The Brides of Chance Collection Read Online Free PDF Page A

stilted, and her features looked bleakly wooden. If her appearance alone wasn’t reason enough, the obstacles in her path convinced him she’d never make it. Gideon swept her into his arms. She sagged against him and whispered in a shaky voice, “What about Hannah’s babies?”
    “They’re right as rain. God never made cuter dumplin’s. You’ll meet them after you’ve rested up. Young as they are, they’ll run you ragged if you don’t store up a bit of energy.”
    As he spoke, he plowed through everything cluttering the floor and into the room where his brothers all sat, fully dressed and waiting for a chance to escape from a woman’s weeping. He didn’t bother to introduce them. He simply passed by all of them and tucked her into his bed while they hastily exited the room.
    He suffered an awkward moment, realizing she’d not want to shed her robe in his presence. She’d fallen fast asleep earlier; she probably didn’t comprehend he’d already seen her in her bed gown.
    Miriam shivered.
    Relief flooded him. He considered the room much too warm from having his brothers sleeping in it all night. Obviously Miriam thought otherwise. “That one blanket won’t be enough to keep you warm, Miss Miriam. You’d best keep on your robe for a bit of extra bundling.” He settled her onto his mattress. The mattress smelled a mite stale. How long had it been since he replaced the cornhusks and hay inside the ticking? He couldn’t rightly remember. No use fretting over anything that minor. He pulled up the cover and tucked it around her narrow shoulders. “Sweet dreams.”
    “I apologize for being such a bother.”
    “You’re not a bother. Now hush and sleep.” He turned, paced out of the room, and shut the door to give her privacy.
    All five men sat at the breakfast table, drank Miriam’s restaurant-perfect coffee, and ate her melt-in-your-mouth biscuits. Titus looked around. “This place is a pigsty.”
    Gideon nodded. “I don’t want her waking up and coming out to this. Hannah was always finicky about cleanliness; I don’t imagine Miss Miriam will be any less so. Bryce, you get all of the stuff up off the floor and carry it back out to the stable. Titus, you wash the dishes. I don’t reckon we have a clean one left in the whole house.”
    Gideon knew his brothers didn’t welcome those orders. Because they all worked from can-see-to-can’t, seven days a week, those chores normally went undone. They’d shed the burden of domestic frills as soon as there wasn’t a woman around to protest. The problem was, a woman occupied the house again.
    He continued, “Logan, you’re going to have to use sand to scrub the junk off the floor. Everyone needs to get back in the habit of scraping off their boots before they come in. For a few days here, we’re gonna have to act civilized.”
    Bryce scowled at him. “You’re mighty good at makin’ us do the dirty work. What’re you putting your hand to?”
    Gideon wrinkled his nose. “I’m going to wash the stuff from her clothes.”
    Logan nodded. “I got it on mine, too. I’ll toss them in the pot.”
    Gideon muttered as all of them volunteered him to do their laundry. He’d rather do just about anything but laundry. Since he was the eldest, he usually managed to order someone else to do the chore. The only reason he’d been ready to do it was because he didn’t cotton to the notion of his brothers touching prim little Miriam’s unmentionables. Frankly, he didn’t want to deal with them, either. It went against all decency, but he’d left her trunks in town, and the woman needed something to wear. Stuck between a rattler and a brushfire . Gideon let out a gusty sigh. “Let’s get to work.”
    Everyone set to his chores. Titus left most of the dishes to soak in three big tubs. He took the pots down to the creek for a sand scouring. Bryce hauled an armful of junk out to the stable, then milked the cow before he came back. He set down the milk pail, hauled