Page 35 of Their Wanted Bride (Bridgewater Brides 1)

“Maddy said he’s the saloon keeper,” I replied, pointing at a two-story building across the street from the hotel. We went inside and bellied up

to the bar. Giving us a quiet greeting, a barmaid wearing a dress that barely covered her brought us each a beer.

A lady sauntered inside, her straw hat perched at a jaunty angle on blonde curls. She sat at a table close behind us and tapped her parasol on the floor, wrinkling her nose at the barmaid. “Get me Nathan,” she snapped.

“Yes, Miss Celeste.” The barmaid scurried off and I allowed my lips to curl into a smirk.

“So, that’s Maddy’s stepmother,” Justin whispered. “I wouldn’t mind having a few words with her.”

A lanky man with dark hair and a thin goatee joined her, kissing her cheek before sitting across the small table. “To what do I owe the honor of your presence, darling?”

“Madelaine will be here tomorrow,” she replied in a low voice. “But there’s a problem. The bounty hunters we sent say she’s already married. I just got the telegram.”

“So?”

“Nathan, don’t you understand?” Celeste wrung her hands. “If the brat is married, it spoils all our plans. And once Fred Fuller hears about it, he won’t represent you in court. You know how he dotes on her.”

“Don’t matter. She stole that horse.” Nathan’s face darkened and his lips twisted into an ugly sneer. “If she’s in prison, her daddy’s property reverts to you anyway. It’ll serve the little bitch right for crossing us.”

“What then? And what about this supposed husband?”

“We’ll worry about it if he shows up. I made sure my men took her after he was gone on a cattle drive. It might be weeks before he finds out she’s gone. You and I will marry, sell the place off, and split the money like we planned. Afterwards, we’ll get an annulment.” He patted her cheek, then added, “The best part is we’re saved the trouble of getting rid of Maddy.”

Celeste nodded and smiled. “Perfect. I’d been wondering what to do with her.”

“She was going to have an unfortunate tumble down the stairs.” He laid a hand over his heart. “Poor girl, in the prime of her life too.”

I’d heard enough. “Let’s go,” I hissed softly to Justin. “We’re done here.”

Justin straightened as we walked out. “We need to see Fred Fuller,” he said, his face rigid with fury.

I didn’t blame him. I was fair itching to go back and rearrange Nathan’s face. As much as the thought of hurting a woman disgusted me, I’d make an exception for Celeste.

We asked a boy for directions and twenty minutes later, we were having a very interesting conversation with Mr. Fuller. He was understandably livid.

Desperate for a way to exonerate Maddy, we poured over her father’s will, knowing we were running out of time.

His brow knitted in concentration, Justin scanned a page we’d already looked at many times. My mama taught us both to read at the same time, but he’d always been better at it. Drawing a finger under one passage, he looked up. “Didn’t Maddy say Prince was a gift?”

“Yes, her sixteenth birthday,” I replied. “Why?”

“Says here all gifts to Maddy are hers and not part of the estate as long as—”

“They were given to her before she turned eighteen!” Mr. Fuller exclaimed, glee filling his voice. “How did I miss that?”

“The damned will is almost twenty pages,” I muttered, glaring at the scattering of paper across the desk. I plucked up our marriage certificate and pocketed it, unwilling to let it out of my sight.

“Yes, but I wrote it,” he replied, grinning at me. “That also means you’re the legal owner of a thousand acres of prime land, Mr. Mathis. Maddy sent me a letter asking me to sell it, which was how we knew where to find her.”

I blinked, then turned my gaze on Justin.

“Why didn’t she tell us?” he asked.

Justin and I stared at each other, and I gave him a wry smile. “I expect she wanted to make sure we…I wasn’t like Nathan Bergman,” I replied, my heart swelling along with my cock. “She decided she wanted to stay in Montana, and knew we’d probably argue with her about selling her family home.”

“That sounds like Maddy. Unfortunately, Nathan and Celeste caught wind of it and had the judge issue that warrant,” Mr. Fuller replied, putting the will back in order.

“Which we know now is false,” Justin said.

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