with freight wagons.”
“But what about everything else?” She tried to keep her voice casual. “Like a bank?”
“Do you need one?”
“Me? No…I… Not right now, anyways. I just wondered.”
“We haven’t needed to bother with one yet. Paid cash money for everything.”
Of course they had. Elizabeth tipped her head away so he wouldn’t be able to read her thoughts. “You sa
id you grew up in New York, as well.”
She glanced over to see his nod.
“May I ask why you left?” The second question Elizabeth had been rehearsing in her mind the past couple of hours while lurching with the wagon along the side of a mountain. Father had never given all the details of Lars Forsberg’s betrayal, or how he’d destroyed the business they had built together and stolen their profits.
Axel looked at her and smiled. After her initial silence, he was probably relieved that she still had a voice. “I’d always been a little restless, but after my mother passed, I didn’t feel anything really held me in the city, or in the East, for that matter. When I told my father I wanted to go west, he decided he could use the change—Mama dying was difficult for him.”
Elizabeth shifted on the hard bench, ready for the last leg of her journey to be over. Especially now that she could place more of the blame on Axel. He’d encouraged his father to break with hers. For all she knew, it had also been his idea to cheat her father. “You—I mean, your father—wrote that you have cattle and quite a few horses. It must have taken a lot of hard work and a significant investment to build a ranch up here?”
“It wasn’t easy or cheap.” He snapped the reins over the horses’ backs to encourage them across a shallow, but rocky stream. A glistening spray from the wheels drew her attention, and she tried to pull the hem of her skirt farther out of the way—the pale fabric not at all suited to this wilderness. She had to give up the attempt as it was all she could do to remain seated. Axel’s arm stole around her waist, steadying her. Elizabeth fought the urge to swat him away, which would do nothing for her plight to stay on board.
She waited until the trail smoothed a little, and he withdrew his arm, before putting forth her next question. “Did you earn enough working as a ranch hand those five years you mentioned, or did you come west with what you needed?”
“The wages I earned were almost enough for the cattle and supplies we needed, so we were able to put some of what we brought with us away for hard years. It pays to be prepared.”
Which meant most of her family’s wealth was probably intact, and since they’d had no use for banks, the money was likely hidden out at the ranch somewhere. She would find it. “How much farther?”
“Not long now.” Axel nodded to the meadow on the right. “All this is Forsberg land east of this trail.”
“And west?” The grass was just as green on that side.
“Harvey Cooper owns that. If you take the trail that broke off just before the stream, it’ll lead you up to their place. They’re our closest neighbors, and we try to keep things peaceful as that water feeds most of our ranch and it flows through their land first.”
Elizabeth settled into the seat, only to wince as her tailbone met the unforgiving surface. She’d probably bruised it crossing the stream. Thankfully a cabin appeared not far ahead, flanked with a barn and corrals.
“Here we are. This valley was nothing but wild grass and evergreens a few years ago. Now it’s home.” Axel looked at her, his blue eyes almost as bright as the clear sky overhead, but with the haze of smoke toward the centers, like the wisp rising from the cabin’s stone chimney. “I hope you come to love it here as much as I do.”
Elizabeth returned his smile. She’d play the part until she found that money. As the wagon eased to a stop just outside the cabin, she breathed a sigh and slid to the edge of the seat. The air caught in her throat as the front door swung open and Lars Forsberg bounded out, taking the two small steps in one swift stride.
Axel was on his way around the wagon to help her down, but Lars beat him. “Welcome, welcome!”
Elizabeth lost control of her muscles for a moment—her thoughts too. This was the man who had destroyed her life. Thank goodness he had no idea who she was or the devastation she planned to leave behind. She was still stationary when his hands found her waist and lifted her down. His blue eyes, so much like Axel’s, looked all too pleased as he stood her on her feet.
“Eliza, I can’t say how happy I am that you’re here. Come inside. Axel will bring your luggage.”
“Pa…” Axel hurried to his father’s side, but his gaze found Elizabeth’s and lingered. He slowed. “I’ll come back for your things.” His eyes grew thoughtful. “My mother would be disappointed in me if I didn’t start this marriage properly.”
Before Elizabeth could guess what he meant, Axel swept her into his arms. A yelp escaped her as she grabbed for his neck. Mostly it was a reflex to steady herself, but the urge to strangle him also came to mind...but was quickly dismissed if only for the fact he would drop her if she did.
