Linda Ford by The Cowboy's Surprise Bride Read Free Book Online Page B

toward the horizon. It would soon disappear behind the distant mountains.
    Heavy clouds hung from the sky. It would be good if the snow held off a few more days . A few more weeks would be even better, but he didn’t like to sound greedy.
    At Linette’s call, Cassie sighed and pushed heavily to her feet. She wasn’t as old as Eddie first judged. Life had been hard on her. He suspected a strong woman lay beneath the sharp exterior. Only a fighter would have survived what she’d been through.
    The first step Eddie took had Grady scuttling toward the wall. Eddie stopped.
    “I’ll feed him later,” Linette said.
    It grated on Eddie’s nerves that his presence was unwelcome in his own home. But not nearly as much as it bothered him to be the cause of Grady’s fear. “We might as well start out the way we intend to continue. I eat my meals in a civilized fashion. I expect the same from my guests.” He made no threatening moves as he squatted to Grady’s level. “Grady, this is my house. You’re welcome here, but when we eat, we sit together at the table. Think you can do that?”
    Grady shook his head and whimpered. His gaze brushed past Eddie, not quite connecting but allowing Eddie to see something in the boy’s eyes. Hurt. Insecurity. Rejection. He didn’t understand how he knew and recognized it, but he did as surely as he knew his name. This boy was filled with consuming fear and loneliness. He had every reason to feel that way. His own father had turned his back on him.
    Eddie’s insides trembled and a pain shot through his jaw as he struggled to keep his expression from revealing what he thought of such a man. The boy did not deserve the hurt heaped on him by his father. No one did.
    He ached to promise the boy he was safe now. But hurting and fearful animals—and little boys—needed lots of reassurance. “Aren’t you hungry?”
    Grady glanced toward the table then he studied Eddie hard and solemnly.
    Eddie didn’t move. Didn’t smile. He just waited, letting the child see he meant him no harm. Finally Grady edged away, keeping as much distance between himself and Eddie as possible. He hurried to Linette’s side and buried his face in her skirts.
    Eddie pushed to his feet. “Grady, you will sit on a chair to eat.” Linette’s glare seared, while Cassie watched with indifference.
    Grady climbed to a chair and sat, giving Eddie a look of defiance. Eddie could almost read his thoughts. I’m sitting on the outside, but I’m doing what I want on the inside.
    Eddie struggled to keep from laughing.
    Linette sat down with a huff of exasperation.
    Sobering instantly, he met her gaze. Did she find all rules and conventions to her dislike? “A man is ruler in his own house. Is that not from the scriptures?” At the flash in her eyes he wondered if she would defy the word of God.
    The winter looked longer and colder with every passing hour.

Chapter Three
    W hy had God made woman to be subject to a man?
    Linette knew the verse he referred to. It had mocked her on many occasions. She would never dispute God’s word, but some of it was hard to swallow. It made marriage most unappealing. She would avoid it altogether except it provided her only hope of escaping her father’s plans.
    Eddie waited until she was settled. “I’ll say the blessing.”
    She bowed her head. Although Eddie had insisted on Grady’s obedience, he’d at least been gentle with the boy. It wouldn’t be hard to be wife to a man who treated her with such kindness and respected her heart’s yearnings. But she feared she wanted more than she could hope for. More and more it looked as if she would not find freedom here any more than she had in England. Still, anything was better than marrying a lumpy, lecherous old man.
    She waited until everyone had taken a biscuit or several. “I’m afraid I’m not much of a cook,” she murmured. “We had a cook at home who refused to let me in the kitchen.”
    “This is fine.”
    She’d done