RNWMP: Bride for Wesley (Mail Order Mounties Book 5)

by Kirsten Osbourne

  Lisa nodded, her eyes daring him to make something of it.

  “And did you then throw something at this door?” His eyes fastened on his boot.

  She nodded again. “It felt good too.”

  He shook his head and carefully closed the door behind him. As much as he wanted to slam it, he wasn’t going to sink to her level. Didn’t she realize he only wanted what was best for her because he loved her so darned much? Slamming doors and throwing boots. What kind of a crazy woman had he married?

  *****

  `Lisa was still angry the following afternoon when she once again set out on her walk. She stopped next door to let Maryanne know she was on her way out. “I’m taking my wagon and Sophie. I should be back within forty-five minutes. I’m going to walk along the river.”

  Maryanne said the same thing she said every afternoon when Lisa left on her walk. “Be careful.”

  Lisa nodded. She had told Maryanne she wanted to be alone that day, so her friend had stayed home. Lisa walked faster than usual, ignoring the pain in her leg. She was angry enough to move quickly, trying to burn some of the emotion off. As much as she loved her husband, she wouldn’t be ordered around by anyone.

  She stopped in her tracks. She loved Wesley? When had that happened? And how had it happened without her even realizing it?

  She walked slower for a while, her eyes a bit dazed. Her leg spasmed, and because she was distracted, it jerked out from under her and caused her to lose her balance. Before she knew what was happening, she’d fallen down the embankment beside the edge of the river, her bad leg twisting under her.

  For a moment, she sat looking around her, assessing the situation. “Are you all right, Sophie?”

  The dog’s bark and the way she licked her face told Lisa that she was fine. More fine than Lisa herself. She let go of Sophie’s leash, knowing she would be able to get back without help…unlike Lisa herself.

  She sighed. Lying in the snow the way she was just made her colder, which made her leg hurt more. No, it was her ankle that hurt more. She must have twisted it in the fall. She reached over to the wagon, which had fallen down the bank beside her, and she found the wood she kept there for emergencies, plus the matches. She moved some snow out of the way and carefully started a small fire to warm her. She hoped that once her leg warmed a little, she would be able to climb up the embankment, which was steep. Much steeper than she had ever climbed.

  She said a quick prayer for strength, thankful she’d told Maryanne where she would be. She almost hadn’t, but she’d told Wesley the night before that she always would, and she wasn’t about to be a liar.

  Taking deep breaths, she warmed her hands by the fire, and then moved to sit with her legs stretched out in front of her, making sure her bum leg got warmed as quickly as it could. She was just a few feet from the edge of the river, which was frozen over at this time of year.

  The warmer she got, the more confident she felt. Her ankle had been twisted in the fall, but she’d been practicing pushing through the pain. She could make it up the side. There was no way that after her fight with Wesley the previous evening, she was going to sit there beside the river waiting to be rescued.

  “You can do it, Lisa,” she said softly to herself. “You’re as strong as you believe you are. You’ve been training for this day since September, pushing yourself a little harder every day. This is where it pays to be sassy. You’re going to conquer the walk up the bank and all the way home. I’ll even let you have an extra one of those cookies you baked this morning if you can do it before Wesley gets here. You have to show him. You just have to!”

  She felt like a fool talking to herself aloud in a public area, but she had to keep reminding herself of all the reasons why she had to get up on her own. She could do it.

  Grabbing the edge of the wagon, she carefully maneuvered herself to a sitting position on the edge of the seat. From there, she leaned down and felt her ankle through all the layers she wore. It felt slightly swollen to her, but since there was little she could do about it, she kept taking deep breaths as she sat there, waiting for her ankle to rest for a moment so she could get to her feet.

  She thought briefly about leaving her wagon at the bottom, but she would need it to lean on. There was no doubt in her mind. Her ankle was sprained, but she didn’t think it was broken.

  Taking one more deep breath, and saying one more silent prayer for help, she got to her feet, ignoring the intense pain shooting up her left leg. Now she was not only dealing with muscle spasms, she was fighting against her sprain. Looking at the slope she had to climb, she shook her head determinedly.

