Once Upon a Mail Order Bride

by Linda Broday

  A meow came from the foot of the bed. Miss Kitty stretched and moved up between them, turning herself into a chaperone and forcing Ridge to remove his hand. He glared at the cat, and she arched her back. “So that’s the way it’s going to be, huh?” He kept his hiss in a whisper so it lost some of the impact. “Just see if I let you in here again. I’ll haul you off so far you’ll never find your way back.”

  Ha! That should fix the problem. He was bigger and had more power than a mere feline. Or so he better.

  Addie opened her eyes, and his war with the cat was forgotten as he fell into the startled depths of her gaze. She jerked her leg away from his.

  “Good morning, love.” Ridge smiled at her sudden timidity in the thin morning light. She was clearly uncomfortable with the new arrangement. “It’ll get easier.”

  Miss Kitty licked her face, and Squeakers snuck in between them as well to get its ears rubbed.

  Addie bit her lip and met his eyes. “I hope I didn’t crowd you. I tried to stay on my side and give you enough room.”

  “I had more than enough room, and you’re welcome on my side anytime. We don’t have a his and hers. Only an ours.” Ridge gave her a light kiss and let a fingertip drift across her cheek. “You look like a beautiful princess. I don’t think I deserve you.”

  “Are you always so eloquent this early in the morning?”

  Her smile held no fear, which surprised him a little. He’d half expected to wake and find her back in her dreary little room under the stairs.

  “I guess you’ll have to find out.” He tweaked her nose and started to rise. “Fair warning, sweetheart. I’m going to get up now and dress. I don’t mind you watching, but if you’d rather not see, better hide your eyes.”

  “Thank you—dear.” She rolled away from him and faced the other way.

  He could have been offended, but her relief didn’t give him any trouble. It’d take time to smooth these things out. Sleeping next to him was just the first step.

  Ridge sat on the side of the bed, the sheet falling away, and reached for his trousers and boots, then padded to the chest of drawers for a clean shirt. He strapped on his gun belt. “I’ll see you downstairs after I milk the cow.”

  “Okay.”

  The silent house seemed different as he strode through the rooms. It was as though killing Hiram had lightened the whole atmosphere. In the kitchen, he lit the stove for Addie and got coffee on to boil. Stepping onto the back porch, he inhaled a deep breath of clean air that finished purging the blackness inside him.

  Bodie emerged from the barn, scratching under his arm, his face a mass of purple bruises. “Morning, boss. I hope you slept good.”

  “I never felt a thing once my head hit the pillow. You?” Ridge moved toward the kid.

  “Had a lot of thinking to do before I went to bed, then I slept off and on. Mostly off.” Bodie handed him the empty milk pail. “I reckon we’ll tote Hiram into town this morning.”

  “Right after breakfast. Folks will be happy that we don’t have to post guards anymore. How’s your jaw?”

  “Hurts.”

  “Probably have to give it a week or longer ’til that stops.” Ridge went on to the cow and found peace in the milking. He’d always found that mundane chores helped settle a person, and this morning he needed that more than ever. Killing anyone stole a piece of a man’s soul. Even so, he was glad Hiram was dead. He’d pull the trigger again in a heartbeat to rid the world of one more ruthless man.

  Addie came out of the house, and he stopped to stare at the way the morning rays caressed her face and touched her hair, turning it a deeper shade of gold. She took his breath and made him happy to be alive. How had he gotten so lucky? His chest swelled.

  After breakfast, Ridge loaded Hiram’s body in the wagon, and the three of them drove into town. They rode past the outdoor jail cell, and Tiny and Pickens gripped the bars and craned their necks to watch them go by. Rascal that Ridge was, he drove past them real slow to give them a good look at the dead bounty hunter. Maybe seeing the body would be a deterrent, if they thought about trying to break out.

  Which he was sure they did. All prisoners yearned to escape. Let them try.

  Addie put her hand on Ridge’s arm after he swung her down. “I want to go speak to Dr. Mary while you men take care of this.”

