Page 10 of Their Wanted Bride (Bridgewater Brides 1)

“What did you intend?” Caleb asked. He sat next to me, his face softening. “Sweetheart, what are you afraid of?”

“We’re not going to hurt you, Madelaine, but you have to tell us the truth before we can help you,” Justin said, sitting in the chair on my other side.

The tension in my shoulders eased and I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. They looked so earnest and caring, I couldn’t help trusting them. Both men would make fine husbands for any woman.

“My name is Madelaine O’Connor, Maddy to people I like. My mother’s maiden name was Riordan. I’m from Kentucky.”

“All right, honey, tell us the rest,” Caleb ordered.

“My mother passed when I was a child, and my father remarried a horrible woman named Celeste. He died several months ago, and Celeste decided she wanted to remarry, but needed to get rid of me first.”

“Get rid of?” Justin asked, frowning. “Did she hurt you?”

I chose not to share the scarred lines across my backside from Celeste’s cane. “No woman wants a young stepdaughter around while they’re courting. She decided to marry me off to the saloon keeper, but he waters his bourbon, cheats at cards, and he has…ladies in his upstairs rooms. I don’t like him. He makes me physically ill.”

Justin shared a glance with Caleb, then said, “I see.”

“And to convince me to go along with it, she sold Prince to him. He said if I didn’t marry him, he’d send Prince to a slaughterhouse.”

Caleb scratched at his beard and scowled. “He’s just a horse. What makes him so special?”

Jerking away, I stood and went to stand by the fireplace, letting the glowing coals send welcome heat into my body. “My father gave him to me, and he’s my best friend. You may not care, but I do. He’s also valuable. All his foals have grown into outstanding saddle horses.”

“Horses are free for the trouble of rounding them up,” he countered. “Can’t see why anyone would buy one. Where did you get the money to come out here?”

“His stud fees, and what I managed to save from my pin money over the years. Maybe he isn’t valuable out here, but he’s mine and I’m not going to let some slimy saloon keeper kill him out of spite or because my nasty stepmother wants me gone.”

He didn’t answer, and I returned to sit across from the two men. “That’s why Prince and I both need to stay hidden. Nathan and Celeste might look for us, but I doubt they’ll come this far. And once I marry, my name will change and Madelaine O’Connor won’t exist to be found.”

The door opened, revealing the waiter with a heavy tray. I shut my mouth and gave him a soft smile of thanks as he laid out our meals. When he left, I checked the door before laying a napkin in my lap.

“I suppose you need to get married quickly then. It’s not going to do you any good to stay in this hotel,” Caleb said. “The preacher will marry us after we eat.”

“Does that mean you forgive me for lying?”

Justin shrugged and gave me a shamefaced grin. “Well, we were insulting and rude to start, and fibbed a bit too. We can cook and clean for ourselves, so we don’t want a woman to wait on us hand and foot. It seems to me you’re only missing a saddle you don’t really need.”

“Then why did you ask for it?” I took a bite of overcooked g

reen beans, grimacing at the wilted vegetables. If this was what they considered good cooking, I wouldn’t be hard pressed to improve on it. Although Justin and Caleb seemed happy enough with the meal, the beef was overdone and tasted like shoe leather.

Finishing up his steak in a few quick bites, he said, “We wanted a strong woman with enough good sense to survive out here without coddling.” Pointing his fork at me, he added, “And any woman who can disguise herself and a horse, then travel halfway across the country to marry two men she doesn’t know must have more gumption than most of the menfolk around here.”

My lips twitched into a grin. “Why, Mr. Carter, I believe you just paid me a compliment.”

JUSTIN

* * *

“It won’t hurt our feelings if you’re willing to cook though,” Caleb said. “Neither of us have any skill at it.”

“I like to cook,” she replied, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “Just wait until you taste my biscuits.”

Maddy O’Connor sure was beautiful when she smiled. Her green eyes lightened into a shade that reminded me once more of spring grass, and that pretty bowed mouth looked just right for kissing. In an effort to stop staring at her, I turned my attention back to my meal, surprised when I found it gone.

I took her hand and kissed her knuckles. Our future wife was fascinating, and the more I learned about her, the more certain I became she was the exact woman we’d been praying for. I had to admit some attraction to her even when I thought she was a man. Maybe those tall tales told by Bridgewater grooms about knowing their wives at first sight had some truth to them.

“We’d be most thankful if you took over the chore,” Caleb replied. “Justin’s biscuits are like burnt rocks.”

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