Noah Read Online Free PDF Page B

get a better look at his face. Strung
on one of his coat buttons dangled a postage delivery tag and she couldn’t help
but see her name written in big fancy letters.
    “May I?” she asked.
    The man nodded.
    Kate picked up the tag and read,
     
    To: Kate Callahan, Laramie
    One mail-order-husband—
     
    Husband? She shot a look at him, then back down at the
tag and read it aloud. The speed of her heart increasing with every word.
    “Mr. Noah Deardon, first cousin of Levi
Redbourne...” She cleared her throat. “Knowledgeable of cattle ranching. Kind
to a fault. Young and able-bodied.” She paused, heat flooding her face. “And a
man who will be faithful on his word—on the word of Levi Redbourne. Hand
delivered by Levi Redbourne.”
    Kate looked up at the man who was shaking his
head, but smiling all the same.
    “I should probably introduce myself, ma’am.” He
looked at her with eyes that glinted like steel in the moonlight, sending
gooseflesh down her arms. Again. “I am Noah Deardon, first cousin to Levi
Redbourne, and all of those other things. I am here in response to your ad—one
mail-order husband.”
    The dark, weighted cloud that had loomed over
her for months, lifted and for the first time in a very long while she had hope.

CHAPTER FOUR

     
    Even dressed in men’s clothing, Kate Callahan
was easily the most beautiful woman Noah had ever laid eyes on. Her unkempt
hair and flushed cheeks only added to her appeal.
    He shook his head and smiled as the woman
seated next to him read the blamed tag Levi had insisted he wear. He felt like
a fool, if ever there was one, but if it evoked another smile from the lady, he
was happy to oblige.
    “You’re my package? Hand-delivered from
Oregon?” She breathed a laugh.
    “Guilty as charged.”
    “Only Levi would bring me a…a husband.”
    As they pulled out toward White Willow, Noah
stayed close behind Levi and the others, careful not to get separated. The last
thing he needed to do was to prove himself the fool by getting lost in the
dark.
    “What’s wrong with you?” Her question startled
him.
    “Ma’am?”
    “There aren’t many men who would be willing to
give up their lives and move a thousand miles away from home to marry a woman
he’d never met. So, what’s wrong with you? Why aren’t you already married?
You’re certainly handsome enough. And you look strong and able bodied.”
    Noah was glad it was dark outside as he could
feel the heat rush to his face and neck at her assessment of him. He sat up a
little taller and cleared his throat.
    “Well,” he had to think for a moment.
    What was wrong with him?
    “I don’t always take my boots off before
walking into the house. I whistle when I have a lot on my mind and sometimes
that annoys my brother. I often let my cousins—particularly that one,” he said
as he pointed at Levi a few yards ahead, “talk me into doing some cockamamie
things.”
    “Like moving across country to marry a woman
you’ve never met?”
    “Yes, like that.” He laughed.
    She laughed too.
    Kate was straightforward. No nonsense. It was
refreshing. Most of the women he’d courted or been around had a tendency to
play coy and often sent mixed signals. He didn’t need a woman who played games.
He needed someone with a good head on her shoulders, someone willing to stand
beside him. Work alongside him. Someone he could take care of. Love.
    After everything he’d seen tonight, he hoped
that someone might be Miss Kate Callahan. From the moment he’d caught her
staring at him, there had been something between them that he couldn’t explain,
and he wondered if she’d felt it too. It was almost like a spark.
    She was beautiful and strong, resilient, yet
he’d seen the compassion in her face as she’d spoken to the young woman on the
boardwalk. The woman who’d been betrothed to the man who’d taken Kate’s father
away from her. That alone would have impressed him.
    “So, why did you agree to come to Wyoming?