  “Bet she’ll be tickled to hear you now,” he predicted.

  She pushed through the gathering crowd, and he turned to Clay and others who pressed him with questions about the dead man. But his thoughts were on Addie—and bedtime.

  Tonight, he’d try holding her beneath the covers as they talked. One slow step at a time.

  * * *

  Addie burst through the door of the small hospital. “I can talk! I finally have my voice back!”

  Dr. Mary came running from the next room, drying her hands on a long apron. “Praise be! Sit down, girl, and tell me what happened.”

  For the next half hour, Addie sat and related the details of the previous night. “He was so addled…if I hadn’t warned him, I’d be a widow today, and I couldn’t bear that thought.” She lowered her voice. “There’s more.”

  “What else can you possibly have that’s better than that?” Dr. Mary patted Addie’s hand.

  “I slept beside Ridge last night for the first time.”

  Dr. Mary’s eyes twinkled. “How was it?”

  “Good.” Addie dropped to a shocked whisper. “He goes to bed naked.”

  “You don’t say!” Dr. Mary laughed. “I think you’re going to be all right. Your marriage is on the right track. No doubt you’ll soon find yourself in the family way.”

  A long pause followed as Addie thought about all that might imply. “I’d like that, and I think Ridge might too. Sometimes the sight of that man makes this glorious heat rise up inside, and I feel like I’m just going to burst into flames.

  “I don’t know what love is. I certainly never saw it between my parents. They can barely tolerate each other. But Luke and Josie have this deep connection, and I think that must be love.” Addie picked at a string on her skirt. “Can you tell me what love is, Doctor?”

  The doctor’s mouth tilted up in a smile, and she answered softly, “It’s exactly what you’re feeling. It’s the heat, the quickening of the stomach, that acute awareness of everything Ridge is doing and automatically picking him out of a throng of people. It’s getting through the difficult problems together. You’re in love, my dear.”

  A quiver of excitement swept over Addie. She brought her fingertips to her mouth and remembered the tingle, Ridge’s kisses, and the feel of his arms.

  She was in love. This wonderful thing she felt was love.

  * * *

  After they returned from town, Addie moved her things upstairs into the bedroom and spent the afternoon outdoors with King. Now that the danger had passed, she could have ridden wherever she wanted, but she decided the creek was far enough. Bodie had wanted to come along to watch after her, but she’d insisted on going alone.

  “Stop treating me like I’m bone china or something,” she told both Bodie and Ridge. “I won’t break. Sometimes a woman just needs to be alone to think, and I have lots on my mind.”

  The day was beautiful, with just enough breeze so it wasn’t too hot. White, fluffy clouds dotted the sky, and red cliffs loomed nearby. King wandered over to a patch of grass to nibble contentedly. She took off her boots, sat down on the creek bank, and stuck her feet in the water. One of the worries on her mind was the lack of a reply to her letter. It had been a while since she’d written, and she should’ve heard from Zelda Law by now.

  Had the old midwife died while Addie was in prison? She had to be in her seventies by now. Maybe Ridge could take her to Seven Mile Crossing to find out. However, the trip would take at least a full week. It could be worth the effort, though.

 
“We’ll be safe at my brother’s,” Zelda had assured her three years ago. “No one will find the boy.” That much was true, or Tiny and Pickens wouldn’t have tried so hard to track Addie down.

  She had to come clean and tell Ridge about Zelda, that night, and the boy very soon. The previous evening’s events had kept her from baring her soul then, but Ridge deserved to know. He’d told her his secrets, after all, and it had taken a lot for him to trust her. Her heart had broken for him, and she was glad he’d made good friends like Jack and Clay and the others after going on the run. They’d go to the ends of the earth for one another. She envied that.

  Zelda Law had been her only true friend, though Addie’d grown close to several of her older students when she taught school. Jane Ann, for one. The thought of the pretty girl—now lying cold in a grave—made Addie’s heart ache.

  There was no justice in the world. Not against men like Ezekiel Jancy, who wielded power like a sharp-edged weapon.

