Read Online Marrying Minda by Tanya Hanson - Free Book Online Page B

to go, you'll know it. I won't leave without kissing you good-bye.”
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    Chapter Five
    Right away he found the herbs he needed along the river and headed for town. Of anybody around here, Jake Satterburg would know if Silly's sickness was something that had spread to other folks. Folks turned to the preacher first in times of trouble.
    Damn, Brix wished he had time to cool down his heated body in the river. What the hell had he done, stealing a kiss from Minda like that at midnight? Now, with Silly recovered, he couldn't get the taste of her lips out of his mind, or the feel of her breasts underneath that nightgown. True, he was her husband, but he was a husband who didn't want a wife. Just a man who wanted a woman.
    A woman he didn't dare take.
    Being outdoors contented him, like it always did, even with Minda on his mind and the bugs tangling in his eyelashes. All around him, meadows and prairie grass and homesteads spread out, split here and there with creeks. It wasn't much like the miles of sagebrush and mesquite in Texas, but the sky was high and the horizon long. No roof or walls for Brixton Haynes.
    And with the baby seeming all but well this morning, he could be on his way in two days, like he'd planned.
    As he rode into Paradise, he looked longingly at Skinny Hank's saloon, but didn't stop until the church. There he found Jake, sweeping the aisles clean of the footprints from yesterday's wedding guests. It was a strange activity for the preacherman.
    “Doing woman's work now, are you?” Brix grinned.
    “How's the bridegroom?” Jake said with a cheeky smile that set Brix to scowling. It might be the house of God and Jake a man of the cloth, but they'd been chums since their boyhood. Anybody else would have his nose bloodied.
    “One of the kids took sick,” Brix said, without answering Jake's question, and without saying Silly's name directly. Jake's face darkened anyway. “Recovered now. I'm just wondering if you heard of an ague or somesuch going around?”
    “Which kid?”
    “Don't matter. Just wondering.”
    Jake shook his head. “So far, it seems like just another day in Paradise. But I'll let you know if I get wind of anything. And—” He leaned on the broom like he did his pulpit. “I'll wire Chester in David City if he's needed.”
    “Figured you'd do that.”
    “It's Silly, isn't it,” Jake said, never moving the broom.
    “Yep. But like I say, things seem better now.” A rush of relief cooled Brix's body.
    “I won't say a word to Gracey,” Jake said, but his eyes looked away.
    “You better not. I admire Gracey, Jake, but Silly's my child. And Minda's now, too.” Just saying his wife's name made him peek around the church where their wedding had been. Her face outlined by that white fancy veil had been as beautiful as any man could imagine. And that kiss at the altar...
    Despite his holy surroundings, Brix's trousers tightened around his swelling erection. But even with Minda inside his head, he cooled his thoughts and body by remembering the facts. Minda was greedy and had driven his brother to his death. Esperanza had been fickle, breaking his heart just as he'd been ready to give it to her forever.
    “Brix...” Jake hesitated a bit. “Making Silly our own was never my idea. I had no part in Gracey cooking up such a scheme.”
    “I figured that. But sometimes folks keep secrets. We did it to Minda. You, me, and Norman Dale agreeing I should wed up with her right off.”
    “We did the right thing, Brix,” Jake said, drawing breath deep inside, then blowing it right out. “Your deathbed vow to Norman Dale is a sacred trust. You aren't regretting it, are you?”
    Well, he didn't want a wife, but the memory of her sweet kiss and hot body sure made him imagine possible delights.
    “Hell, no,” he said. “The kids need her, and I won't be around. Minda's got what she came for, a house and family. But she said you and I committed a sin of omission. I