Her Wyoming Man Read Online Free PDF Page A

even knew who her father had been, and if she had, the man wouldn’t have acknowledged her. These children were privileged in more ways than financially. They had a loving father, a man who willingly played a role in their lives and was concerned for them.
    She’d become a recipient of his care and attention, as well. She’d never welcomed change as much as she did now. A shiver of expectation gripped her.
    “Are you all right?” Nathan caught her attention.
    “Yes. Perfectly.”
    “Then let’s go greet our guests, shall we?”
    Besides Nathan’s tender concern for his children, Ella had so much to take in all at once: the size of Nathan’s home and the lovely furnishings; the guests, dressed in elegant clothing, who milled about and stopped to wish them well; the way his peers looked up to him and honored him by attending his wedding and reception.
    All but one of the other girls with whom Ella had come West were in attendance. Instinctively Ella knew that regardless of their new husbands’ positions—or lack thereof—in the community, they’d been invited and accepted as Ella’s friends.
    “Thank you for including Celeste and the others in the reception,” she said during a brief moment alone with Nathan.
    He had handed her a glass of champagne and, after she had sipped the bubbly liquid, smiled. His warm awareness brought a surprising heat to her cheeks. “Of course your friends are welcome,” he said.
    Why his attention embarrassed her, she couldn’t fathom. She hadn’t blushed in years, and all he’d done was smile at her. “I—I haven’t seen Lena.”
    “I sent an invitation that included a guest,” he said. “She declined. I’m sorry she slighted you.”
    Ella shrugged. “We aren’t close friends.”
    “Your friend Celeste will be less than an hour’s ride from Sweetwater,” he told her. “If you should want to call on her, I’ll make arrangements whenever it pleases you. I’m sure being in a new place will be an adjustment for both of you.”
    “That’s kind of you,” she said in surprise.
    He glanced away as though thinking, but brought his gaze back to hers. “I want you to be happy.”
    The intimate low timbre of his voice, the words spoken softly for her alone, hammered a dent in her self-protective layer of aloof dignity.
    The warmth that had been in her cheeks now spread to her chest and squeezed her heart until it ached. No one had ever said that to her. No one had ever cared about her happiness. She didn’t know how to react—or how to believe him. But she wanted to, and she wanted to revel in the luxury.
    Even if words had come to her, she couldn’t have spoken them. For the first time, she wondered about his previous wife, the woman he’d loved. If he was this kind to her—a woman he’d only met, how must it have been to be loved by such a man?
    What did a love like that feel like?
    Immediately, Ella caught herself giving way to fanciful thoughts and reined them in. She’d come to Sweet water with the intent of gaining respectability and finding a safe haven. She wasn’t hitching her wagon to a star. Being Nathan’s wife and gaining his respect as well as that of the community was all she’d hoped for. Above everything now she wanted to be worthy of him and deserving of his trust.
    A couple joined them then, and Nathan introduced her to Eldon and Rowena Templeton.
    “I understand you’re from Illinois,” Eldon said. “What’s the land like in that part of the country?”
    “It’s green, with lush fields of beans and winding rivers,” she replied as though she actually knew first hand. She’d heard about the Illinois landscape from a man back at Madame Fairchild’s dinner table. All she knew firsthand were flat prairies and dry Kansas dust kicked up by endless herds of cattle led from the trail to the stockyard pens—and even those scenes she’d taken in through closed and barred windows.
    “It sounds lovely,” his wife said. “I know Nathan is