  There was no doubt in her mind that Wesley would find her and rescue her. She’d left the trail of bread crumbs so he could do just that. But she didn’t want him to. This was one time where the hero didn’t need to rescue the heroine. No, this time the heroine was going to rescue herself, no matter how much it hurt.

  It was slow going. She carefully crawled up the side of the embankment, the handle for her wagon in her good hand the whole while. That left her bad hand to do the climbing, but it didn’t matter. She’d recover later. For now, she had to rescue herself.

  She was inches from the top, completely out of breath, when she heard her name being called over and over. “Maryanne! I’m all right!”

  “Thank God!” Maryanne was peering over the edge of the slope at her. She offered her hand, but Lisa didn’t take it.

  “Forgive me for sounding ungrateful, but I’ve gotten up this far on my own. I have to prove to myself I can do it.”

  Maryanne grinned, nodding. She backed up, but looked like she was ready to jump in and help at any moment. “Where’s Sophie?”

  Lisa shrugged. “She went for help. I was sure she’d go to you.” She crawled the last few inches, and with a big heave, pulled her wagon over the edge and collapsed in a heap. “I think my ankle is badly sprained. I’m probably going to need you to drag me back to the cabin.”

  Maryanne’s eyes grew wide and she shook her head. “I have a feeling that’s not going to be necessary.”

  It was then that Lisa noticed the shadow on the ground…the long shadow of a man on a horse, the man wearing a Mountie hat on his head. Lisa wanted to burrow into the snow, but she knew it was time to face the music.

  She turned her head and gave her husband her best smile. “Hi, Wesley. Fancy meeting you here.”

  Chapter Ten

  Wesley ignored Lisa, instead looking over at Maryanne. “Would you mind getting her wagon and Sophie home?” He wouldn’t be able to handle the wagon as well as his wife. Lisa needed all his attention at the moment.

  Maryanne shook her head, biting her tongue against what she wanted to say. “I’d be happy to.” She didn’t bother to look down at Lisa, still on her bottom in the snow, as she picked up Sophie’s leash and the handle of the wagon and headed toward home.

  Wesley threw one leg over the back of his horse and dismounted, scooping Lisa up in his arms in what to her seemed to be the same motion. She was impressed, but she knew better than to say anything. He was angry—much angrier than she’d ever seen him, and she wasn’t about to push her luck. Still, she had to admire his strength.

  He put her on the horse’s back and climbed up behind her. “Just don’t talk for a minute.” He needed to calm down before he started yelling at her. He didn’t think a man should ever yell at his wife, but Lisa—she could make a saint scream.

  Lisa struggled to stay quiet. She knew he would be angry if she spoke, but it was so hard not to try to defend herself. Instead of speaking, she leaned back against him. His horse—Bobby—was well-trained and took them straight home. It seemed like Wesley was making no effort to guide the horse—or was it steer? Either way, it seemed effortless.

  When he stopped at their front door, he dismounted and reached for her, carrying her into the house and setting her on the bed. “Don’t move a muscle until I come back to look at your ankle.” Every move he made was angry. He didn’t sl
am the door, but it seemed to take everything inside him to avoid doing it.

  Lisa watched him leave before she took off her ankle boot and two pairs of socks. She was on her feet, trying to shimmy out of the silly britches he insisted she wear, when he came back into the cabin.

  “I told you not to move!”

  “May I speak now?” she asked, needing to tell him what had happened. She had a right to explain herself, didn’t she?

  “It would probably be in your best interest not to say another word until I assess the damage.” He shook his head at her. “I asked you to stop going out alone, and you went out anyway. And you hurt yourself. Why do you think I didn’t want you going out alone?”

  Lisa shrugged, doing her best not to speak if he didn’t want her to. She dropped the pants to the floor, and keeping her weight on her good foot, she sat down and kicked the pants away. She wasn’t going to say another word until at least some of his anger passed.

