The Blushing Bride

Amanda glanced back at the door of Jason Kruger’s office that she had slammed so indignantly moments ago, and decided that she wasn’t desperate enough to ask that man for help—not now or in the foreseeable future.

The door opened just then and he walked out, his tall, wide frame outlined by the lantern light behind him. Amanda’s temper rose again.

His face was in shadows and when he stepped closer Amanda realized it wasn’t Jason, but his brother. Her anger turned to something that for a flicker of a second seemed like disappointment. Amanda pushed it aside quickly. Certainly it couldn’t be that.

“Miss Pierce?” Ethan said. “I’m going to take you some place to stay for the night.”

“That won’t be necessary, Mr. Kruger.”

“Just call me Ethan. It can get kind of confusing around here, otherwise.” He grinned and nodded toward the office. “Besides, I don’t like being mistaken for my brother, if you get my meaning.”

“I do indeed get your meaning.” Amanda glared at the office door, then looked at Ethan. “But your help isn’t necessary. I’m going to have Shady take me back to Beaumont.”

“Not tonight, he can’t.” Ethan shook his head. “Shady can’t make that trip after dark.”

“Then I’ll get a hotel room for the night.”

“There is no hotel.”

“No hotel?” Amanda asked. “But surely—”

“Just do like you’re told.” Jason walked up, his footsteps heavy on the wooden porch. Amanda sensed he’d been standing there, listening…watching.

Anger threaded through her again. “You may be in charge of the logging camp, Mr. Kruger, but you have no say over what I do. Now, I am going to find Shady Harper and arrange for transportation down the mountain tonight.”

“No, you’re not.”

His big hand closed over her elbow. Long fingers exerted just enough pressure to keep her in place. She sensed incredible power in his grip, power barely under control.

Heat rushed up her arm, twined down her throat into the pit of her stomach causing her anger to bloom again.

And it was anger. What else could it be?

Amanda jerked her chin. “I am not your concern, Mr. Kruger.”

He leaned closer. A raw physical energy radiated from him, engulfing Amanda with its potency.

“That’s where you’re wrong, Miss Pierce.” His voice was deep, heavy with authority and determination. “Everything and everybody on this mountain is my concern.”

“Including me?”

He tightened his grip and leaned closer. “Especially you.”

Chapter Three

“Let me give you a hand, Miss Pierce.”

Ethan’s fingers closed around Amanda’s elbow, steadying her over the uneven terrain. His grip was as strong as his brother’s but not threatening in the least. In fact, Amanda barely noticed it.

But she had certainly noticed Jason when he’d stalked back into his office, leaving his brother to deliver her to a safe place for the night. And that suited Amanda just fine. Jason’s mere presence rankled her.

“You’ll like Mrs. McGee,” Ethan said, holding the lantern higher to light their way. The road was rough and rutted, dangerous in the dark.

Amanda held up her skirt, picking her way along. “You’re certain she won’t mind if I stay the night with her? It’s hardly proper to show up uninvited and ask such a favor. I can pay her, of course.”

“Mrs. McGee could surely use the money, but I doubt she’ll take it,” Ethan said. “She’ll probably just be glad for the company. Meg works hard. Too hard. Sometimes I worry that she’s—”

Amanda dared to take her eyes from the road. Ethan’s expression was unreadable in the dark.

“I gather there aren’t many women up here,” she said.

“Half-dozen or so,” Ethan said.

“Your brother seems most adept at running them off,” Amanda said.

Ethan chuckled. “This is Mrs. McGee’s place.”

They both stood there for a moment gazing at the little wood frame cabin with lantern light shining in one window.

“Aren’t we going to knock?” Amanda asked, when Ethan made no move toward the porch.

“Well, sure, I just…”

Ethan gave himself a little shake and placed the lantern on the steps. He climbed onto the porch, pulled off his hat, slicked back his hair, brushed at his sleeves, and tugged down on his vest. Drawing in a deep breath, Ethan studied the door for a moment, then finally knocked.

It opened and Mrs. McGee stepped into view. Amanda had expected her to resemble the two women she’d met in Jason Kruger’s office, big women capable of weathering life in the rugged logging camp.

But Mrs. McGee was delicate and shapely, about the same age as Amanda. Her blond hair was twisted neatly atop her head, and her dress, while serviceable, was flattering.

“Good evening, Mr. Kruger,” she said.

“Mrs. McGee.” Ethan twisted his hat, then plastered it against his chest. “I, uh, I’m sorry to bother you so late, but I’d like to ask a favor, if I can.”

“What sort of favor?” she asked.