  She sighed and rose, putting her boots on, determined to banish sad thoughts from her head. Striding to King, she removed his bridle and pulled a long red streamer, like those she’d made for the dance, from her pocket, unfurling it. Caught by a wild impulse, Addie ran, holding the wide piece of ribbon aloft and laughing. This was her day, and she was in love. Throwing her head back in laughter, she weaved in and around the buckskin, making the ribbon dance in the air.

  Soon, she noticed King following, trying to mimic her movements. She stopped and twirled and ran, and King matched each as best he could. “Come, King. Let’s march to the castle.”

  The horse snorted and nodded his majestic head, falling in step behind her. This truly was an amazing animal. She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. “I love you so much, King. Don’t ever leave me.”

  He blinked his luminous brown eyes, nuzzling her face. She’d never had a friend like this.

  The moment passed, and Addie put her colorful streamer away. “That’s enough for today. Let’s go slow and look for things to decorate the upcoming dance. I can’t wait to waltz with Ridge again.”

  King stood still while she climbed into the saddle, and they meandered their way toward home. As they walked, Addie’s thoughts turned to the previous night once more—but this time, on sleeping next to Ridge. It hadn’t been as scary as she’d first thought, and it had been nice to lie there listening to his breathing and know she wasn’t alone in the dark. Yet he would soon expect more—a lot more.

  Her mouth went dry, and her stomach quickened. He didn’t wear anything to bed.

  Eighteen

  “I had a good day. How about you, dear?” Filled with nervous anticipation, Addie helped Ridge turn down the covers. He seemed a little quieter than usual, and she wondered why.

  “Any day I end alive is one to celebrate, I guess.” He hung his gun belt on the post at the foot of the bed and sat in one of two straight-backed chairs in the room to pull off his boots.

  Addie supposed burying a man would have an effect on him. She changed the subject to one less troubling. “On my ride today, I found out that King is an extraordinary horse.”

  “I suspected that. He has intelligent eyes.”

  Her stomach quickened at the sight of his bare chest. He unbuttoned his trousers and had them partway down before she could turn away. One glimpse of his flat stomach already made the room too warm, but then he turned, and his bare backside sent heat flaring inside her. Her hands trembling, Addie finished braiding her hair and quickly slid into bed. Her heart fluttering wildly, she faced the wall.

  The cats meowed at the door, raising holy hell, but Ridge had made it clear that for now, they weren’t allowed into the bedroom. She didn’t know why this sudden change of heart. She’d thought he liked them.

  He lowered the wick of the lamp and got into bed with a long sigh. With the room plunged into dim shadows, she turned onto her back, every nerve ending alive, conscious of the fact he slept in nothing. One thing she should’ve realized. This man who’d taken a chance on her filled the bed like he filled a room—fully and completely, leaving no space between their bodies. If she rolled, she’d be up against all that maleness. Unsure what it was she really wanted, she lay perfectly still.

  Ridge lay on his side, propping himself up on an elbow. “Tell me about King.”

  She burned under his gaze that seemed to notice everything. In a desperate search for solid footing, she talked about her day and the surprising ease with which her buckskin mimicked her actions. Before long, she relaxed. “I wish you could’ve seen him. It was like he could read my mind.”

  “Maybe he can.” His fingers drifted down her throat ever so slowly. “I’ll try to make time to come with you tomorrow.”

  Silence fell over them. Addie shifted toward him in the dim light. “I don’t know what to do,” she whispered. “Last night we were exhausted and fell right to sleep. But now—”

  “Relax, love. That’s all you have to do. I’d like to touch you if you don’t mind. You have the softest skin I’ve ever felt. I won’t force you to do anything you feel uncomfortable with. That’s not my style.”

  She barely breathed past the thunder of heartbeat and mounting anxiety.

  Sliding a hand behind her ear, he lowered his mouth. His breath whispered along the seam of her lips and aroused every nerve ending. The kiss made her weak with hunger for everything he had to offer. She melted against him, desire burning like a strange fever along the edges of her mind.

