Mail Order Bride: Westward Dance (8 page)

“Don’t be an ass,” Seth
said.

“I wasn’t,” Marcus responded. “I was
being truthful.”

“Same thing.”

“How do you figure that?”

Seth said, “You’re supposed to tell me
I look great, handsome, something to give me some confidence, you
idiot.”

“Oh, so you mean lie to you. Ok. In
that case, you look, um, determined. Stubborn. And clean. At least
you’re clean,” Marcus joked.

Seth threw Marcus a disgusted look and
began moving towards the kitchen. He got to the doorway and looked
out. He recognized Geoffrey and smiled as he remembered Maddie
swearing him to secrecy that he would be coming with her. It was
good to see him again. Geoffrey moved and Seth caught sight of
Maddie wondered if he was hallucinating again like the time he’d
gotten too much laudanum.

Her long, platinum blonde hair was
pinned up in an intricate style that Seth had seen mainly in the
larger cities they’d passed through on the way to Texas or in
Chicago. Big blue eyes framed with long, dark lashes held a
luminosity that was entrancing. Seth’s eyes stopped at her mouth,
which was full and pink. He had a strong urge to kiss those lovely
lips.

She was a few inches shorter than
Tessa, and a little more voluptuous. Hers was a true hourglass
figure and Seth wondered what it would be like to hold her in his
arms. He squelched such thoughts as she turned in his direction and
honed in on him with those extraordinary eyes. Suddenly he was
nervous again, hoping to measure up to whatever expectations she’d
had. Seth hated feeling self-conscious and gathered his courage. He
was not about to give in to such doubts.

When Maddie had met Dean and Marcus,
she was immediately struck by how handsome they both were. At first
it was hard to think that they were related because they looked so
different. Dean had blond good looks while Marcus was darkly
attractive. No wonder her sister had fallen for Dean and she
wondered if Seth was as good-looking as his brothers.

As they made the trip from Wolfe’s
Point to Dawson County, Maddie discovered that it was much more
than Dean’s looks that had attracted Tessa. He was kind,
considerate, and funny. Marcus was a natural clown and made
good-natured fun of everyone. Both men were intelligent and Marcus
was very educated. By the time they reached the ranch, she was very
comfortable around both men and was enjoying their company very
much.

Now, as she played with Mikey and
talked with the others, she turned to look at the house and saw the
most handsome man she’d ever seen. She knew that he must be Seth,
especially since he leaned on crutches. He had blond hair like
Dean, but his eyes were a lighter shade of blue than Dean’s. His
broad shoulders and powerful arms conveyed the fact that he was a
man who performed hard work.

She’d heard of women swooning and had
never given any credence to the notion, but when she looked into
Seth’s eyes, Maddie had to admit that she felt her knees get a
little weak. It rattled her to find that she found a man
romantically attractive after what she’d been through, but she felt
that she knew Seth because they had exchanged letters. Maddie had
come to like him and instinctively trusted him.

She called on her skills as successful
debutante who was skilled in covering her feelings and acting as
society dictated. Breaking away from Tessa and the other men,
Maddie strode towards him with confidence. As she closed the
distance between them, she saw Seth straighten and grimace
slightly. He was trying to hide it, but standing there was causing
him a great deal of pain.

He smiled at her and Maddie again felt
that slight twinge of weakness in her legs. She smiled back as he
said, “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Miss O’Connor. You’re
even prettier than I’d imagined.”

Maddie laughed. “The pleasure is
mutual, Mr. Samuels. You know just how to flatter a
lady.”

“No, ma’am. Just telling the truth,”
Seth said. “Come on in and we’ll get you something cool to drink.
I’m sure you’re in need of some refreshments. Your sister was busy
preparing some today.”

Seth carefully backed away from the
door. He didn’t want to fall over backwards and embarrass himself.
Not to mention that he would probably pass out from the pain it
would cause. Trouble came bouncing out to the kitchen then and
barked at Maddie.