  Wesley glared down at her. “Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?”

  “You told me not to talk! You can’t have it both ways. You’re being very difficult Wesley, and I think there’s something wrong with your eye. It seems to be twitching.”

  He closed his eyes and counted to ten, wondering if God was laughing at him for falling in love with such a sassy wife? He wanted to shake her and kiss her at the same time, and he knew neither thing would help at all. The woman was clearly insane.

  He dropped to his knees in front of her, pulling his gloves off and gently placing her foot on his knee. His fingers expertly felt along her joint, finding the swelling, but thankfully there didn’t seem to be a break. “I don’t think you’ve broken it.”

  “I could have told you that. It doesn’t hurt enough to be broken. I think it’s just a really painful sprain.” His glare was enough to quiet her again, but she was getting tired of not saying exactly what she wanted to say. She had done something that was nothing short of miraculous that day. She’d climbed up an icy snowbank with a sprained ankle, and she’d done it with no help at all. As soon as he was finished being angry with her, she’d tell him just that.

  “How long were you down there before you made it out?” He didn’t mention where, but then they both knew where he was talking about.

  She shrugged. “Not long. I realized I couldn’t immediately get to my feet, so I built a small fire to help my leg warm up and stop spasming. And then I climbed up the bank, pulling the wagon—with a sprained ankle, mind you. And no help! I’m not an invalid after all!”

  He shook his head. “You are now. You can’t walk on this ankle for at least a week. What were you thinking? Have you lost your mind?”

  “My mind seems to be as intact as it ever was. I’m getting stronger, Wesley! Can’t you see that and be happy for me?”

  He swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue, because they would have only come out in a shout. “I’m happy that you’re getting stronger,” he finally said. “But I’m not happy that you didn’t listen to me. You put yourself in danger. What if I hadn’t been able to find you? Do you have any idea what kind of terror I felt when I saw Sophie come running toward me with her leash attached?”

  Lisa sighed. “I’m sorry I frightened you, but that still doesn’t negate the fact that I made a major accomplishment today. I’ve been working since before I met you on doing things for myself. On standing longer. On pushing myself when I just wanted to lie around and let others do for me! And today, I did something no one ever thought I could do. I want to spin in circles and sing!”

  “But you can’t spin in circles, because you can’t stand up!” Wesley shook his head, trying to clear it of the anger, which seemed to be the only thing he could feel at the moment. Well, anger and relief. He was so relieved she was all right. “Please don’t ever scare me that way again.”

  Lisa patted the spot on the bed beside her, silently inviting him to sit with her. Once he was there, she leaned her head on his shoulder. “I understand that you want to protect me and take care of me. I do. I also know that I can’t sit around and let someone else tell me what to do and try to run my life ever again. I’m too strong for that. As much as I love you, I can’t sit somewhere and let myself be ordered around as if I was a child.”

  “I don’t want to order you. I just want to keep you safe! And I—wait, did you just say you love me?”

  Lisa nodded emphatically, her bangs bobbing up and down on her forehead. “Of course I said I love you, silly. Show me a woman who can be married to a brave, tall, handsome Mountie, who does everything he can to protect her and not fall in love with him, and I’ll show you a woman with a heart of stone.”

  He cupped her cheek in his hand and leaned close to her, kissing her softly. “I love you too. I never dreamed I’d fall in love with a sassy, stubborn woman who didn’t know what was good for her, but I have. I couldn’t help it.”

  She threw her arms around him and held him to her, ignoring the pain in her left arm. “I hoped someday you would find it in your heart to fall in love with me. I never dreamed it would happen so soon. It’s because of my sass, isn’t it?”

  He shook his head. “Your sass is probably not the thing that most attracted me to you…”

  “Well, then what was? There has to be something…and I thought my sass was my very best quality!”

  “I think it was your strength. Even though your physical weakness is obvious to everyone around you, your inner strength drew me to you. You didn’t let me take care of you. You didn’t listen to me when I told you to stay home—even though you should have. I love that you have a mind of your own, and the strength to keep fighting no matter what.” He dropped his forehead to rest against hers. “I’m proud of you for making it up that embankment today. You did so good.”

