His Dangerous Bride (The Brides of Paradise Ranch - Spicy Version Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

like Eden here to marry.”
    Josephine met the comment with a wry laugh. “We’ll see, Cody.” She shook her head and rested a hand on Eden’s shoulder. “You two all set?”
    “Yes, ma’am, I believe we are,” Eden answered.
    “Good. Because I’ve got a meeting with Olivia Garrett about refurbishing some of the schoolrooms, and I’m already late.”
    “You go on, Ma.” Luke stepped toward her and planted a grateful kiss on her cheek. “You’re leaving me in good hands.”
    “Oh, I know I am.” Josephine exchanged a mischievous glance with Eden before turning and marching up the aisle and out of the church.
    “See you back at the ranch.” Cody gave Luke’s back one last thump, nodded to Eden, then turned and strode up the aisle after Josephine, chuckling all the way.
    “I’ve just got a few papers for you to sign that I need to file with Howard and the territory, then you’re good to go,” Rev. Pickering said.
    The official business of getting married took about five minutes. After that, Luke escorted his beautiful new bride out of the church and into the sunshine of Haskell in late summer.
    “What a beautiful day, don’t you think, Mrs. Chance?” Luke drawled as he strolled down the path toward the road.
    “Finest I’ve had in a long time,” Eden answered, then sighed happily. “If I forget to say it later, I really am grateful to you for going through with this.”
    Luke flinched to stare at her. “Why wouldn’t I go through with it? I need you.”
    Eden’s brow flew up in disbelief, then she laughed. “Well, that’s a first. I can’t say that I’ve ever been needed by a man before.”
    “Then you’ve just been around the wrong men.”
    “Tell me about it,” she drawled.
    Luke narrowed his eyes as he steered her in the opposite direction from the livery, up to the baseball field, and around back of the town so he could show Eden her new hometown. “Maybe you should tell me about them?” he suggested.
    Eden snorted, her face pinching into a scowl. “Not much to tell. I have brothers, that’s all.” A dark flush came to her cheeks that could have been embarrassment or anger. Either way, it was fetching.
    “I have a brother and two sisters,” Luke shared. “My older sister, Libby, married a man in Oregon and lives up there on a timber operation with him and their two kids. My little brother, Freddy, is a right menace these days now that he thinks he’s grown up, but my sister, Muriel, is a sweetheart.”
    “I look forward to meeting them.” Eden nodded.
    She glanced around, taking in the sights that Luke walked her past. Her gaze went up to the tops of the buildings, her eyes narrowing in concentration, maybe even calculation. Luke might not have known much about his wife yet, but the way she looked at things told him she was smart as a tack. She didn’t just look, she figured . Right now, she appeared to be figuring how the buildings of Haskell were constructed. Or maybe how they were situated. It was hard to tell.
    “Why did they build the bank next to the mercantile?” she asked, nodding to the two buildings as they rounded the corner at the top of Main Street, the opposite side from the railroad tracks.
    Luke shrugged. “I suppose Howard figured folks would want to go shopping straight off as soon as they picked up their money from the bank.”
    Eden hummed. “Not very smart. One man could rob the bank and another the mercantile at the same time, and if they had their horses waiting between the two, they could get away before anyone had a chance to sound the alarm.” She twisted to study the street further, then said, “Yep, with the jail all the way down the street near the train station, bandits could make off with a wad of cash before the sheriff could catch up to them.” She glanced sideways at Luke. “Haskell does have a sheriff, doesn’t it?”
    The hair on the back of Luke’s neck stood up for some reason. Did he say his wife was smart? Diabolical was