Maddie knelt down to pet the little
guy. He was very cute and obviously friendly. He tried to kiss her
face and his little tail was a blur of movement as he greeted her.
Maddie could see that Tessa had done a good job in cleaning him up.
His gray fur was silky soft but he needed trimmed properly. She
decided that she would take care of that the next day.

“This must be Trouble. What a handsome
dog you are,” she said as she pet him.

Trouble loved the attention and whined
with happiness.

Maddie rose. “I can see why you
couldn’t turn him away. He’s very lovable.”

Seth looked down at Trouble and
grunted. “Yeah. Let’s go sit in the parlor where we can be
comfortable.”

“That sounds lovely,” Maddie
said.

She was nonchalant as Seth slowly made
his way into the room. She didn’t want to call attention to his
slow movements. Marcus was there.

“I got it all ready for you, Seth,” he
said.

Seth was in too much pain to argue or
to be too proud at the moment. Standing for so long had taken a
toll on him. “Thanks, Marcus. I appreciate it.” To Maddie he said,
“Please sit wherever you would be most comfortable.”

“Thank you,” Maddie said.

She waited until Marcus had gotten Seth
settled on the sofa before sitting in one of the other chairs that
faced the sofa. That way they would be able to converse
easily.

“Sorry about all the huffing and
puffing. I just started working with these crutches and it hasn’t
been easy,” Seth told her.

“I’ll bet not,” Maddie said. “Seth, I
know that we’ve just formally met, but I do feel as though I know
you somewhat and I don’t want you to think that you have to hide
your pain from me. I understand how serious your accident was and
that I realize that you’ve suffered a great deal.” She smiled at
him then. “I know how you men are about that sort of thing. Even
though you’re hurting and somewhat weak at the moment, it’s
apparent that you’re still a strong man and you’ll improve with
time.”

Seth was touched by her sympathy and
honesty. “Thank you. Same goes for you, except you’re not a
man.”

“I should hope not!” Maddie
laughed.

Seth chuckled. “That didn’t come out
right.”

“It’s all right. I knew what you
meant,” Maddie said.

Everyone else came in the house at that
moment. Dean introduced Maddie to Sadie and Jack, who had come
running from the barn to greet the new arrivals. Tessa checked on
Seth in motherly fashion and Maddie was amused to see that side of
her. Then Tessa and Sadie began setting out snacks and
drinks.

Dean had Jack help him bring the
kitchen chairs into the parlor so they could all sit together and
visit. Once they were all seated, Tessa said, “It’s so good to have
you here, Papa and Maddie. I’ve missed you so much.”

“I’ve missed you, too,” Maddie replied.
“It’s not the same around the house without you there to fight
against attending parties and the like.”

Tessa chuckled. “Yes, I’m sure that
it’s a lot more peaceful.”

Maddie looked around the room at those
gathered there and said, “Tessa hated going to balls and dinners
and got out of them in a lot of creative ways. She was a rebel.
While most eligible young women were living it up and enjoying
their debut, Tessa would rather read or go to smaller gatherings
with her closest friends and do God knows what.”

“Yes, Maddie, playing cards and other
games was wildly inappropriate,” Tessa quipped. “I’m sorry, Papa,
but it was much more fun than dancing with men I didn’t like. Not
to mention, sitting around gossiping about other people. It was
very tiresome.”

Geoffrey smiled. “We should have heeded
a little more I suppose, but I think things worked out the way they
were supposed to.”

“They sure did,” Dean agreed as he gave
his wife a look filled with love.

Sadie said, “Yeah. We’re very lucky to
have Mama.”

Tessa leaned over and patted Sadie’s
knee. “I’m lucky to have all of you. Now, who’s ready for more
lemonade?”