Once past the threshold, Axel released her to the floor, the hint of a smile making him appear all too roguish. She turned away and smoothed her skirts. The large room held a table, chairs, and a monster cast-iron stove. She couldn’t fathom how they’d gotten it through the mountains, never mind into the cabin. Unless they had built their home around it. Warmth radiated from the stove, filling the room with the aroma of seared beef. Her stomach pinched. She hadn’t considered eating anything tonight, but suddenly hunger gnawed.
Lars hurried past her, plucking the lid from the frying pan so the heavenly smell flooded her and made her mouth water. He flipped the thick slabs of sizzling meat. “Let me get these on the table for you. They’re about done. Go sit yourself down and rest.”
Elizabeth was incapable of declining. She sank into the nearest chair, not much more on her mind than food as he forked three large steaks onto a plate. From the oven he pulled a handful of potatoes with their skins still on. Axel laid out forks and knives, and a jar of butter. Then fixed her a plate.
“Both Pa and I quite enjoy cooking, so hopefully, it won’t take too long to put something on those bones of yours.”
Elizabeth’s face heated, but she did her best not to react. He was right. She was much too skinny, and often ailed from not eating enough. That would change once she found her family’s money.
She took up the knife and fork when Lars cleared his throat. “Dear Lord, we thank Thee for this food and all the plenty Thou has blessed us with. We especially thank Thee at this time for Eliza. We pray she comes to feel at home in our valley, and that Thou wilt bless their marriage. Amen.”
Elizabeth’s grip tightened on the knife as she impaled the steak with her fork. God-praising hypocrites were the worst kind.
Not much was said while they ate their dinner, but Elizabeth finished first and pushed to her feet. “I am afraid I’m not feeling well. And very exhausted.”
“Of course.” Axel hurried around the table to her. “I’ll show you to our room and then get your luggage.”
Our room. His words sank to her stomach and fermented there. She glanced to her empty plate and the knife laying across it. Then sat back down. “I’ll wait while you get my things.”
As he turned away, she glanced to Lars, whose gaze followed his son. She slipped the knife from her plate and into the folds of her skirt.
***
Axel glanced from the bed, to his new wife, and back again. The mattress looked narrower than it did this morning. Not that he minded much, but he got the feeling she did. She stared at the bed, her face colorless, her hands wrapped in the fabric of her dress. She probably wasn’t admiring the quilt with its intricate patchwork design.
“My mother sewed the quilt,” he said with hopes of easing the tension in the room. “A wedding present.”
Eliza’s head came up. “I don’t understand. You said your mother…”
“She made it when she first got sick. She was in bed for several months before the Lord took her. Knowing that she wouldn’t live long enough to see me married, she gave it to me to put away until the day came.” Axel took the corner of the quilt and folded it down. “For now. It’s been tucked away in a trunk until yesterday when I pulled it out to air. Never used it yet.”
Something softened in him, and he looked to his bride. Strange to think they had only met that morning and
now they were husband and wife. “You don’t look well. Come, lie down.”
One of her hands rose to her stomach. “I do feel quite unwell. Perhaps it would be best if you slept elsewhere tonight. Suppose I’m ill and you were to catch it.”
“Most likely you’re only tired. A good night’s sleep will set you right.” By the looks of her she’d probably be too nervous to sleep with him at her side. “But I’ll take my pillow and a blanket out tonight in case you’re right.”
She remained silent, not even uttering a thank you as Axel took what he needed and left. He closed the door behind him and shot his father a glare. Pa leaned back in his chair, arms folded, but looking not at all surprised that his son had been evicted from his own bed. Instead he appeared amused.
“How was the wedding?”
Axel replied with a grunt as he dropped the pillow and blanket on the floor near the fireplace and crossed back to the table. “Well enough. It’s the marriage that has me concerned.”
“Give Eliza some time. I doubt she’s had an easy life. And I’m sure it was difficult for her to come all this way. Time will let her get to know you and cure what’s ailing her.”
Axel rested his hands on the back of a chair, but uncertainty and restlessness continued to build in him. He pushed away. “I’m going to go ride out to the south pasture and check on those heifers. Don’t wait up for me.”
Chapter 4
Elizabeth smothered out the crowing of a rooster with her pillow—its scent woodsy. Like Axel. Her head bumped the handle of the knife she’d stashed there last night, and she moaned, shifting away from it and pulling the pillow off her face. Morning lit the room with brilliant rays through the small window, revealing a cascade of minuscule dust motes. Dropping the pillow onto the empty side of the bed, Elizabeth pulled the quilt under her chin and listened. She felt naked in just her nightgown. What if Axel needed a change of clothes or something else from his room?
Mail-Order Revenge Page 2
