His Dangerous Bride (The Brides of Paradise Ranch - Spicy Version Book 2) by Merry Farmer Read Free Book Online

rancher’s wife out West, then they wouldn’t get it in their heads to look for her.
    “Right.” She twisted to face Luke, hands on her hips. “So clearly we’re not shacking up here tonight. Where do we hang our boots until the house is ready?”
    A whimsical grin flickered across Luke’s features. “Howard thought of that too. Come on, I’ll show you.”
    He reached for her hand, and Eden was more than happy to take it. It wasn’t just the house or the peaceful, frontier town. It was the handsome, motivated husband she’d landed herself that made this such a good deal. Lord, she couldn’t wait to get him wherever it was they were going and peel his clothes off to see what he was made of.
    “This Village is halfway between town and Paradise Ranch,” Luke explained once they were on the road again. “But for now, most of Howard’s employees—Mrs. Piedmont’s employees too, since she owns half the ranch—live in bunk-houses. Howard decided that newlyweds need a little privacy until their houses are done. So he built the Hen House.”
    Eden snorted with laughter. “Hen House?”
    Luke shook his head, chuckling. “I wasn’t the one who named it, trust me.”
    They drove on, through parched landscape and under a sweeping arch with the words “Paradise Ranch” worked in iron filigree. Before they had gone more than a hundred yards, Eden saw the herd and gasped.
    “I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many cows in one place in my life,” she said, pressing a hand to her chest.
    “They’re usually more spread out, scattered all across the range. But the drive starts tomorrow, so we’ve corralled them into this area,” Luke explained.
    “There must be hundreds of them.” The wild urge to count every head welled up in Eden, but she didn’t know where to start. “How long does it take to drive them?”
    Luke shrugged. “This is the first time we have to take them all the way to the Culpepper stockyard, so we’re not exactly sure. A couple weeks?”
    Eden hummed. She’s spent weeks on end living rough off the land more than a couple of times, but not with hundreds of cattle to watch out for.
    Those thoughts were cut short as Luke nudged her and pointed on to a cluster of buildings—including a large, fine house—ahead of them.
    “There you go.” He nodded. “Howard’s bit of the ranch and all his buildings, including that whitewashed one, the Hen House. We’re home.”

 
     
    Chapter Four
     
     
    Howard Haskell knew exactly what he was doing when he built the Hen House. Although Luke suspected that Mrs. Elizabeth Haskell was the one who spearheaded the design. Eden’s eyes lit up when Luke escorted her up the shallow steps to the small front porch, then on inside into the main room.
    The Hen House had three main rooms—a central room with a sofa and chairs, dining room table, and cabinet, a bedroom with a single, large bed and a bureau, and a fully-stocked kitchen. It was snug and cozy, but it wasn’t designed to be lived in for a long period of time. There wasn’t much space, but that didn’t seem to bother Eden at all.
    “It’s lovely,” she sighed, turning a circle in the main room. “A bride could feel right at home here.”
    “I think that’s the point.” Luke tried to keep the grunt out of his voice as he carried her trunk inside. “Where do you want this?”
    Eden finished her circle by facing him, her pretty face sporting a blush that made Luke want to drop the trunk where they were and kiss her. She scanned the room, skipped over to the open bedroom door, and peeked inside.
    “In here.”
    Luke followed her, turning sideways to squeeze through the bedroom door with the trunk. A rush of heat struck him at the sight of the big bed. Now there was something he was looking forward to. But not with a trunk in his arms.
    “Put it on the bed for now,” Eden instructed him, her lips twitching with amusement when she saw where his gaze had landed.
    Luke’s heated thoughts