  Addie parted her lips, and he slipped his tongue inside to court hers, and she tasted the wild Texas land he loved.

  “You’re so beautiful, Addie.” His quiet words brushed her face. “And you don’t even know it. When I look at you, I wonder if I’ll ever be the husband you deserve.”

  “You’re everything I want, Ridge. I couldn’t ask for more.”

  The barest tips of his fingers explored her face, throat, and across one shoulder. His gentle caresses set a flurry of butterfly wings whipping in her stomach and along her ribs.

  “That feels so good. Will you touch me more?”

  “Tell me where.”

  “Everywhere. I want to learn your touch.”

  “Simply wish, and I’ll try to fulfill it.” Very slowly and deliberately, Ridge’s hand followed the curves of her body still clothed in a gown. His fingers aroused quivers every place he caressed, and Addie thought she’d die from sheer longing for more.

  “I don’t know where you learned such a tender caress, but I don’t want you to stop.”

  He nuzzled behind her ear. “I never reveal my secrets.”

  “More’s a pity.” She placed her palm against his jaw, loving the strength, then left a dawdling path down his thick neck to his chest, savoring the different textures of his skin—some places smooth, some rougher with bone and muscle underneath.

  “I’ve never felt a man before. Or had one touch me.” Her soft words filled the quiet.

  “I hope you like this, because I plan to do it a lot. If you’re willing of course.” The deepness of his voice vibrated beneath her fingertips. “Your satiny skin is addictive.”

  Feeling bolder, she slid her hand down to that narrow strip of fine hair that had intrigued her. The long, velvety patch reminded her of baby hair. How would it feel to have his naked body pressed to hers? A delicious shiver wove through her. If that was anything to go by, she’d want this feeling again and again. Not for procreation, but for enjoyment.

  The sudden switch replacing his hand with his mouth brought a new and startling awareness. The flutter of his warm breath in the hollow of her throat, his hot kisses on her lips, stole her thoughts and sent a new kind of heat surging through her, this one threatening to drive her insane.

  Her breasts ached, and wetness formed between her thighs. If she could stay right here—

  But he moved his attention lower and flicked a finge
rtip across her straining nipple, and intense pleasure burst through her. She gasped. All that stood between them was the cotton of her nightgown, and she yearned to rip it off.

  She slid her hand down the silky strip of hair, following the path south until she encountered crisp hair and a firm erection. She jerked her hand back.

  “Touch me, Addie. Don’t be afraid.” He placed his moist mouth over her nipple, collecting the fabric of her gown in his lips along with the raised, hard nub.

  She arched her back to give him greater access. “Ridge.”

  The sensations seemed to be drawing all her inhibitions out, and she knew she wouldn’t be satisfied unless she went further—to whatever pleasures lay beyond this.

  “Make love to me,” she begged. “Make me your wife.”

  Ridge froze and raised his head. His eyes met hers in the dim light of the room. “Do you know what you’re asking?”

  Her gaze didn’t waver. “Yes. I want you to fill me, claim me for your own. As it should be between a husband and wife.”

  Bold as could be, she reached down for the hem of her gown and pulled it up to her hips. They sat up together, and Ridge tugged it off, then ran his hands over her bare skin, across her upper chest and down to cup her naked breasts. Addie put her arms around him and pulled him closer until the hard plane of his chest was crushed against her.

  Deep in the recesses of her love-drugged mind, she reminded herself to keep her back away from his touch. She had to hide that part of her body from prying eyes. Yet in the next second, she soared to new heights of gratification and almost forgot to care. The sudden friction when she rubbed against him was beyond anything she’d felt before in her life. She stilled and closed her eyes, soaking up the sensations that whirled and twisted through her like a herd of bucking, stampeding horses.

  He groaned. “You make me crazy. I need to feel your skin, taste you, caress you.” He buried his face in her hair. “You’re like this wild land—a place a man could live on for the rest of his life and never fully know.”