Second Chance Brides Read Online Free PDF

bookwork and load freight.”
    He hadn’t even had time to consider that yet. Garrett was the muscle man, did most of the loading of the freight, but he left the ledger and recording of information to Mark. It would be weeks before he’d be able to write again. What in the world would he do about that?
    “Since Garrett’s not so good with numbers and paperwork, I suppose you might need to hire some help.” Rachel must have read his thoughts. Her eyes sparkled. “What about seeing if Miss Bennett or Miss O’Neil could assist you? That way you’d be getting some help back for the money you’re out on their room and board.”
    Mark held up his hand, palm out. “Just hold your horses. The last thing we need is one of those women coming in and changing things all around.”
    Rachel shoved her hands to her hips and swung one side of her mouth up. “Nobody said anything about making changes, Mark.”
    “Well, isn’t that what women do?”
    She shook her head and crossed her arms. “You and your brother have been alone too long. It wouldn’t hurt either one of you to marry.”
    Mark backed up several steps. “No thanks. I’m happy for you and Luke, but don’t go playing matchmaker.”
    Rachel chuckled. “You’re a fine one to be making that statement after you and Garrett ordered all those brides for Luke.”
    Mark backed up some more, taking care to avoid the debris. Time to get back to work. All this talk of matchmaking was making him antsy. “That was mostly Garrett’s doing.”
    He tipped his hat and turned, but not before he heard Rachel’s comment that he was as much responsible as Garrett. And she was right. He never should have allowed himself to get caught up in Garrett’s scheme to find Luke a bride. But where his brother was concerned, good intentions never got him anywhere. Somehow, Garrett always managed to make Mark see his side of things. But no more. At twenty-seven years of age, he should be man enough to stand up to his brother.
    He was tired of living in Garrett’s shadow. Tired of working in the freight office, tired of hauling goods back and forth from Dallas to the ranches and smaller towns in the area. He had his own plans. His own dreams. And it was time he started reaching for them.

C HAPTER 3
     

     
    L eah Bennett hoisted her skirts and attempted to climb out of the ditch again. Just like the previous four times, her foot slipped on the rain-soaked mud, but this time, she slid back and stumbled, falling to the bottom of the gully filled with cold runoff from the storm. Water dampened her backside and drenched the last dry spot on her dress. Having lost half of her pins, her hair threatened to fall in a pile around her shoulders. She shoved a handful out of her face and stared at the hill again. Somehow, she had to make it to the top.
    The child who had wailed all during the storm, making Leah’s eardrums ache, kicked his scream up another notch. Though frustrated to the core with his tantrum, part of her wanted to say, “I know just how you feel.”
    “Hurry up. The rest of us want out of here, too.” The boy’s father, one of the farmers who lived outside of town, wrinkled his brow and glared at Leah, as if all their problems were her fault.
    A branch half the size of Texas had broken off a giant oak tree and blocked their exit from the far side of the culvert—a much easier climb, she noted. The section of the ditch where the man, his wife, and son had hidden sported moss-covered sides too steep to climb.
    “Get a move on, lady. We need to get our boy into some dry clothes afore he catches his death.”
    His wife gasped. “Don’t say such a thing, Herman.”
    Leah looked up at the steep incline again. She hadn’t wanted to hide out from the storm in the grimy ditch, but when she’d tried to get into the church, it had been crammed full of people. A stranger had grabbed her arm and dragged her to this ditch, but he’d crawled out as soon as the tornado passed, saying