Linda Ford Read Online Free PDF Page B

shoulder hard enough to set him forward a step. “Guess you won’t be able to say that after a winter together in that tiny shack.”
    Her husband, Bertie, came in with a load of wood for the big stove. “Bertie,” Cookie roared. “There’s two women and a little boy in Eddie’s shack.”
    Eddie groaned at the blatant pleasure wreathing Bertie’s face.
    “Well, I’ll be hornswoggled and hog-tied. This is turning into a real homey sit’ation. Eddie, lad, you’ve surprised us real good.”
    Cookie and Bertie grinned at each other like a pair of silly children.
    “It’s all a mistake, as I told Cookie. They’ll go home come spring. I’d send them now only the stagecoach isn’t running, and with winter—”
    “Eddie, lad, I’m thinking this opportunity is a rare one. Don’t be letting it slip through your fingers.” Bertie nodded and grinned.
    “I’m of like mind, my love. I’m of like mind.” Cookie clapped her husband hard on the back.
    Eddie wasn’t a bit sorry for the other man when he shifted under his wife’s hearty affections. “It’s temporary. Why can’t you accept that?” He grabbed the sack and stomped across the yard, their laughter echoing at his heels.
    * * *
    “He’s not happy to have us here.” Cassie’s observation was almost laughable.
    Linette simply smiled. “Then it’s up to us to convince him otherwise.” She had not come this far and prayed this hard to give up at the first sign of resistance. Though she hadn’t expected to be resisted. No doubt his initial reaction was fueled by pain. It couldn’t be pleasant to know he’d been rejected.
    Cassie snorted. “Don’t expect me to try to sweeten him up. If you ask me, I’d say the man is as stubborn as he is high.”
    Yes, he was a tall man. And well built. And he had a smile that drove the clouds from her mind. None of which mattered as much as a single gray hair. All that mattered was she had the winter—God willing and the cold weather continued—to convince him a marriage of convenience suited him. She saw no other way out of her predicament. “I’d say he has high ideals. That could serve us well.”
    Cassie stared as if Linette had suggested something underhand.
    Linette sighed. Cassie seemed bent on seeing everything in some dreadful fashion. “I only mean that a man with honor can be trusted.”
    “No man is completely honest and honorable. Take it from me. They’ll take your heart and treat it with total disregard.”
    Linette had no desire to know the details behind such a statement, so she ignored it. She had no intention of giving her heart to a man. Her only interest in a marriage to Eddie was escaping from her father’s plans and gaining the right to act according to her conscience.
    She turned her attention to the room. It was small. The stove was the tiniest she’d ever seen. It was nothing like the one Tilly, Margaret’s cook, had taught her on. For a moment, she doubted her ability to prepare food despite all her reading. Everything was so different from what she’d practiced on or imagined. She stiffened her spine. She would do whatever needed doing, do it well and without complaint. A tiny table, one wooden chair and a small bookcase crowded with papers and books completed the furnishings. She longed to explore the book titles, but first things first.
    “Help me get organized,” she told Cassie. She hung her coat by the door and rubbed her hands together. “At least the table has wings.” Flipped up, they would all be able to crowd around for their meals, assuming they had more chairs.
    “We’ll have to take turns lifting a fork to our mouths,” Cassie predicted.
    “It’s perfectly adequate. Now let’s organize the bedroom. I want to put Grady’s things where I can get at them.” She took the boy’s hand and stepped into the tiny bedroom. With the two trunks beside the bed there was barely enough room to stand. The bed was narrow. Two would be cozy. Three crowded.
    Cassie