Read Online Secondhand Bride by Linda Lael Miller - Free Book Online Page A

thought, and they sat down on a bench in front of the closed mercantile, still holding hands. “Now there’s a story,” he said. “When Pa informed us, on his birthday, that the first one of us to get married and present him with a grandchild would run the ranch, Rafe sent away for a bride, and Emmeline came out from Kansas City. Things were pretty rocky between them for a while, so he wrote off for another bride, just in case Emmeline didn’t work out.” He paused, chuckled. “Kade did the same, once he found out. The agency got mixed up and sent six of them. When they got here and found out Rafe was taken, they all set their caps for Kade. That made for some merriment, but most of them are gone now. Abigail stayed—she and Mamie run the rooming house together, and Sue Ellen Caruthers keeps house for Holt Cavanagh. I imagine he’ll marry her one of these days, just for something to do.”
    Chloe mused a while, enjoying the comical picture Jeb had painted in her mind. It was purely a relief, after all her heavy thoughts. “What about you?” she asked presently. “Didn’t any of the brides fix their sights on you?”
    He hesitated. “No,” he said. In profile, he looked serious, and when he turned his gaze on Chloe, she saw sadness there. “I told them I was already married.”
    Chloe had spoken in haste; now, she could repent the impulse at leisure. “I see,” she said, changing the subject, sensing that there would be another storm if she didn’t. “Holt referred to you as his brother last night. Why does he call himself Cavanagh, and not McKettrick?”
    Jeb’s jaw tightened. “He’s a half brother,” he said, somewhat tersely. “Pa was married to his mother, back in Texas. When she died, Pa left Holt with relatives and came up here, with a herd of cattle, to settle the Triple M. He met Ma, they got married, and Rafe, Kade, and I were born. Somehow, Pa neglected to mention, to us anyway, that he had another son.” He sighed, and the tension in his shoulders slackened a little. “Holt never forgave Pa for leaving him, I guess, and he took the name Cavanagh out of spite, most likely.”
    “You don’t like him,” Chloe said.
    “I don’t trust him,” Jeb replied. “He doesn’t have much to do with Pa, or any of us for that matter. He came here to make trouble, plain and simple, and it’s hard to like a man for that.”
    “Maybe he just wants the rest of you to acknowledge him,” Chloe suggested carefully. She’d only met Mr. Cavanagh once, but she’d liked him instinctively. He was a gentleman, she knew that much, and she sensed a bold and stalwart spirit in him. And, like his half brothers, he wasn’t hard on the eye.
    “It’ll be a while,” Jeb said grimly. He stared at the ground for a long time, and another silence settled between them. Chloe decided it would be a mistake to argue Holt’s case, though she was sorely tempted. People like Jeb, with strong families and deeded ground under their feet, tended to take such things for granted. Most likely, they didn’t know what it was to feel lonely.
    It was Jeb who broke the impasse. “Guess I’d better get you back to the hotel,” he said. “Winter or summer, the high country gets cold at night.”
    For her part, Chloe would have been glad to stay right there, close to Jeb, but it was a foolish notion, and she knew it. She’d built walls around her heart, after John Lewis left Sacramento that last time, and both Jack Barrett and Jeb McKettrick had breached them, taking her unawares. The result had been pain, humiliation, and the loss of a job she’d loved.
    She wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
    Except that Jeb kissed her, without warning, right there on the street. As before, her bones melted, and her blood thundered through her veins.
    She pushed him away.
    He caught her chin in his hand, made her look at him. “Remember how it was with us, Chloe?” he asked, his voice raspy and gruff.
    She twisted free. “Are you