“Well…” Ethan seemed lost for a moment. He looked down at his feet, then back at her. “Well…”

At this rate they’d be standing here all night. Amanda climbed onto the porch. “Mrs. McGee, I’m Miss Amanda Pierce. I’m very sorry to disturb you, but I find myself stranded here on the mountain. Ethan felt I could impose on you for a night’s lodging.”

She turned a warm smile on Ethan. “How thoughtful of you….”

Ethan turned several shades of red. He seemed to stop breathing for a moment, as well.

“I hope it’s not too much to ask, Mrs. McGee,” Amanda said.

“Of course not. And please, call me Meg,” she said.

Ethan nodded toward Amanda. “Miss Pierce was supposed to get married up here, but—”

Meg’s eyes widened. “Married?”

“To Jason.”

Meg smiled broadly at Amanda. “That’s wonderful!”

“It’s all a mistake,” Amanda said. “I’m not marrying anyone.”

“But…” Meg’s shoulders slumped.

“I’ll round up Shady and have him bring your bags over,” Ethan said.

“Thank you very much, Ethan,” Amanda said, and stepped inside the house. “You’ve been very kind.”

Ethan stood there on the porch for a moment, twisting his hat and shuffling his feet.

“Well…’night, Mrs. McGee,” he said.

“Good night, Ethan.” Meg paused for a moment, then closed the door softly.

Amanda was pleased to see that the McGee home looked comfortable and inviting. A big cookstove, a dining table and chairs, and a settee and rocker crowded the little room, decorated with lace doilies and a glowing lamp, all scrubbed clean and neat as a pin. Amanda felt herself relax for the first time since coming up the mountain.

“You must be starved,” Meg said. “Let me get you something.”

“I don’t want to impose on you any further,” Amanda said. “But I am quite hungry.”

Meg smiled. “It’s nothing fancy, just some chicken left from the supper I made for Todd and me.”

“Todd is your husband?” Amanda asked.

Meg stopped suddenly and her face blanched. “No. Todd is my son. My husband is…gone.”

Amanda cringed. Jason Kruger had told her about the dangerous work in the logging camp. She should have been more considerate about asking after Meg’s husband.

“I’m sorry to be so thoughtless,” Amanda said. “Please forgive me, and accept my condolences for your loss.”

Meg shook her head. “My husband isn’t dead. He’s…gone.”

There was surely more to the story than Meg was telling, but it was hardly any of Amanda’s business so she didn’t ask anything else.

Amanda didn’t pry into other peoples’ pasts because she knew—far too well—how hurtful that could be.

She slipped off her gloves and unpinned her hat while Meg moved around the kitchen. A knock sounded at the door, and when Meg answered it, Shady Harper ambled inside carrying Amanda’s two carpetbags and satchel.

“So, when are you and ol’ Jason gittin’ hitched?” Shady asked.

“There will be no wedding,” Amanda said. “It seems Mr. Kruger didn’t write that letter after all.”

Shady squinted hard at her. “And he’s not marrying you? Not doing the right thing by you?”

“You see, Shady, I never intended to marry Mr. Kruger.”

Shady tilted his head. “How’s that?”

She’d tried to explain it to Jason Kruger in his office but he’d refused to listen. She may as well tell somebody in this logging camp.

“I’m the owner of the Becoming Brides Matrimonial Service, not a prospective bride,” Amanda said. “My service is very selective. I don’t accept just any woman as a bride, nor do I blindly fill a request from every man who makes one.”

“So you come up here to have a look-see at Jason, after you got that letter from him asking for a wife?” Shady asked.

“Yes,” she said. “I came to determine if Mr. Kruger would be an acceptable Becoming Brides husband.”

“And you come all the way up here just to find out?” Shady asked.

“No, not entirely.” Amanda paused, reluctant to go into her real reason for being here. She already felt foolish enough in coming this far for nothing. But what damage could it do to talk about it now? She would leave in the morning and never see any of these people again.

“Actually, I’d hoped that other men here in the logging camp would want wives also,” Amanda said.

“That’s a wonderful idea,” Meg said.

“Darn tootin’,” Shady said.

“I didn’t know Mr. Kruger had a rule about not allowing women here. It seems I’ve brought my catalog of brides all the way up here for nothing.” Amanda gestured toward her satchel Shady had placed beside the stone fireplace.

“A catalog?” Shady asked. “Like a mail-order book? With pictures? Of women wanting to get hitched?”

Amanda nodded. “Dozens, actually. I offer brides of varying size, shape, hair color. All are educated and have excellent homemaking skills. Many are proficient in music and art, all sorts of things.”

Shady nodded toward her satchel. “And you got all them women in that book of yourn?”