  Lisa felt a tear trickle down her cheek, and she wiped it away with the back of her hand. “You’ll learn to love my sass, you know.”

  He sighed. “I hope so, because it does seem to be your strongest personality trait.”

  “Well, yeah. My sass will keep you from getting too uppity.”

  “After today, I know we need to move south. I can’t let you keep hurting yourself trying to prove to me you’re strong.”

  Lisa glared at him. “I don’t have to prove I’m strong anymore, because I already did. And we’re not going south. I get stronger every day. We’re going to stay here, and you’re going to get to serve the natives that you love, and I’m going to keep making afghans for all the new babies who are born. We both have found our niche here, and you’re not dragging me away from the home that I love.”

  “The home you love? How can you possibly love a place that causes you pain?”

  “There’s so much more here than cold, Wesley. There are natives who need help. There’s beautiful scenery and baby cougars that need to be rescued.” She started to list more things but the look on his face stopped her.

  “So you did have a cougar in this cabin?”

  “Of course I did. I didn’t when you asked me, but I did before that.”

  “Why?”

  “The day I said goodbye to Miss Hazel, I saw a baby cougar lying beside the road with a mangled back leg. I wanted to help, so I brought her home and fed her. When it seemed like you were about to find out, Maryanne took her. Poor little Clara. I hope she’s doing well now…”

  “Clara? You named a baby cougar Clara?”

  “What would you have named her? Esmerelda?”

  He sighed. “Promise me you’ll never have a wild animal in our home again.”

  “How am I going to fix supper without being able to walk?” she asked, completely changing the subject. She knew it was a promise she couldn’t keep, so she wouldn’t make it.

  “Lisa, I need your promise on this.”

  She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. “I promise that I will never make you any promise that I simply can’t keep. I love you too much to do that.”

  He shook his head. �
��Are you always going to keep me on my toes?”

  “Would life be worth living if I didn’t?”

  A knock on the door sounded, and Wesley opened it. Preston stood at the door with Sophie on her leash. “We put the wagon outside the door, but Maryanne thought you might need some time alone with your wife to give her a ‘much needed scolding.’ Her words, not mine.”

  “I think we’ve worked things out. Thank you for bringing Sophie back. As much as she annoys me, she makes my wife happy, and that matters to me a great deal.”

  Sophie hurried into the cabin and made a beeline for Lisa, jumping up on the bed and nudging her with her nose. Lisa hugged the dog to her. “You’re such a good girl. Yes, you are. Thank you for going to get Wesley to rescue me, whether I needed rescuing or not.” She planted a kiss on the dog’s snout, happy to be reunited with her pet.

  Preston grinned at Lisa with her dog and backed up a step. “I’ll see you tomorrow, sir.”

  “I have a feeling I’m going to need your wife’s help for the next week or so. Her ankle is badly sprained.”

  “Do you need to make her a crutch?”

  “I won’t use it,” Lisa said stubbornly. “They wanted me to use them when I was a little girl, and I hated them. No crutches for me.”

  “I’ll make her a crutch, and she’ll use it. She’ll need to be able to move around some, and that will be the best way.” Wesley was looking at Lisa when he answered Preston. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Yes, sir.” Preston turned and walked away, but not before Wesley saw the grin on his face at Lisa’s stubbornness.

  “You could at least pretend to obey me when my men are here,” Wesley said to Lisa.

  “Why? I wouldn’t want to make any false pretenses, would I?”

  “I’m going to make you a crutch, and you’re going to use it, or I’m going to tie you to the bed before I leave in the morning. You may make your choice as I work on the crutch. Think hard about it.”

  Lisa made a face at Wesley’s back as he headed back out into the cold. She looked at Sophie and grinned. “You know what? He really would tie me to the bed, but only because he loves me so much, and he doesn’t want me to hurt myself. Isn’t it wonderful that someone loves me that way?”