“And the women are willing to come up here to the mountain to live?” Meg asked.

“Willing and anxious,” Amanda said. “I was disappointed, of course, when Mr. Kruger said no one here was interested in a wife.”

“Jason said that?” Meg asked.

“Yes,” Amanda said. “Several times—and not very pleasantly, I might add.”

“Humph.” Shady snorted and hitched up his trousers.

“There’s nothing left for me to do here,” Amanda said. “I’d like to ask you to take me back down the mountain in the morning, Shady.”

“You’re leaving?” Meg asked. “So soon?”

“I’ve no reason to stay.”

“Maybe if you give Jason time to think it over he’ll change his mind,” Meg said.

Amanda shook her head. “He was adamant about not allowing other women up here, even without knowing I owned the matrimonial service. Can you imagine his reaction if he knew I wanted to bring a large number of brides to his logging camp?”

Jason stood on the porch outside his office soaking up the silence and the peace and solitude of the darkness. During the day the mountain roared with the buzzing of saws in the mill, the horses and oxen straining against their heavy loads, axes splitting wood, and the shouts of his men felling the timber.

At night it was quiet. Peaceful. Jason’s mind could rest and his body could unwind. He treasured this time.

Except that tonight his thoughts hummed like a band saw and his body was wound tight enough to explode.

It was that woman’s fault. That Miss Amanda Pierce. Sashaying into his office with her bustle bobbing and her skirts swaying. Batting her eyelashes at him. Poking her lip out in a pout.

Well, damn if she’d come prancing onto his mountain and change the way he did things. Jason had a business to run. A business he’d fought hard to get started, and fought even harder to keep going. Big things were on the horizon. He didn’t need any distractions.

And Amanda Pierce was definitely a distraction.

Jason leaned his shoulder against the support column and gazed down the road toward town. He could still smell the scent of her lingering in the air. Sweet, delicate. Womanly.

He let his gaze wander to the McGee house. Shady Harper had gone inside a few minutes ago carrying her baggage. The whole house probably smelled like her by now.

The front door opened just then and Shady walked outside. A woman stepped into the doorway, outlined by the lantern light inside. Jason straightened and craned his neck. Was it her? Was it Amanda?

“Damn.”

Jason turned away mumbling a curse into the darkness. Women were a distraction, all right, and he’d just proved it, lurking in the dark, hoping to catch a peek of one. Even if it had been a long time since he’d peeked at a woman—or done anything more pleasurable with one.

He swung around again watching Shady on the porch talking to the woman in the doorway. It was Amanda. He was sure of it now.

Maybe Ethan was right. Maybe he had been up on this mountain too long.

Amanda was a good-looking woman. All the right curves in all the right places. Done up proper, begging to be undone. A tight little package waiting to be opened.

He’d like to unravel that package, and take his time doing it. Slow, easy, until he’d—

Jason snorted another curse and pushed himself off the porch, angry at his thoughts and his body’s reaction to them.

What the hell was he thinking? He didn’t need or want a woman in his life. Especially this one, full of vinegar and sass, calling him names and insulting him to his face, right in his own office. Miss Amanda Pierce would be gone in the morning, and good riddance to her.

Jason stalked down the road away from his office. He was going home. He’d get a good night’s sleep and set his mind back on work. He was expecting a package, and if Shady brought it up from Beaumont tomorrow he had to be ready to deal with it. He needed to keep his mind on business.

But a fragrance tickled Jason’s nose, stopping him in his track. He turned, his gaze drawn once again to the McGee house just as Amanda stepped back inside. Jason stood there a moment longer staring at the closed door, sniffing the air for the scent of her.

“Hellfire….”

Jason stalked away.

The gray of dawn seeped into the house as Amanda opened her eyes to the little room she’d slept in. She’d fallen asleep as soon as her head had hit the feather pillow last night, then awakened this morning to the smell of something delicious cooking in the kitchen—and the certain knowledge that she wasn’t in her own bed at home in San Francisco.

Amanda lay on the smooth cotton sheets for a few minutes, thinking. Here she was in a strange bed, a strange house, a strange place. The well-ordered life she’d left behind in San Francisco over a week ago seemed very dear to her right now.

Her father had been a successful merchant, and had left Amanda and her mother financially comfortable upon his death. But her mother wasn’t very wise in business and it hadn’t taken long before most of the money was gone.

Her mother was gone now, too. Amanda had used what money was left to start her Becoming Brides Matrimonial Service. The business filled several of the empty spots in her life.

Amanda pushed back the coverlet and sat up. The air in the little house was cool. She rose and dressed quickly.

Meg stood at the cookstove and Todd, her son, sat at the table. Amanda had seen the boy last night when Meg had roused him out of his bed and given it to Amanda. Todd was eight years old with blond hair, like his mother. His looks came from his father, Amanda guessed. His father who was…gone.

“Good morning,” Meg said, and smiled. “You’re just in time.”

“Can I help?” Amanda asked.

“No, thanks, all done.” Meg turned a pan of scrambled eggs into a bowl and set it on the table alongside a stack of biscuits. “Sit down.”

Todd dug in before Amanda and Meg got seated and finished before they got started.

“Can I go outside, Mama?” Todd asked.

“Yes, but don’t go far,” Meg said. “And don’t go near the mill.”

Todd rolled his eyes as if he’d heard those instructions before and darted out the front door. Amanda watched him go, watched the love in Meg’s gaze follow the boy outside.

“He’s a sweet child,” Amanda said.

Meg’s smile faded. “It’s been hard for him since his father…left.”

“Is he away on business?” Amanda asked.

“No.” Meg sipped her coffee.

“Sorry,” Amanda said. “I didn’t mean to pry.”

Meg sighed. “The whole mountain knows, so I suppose there’s no reason you shouldn’t. I woke one morning to find a note from Gerald saying he couldn’t live here any longer. He was moving on. He was sorry that he couldn’t take Todd and me with him, but he had to go find his own way.”

“And he left? Just like that?”

“Gerald was never the stable type,” Meg said. “We always moved from place to place, job to job.”

“That’s how you ended up here?”

“Gerald started a business in town. It failed. He tried again, then again, never with much luck. Then finally, he simply left.”

“How awful.”

“Yes, it was awful at first.” Meg managed a smile. “But Todd and I have a roof over our heads and I find enough work to keep us fed. We’re doing all right.”

“Why don’t you leave?”

“I have no family now, except for Todd,” Meg said. “Where would I go?”

“Do you like living here?” Amanda asked. She managed to keep from sounding judgmental. Though the mountain was foreign to her, that didn’t mean others wouldn’t like it.

“Yes,” Meg said, “but it is a little lonely without other women around.”

“Thanks to Mr. Kruger,” Amanda grumbled.

“Jason let Duncan’s wife come here because he was injured in an accident a few months back and she nursed him back to health. There’s no doctor in camp, you know. The few other women who live here work in town.”

“Does Mr. Kruger own the town as well?”

“The land under the town, but not the businesses,” Meg said. “He has a lot of influence over what goes on there. Why shouldn’t he? He owns the mountain.”

Amanda’s eyes widened. “He owns it?”

“Yes, he does.”

Amanda sat back, disturbed, but not knowing why exactly. There was something very powerful about a man who owned an entire mountain.

“The rules he has,” Meg said, “like no drinking and no smoking in camp, are for the safety and wellbeing of the loggers. He’s very concerned about his men. Jason is actually a very good boss.”

“You’ll forgive me if I differ with you on that.”

Meg smiled. “I’ve heard about other logging and milling companies from the men who work here. Most of them pay in script and the only place to shop is the company store, where prices are ridiculously high. Sometimes when the lumber market isn’t good, the owners refuse to redeem the script. The crews are stuck with no money and no way to get any. All they can do is keep working for the same owner.”

“That’s terrible,” Amanda said.

Meg nodded. “But Jason pays his crew in cash. Since he doesn’t own any of the businesses in town, his men can shop wherever they want.”

Amanda pushed her plate aside. “Still, to be so controlling….”

“Jason’s no saint,” Meg said. “But he is fair. That’s why I think you should go to him again this morning and explain about your plan to bring brides up here.”

Amanda remembered the look on Jason Kruger’s face last night and shook her head. “He seemed adamant.”

“But it’s a wonderful idea. You’ve come this far, Amanda, you can’t just leave without giving it one more try,” Meg said. “All the women here would be so grateful.”

Amanda mulled it over. She had come a long way and she deserved another chance. Maybe Jason would see things differently in the light of day. Once he heard her plan he might welcome the idea of brides on his mountain, as long as he didn’t have to marry one of them himself.

She’d been so determined, so anxious when she left San Francisco. Making the difficult trip, waiting in Beaumont two long days hadn’t deterred her. Even the rough trip up the mountain wasn’t enough to make her lose the enthusiasm for her plan. Nothing was, except meeting Jason Kruger.

Something about that man unsettled her. What was it?

Amanda didn’t want to think too hard on that notion. “All right,” she said. “I’ll give it another try.”

She rose from the table filled with determination and purpose once again. She’d talk to Jason Kruger.

What could he do but say no?