Seth rested his head back against the
sofa. He was tired and was waiting for Dean to come help him into
bed. The physical exhaustion was bad enough, but the combination of
mental fatigue and restlessness was the worst part of his
condition. At night he had dreams of being out on the range, the
wind ruffling Hank’s mane and the sound of the cattle moving about
playing through his mind.

When he woke, reality slammed down on
him in the form of deep throbbing pain in his leg brought about by
the inflammation and movement during sleep. He was tired of lying
around day after day with not much to do. Sometimes they played
cards at night, which was a diversion, but during the day the rest
of the family was busy and though they took good care of him, there
wasn’t a lot of socializing and he was bored.

Seth was glad for Trouble’s company and
some days he was the only thing keeping Seth sane. He worked with
his eager canine pupil and had taught him a few things. Even the
appeal of that faded after so long and he desperately turned to the
books with which Tessa and Marcus supplied him hoping they would
help him shut out the pain and boredom. They didn’t.

A hand on his shoulder brought him out
of his reverie. He looked up to see Maddie leaning over him
slightly with a concerned expression on her lovely face. Although
he searched through his memory to find anything that he’d ever seen
that was as beautiful as Maddie, he found nothing that compared. A
smile spread slowly across his face.

“Hi. I thought you went to bed,” he
said.

Maddie sighed. “I did, but I couldn’t
sleep. I think I’m still excited and my brain doesn’t understand
that it’s time to go to sleep.”

Seth shifted a little bit. “Yeah, I
understand that. Have a seat.”

“Thank you,” Maddie said. She let her
eyes roam around the room but also watched Seth as she did so. His
chiseled features were partly in shadow, only half of his face lit
by the kerosene lantern that hung in the center of the room. She
been around many handsome men but Seth was as different from them
as the desert from the arctic.

In his casual clothing, Seth’s muscles
were well defined and stubble roughened his jaw. His hair was messy
from countless rakings with his fingers and his hands were
calloused from years of hard labor. There was nothing suave or
debonair about him at the moment but Maddie couldn’t ever remember
being more attracted to a man.

“It’s so peaceful here and they’re so
many wonderful smells. I can see why Tessa loves it here,” Maddie
said. “She always wanted excitement and adventure and our social
class’ activities didn’t provide enough.”

Seth chuckled as Maddie sat down and
arranged her blue silk robe around her. “Your sister sure does
enjoy her adventure. She’s had her share of it, too.”

The prospect of hearing some juicy
tidbits about Tessa was too good to pass up. Forgetting manners,
Maddie tucked her feet up under her in an unladylike fashion and
leaned forward.

“Tell me!” she said.

Seth smiled at the eagerness in her
face. “Tell you what? About the time she was sitting in the pasture
writing and lost track of time.”

Maddie frowned. “That doesn’t sound
very adventurous.”

Tessa isn’t the only one who can
spin a yarn
, Seth thought. He hid his amusement over Maddie’s
disappointment. “Well, it wasn’t really. That is until sun down
came and the shadows got long.”

Maddie’s interest returned.

“See, Tessa hadn’t been here all that
long and didn’t understand that there are different kinds of
creatures around here,” Seth said.

Trouble whined as if afraid and Seth
could have kissed the dog for unconsciously playing along with
him.

Maddie became enthralled. “Creatures?
What kind of creatures?”

The pain in Seth’s leg began to fade as
he warmed to his story. “There’re all kinds: wild cats, cougars,
wolves, coyotes, and bears. Those are the more common, but there
are some others that I’m not sure are ever seen anywhere
else.”

“Like what?”

“Like the one that crept up on Tessa
that night. It was so quiet that she never heard it until it was
almost too late,” Seth said.

Maddie had always loved stories and
their father had told them many scary stories as girls. They had
shrieked and laughed through them and then piled in Tessa’s bed
because they were all too frightened to be alone. It seemed as if
she hadn’t changed, Maddie realized.

Seth loved the way her attention was
riveted on him. She looked cute and sexy all at once and he could
have told stories to her all night just to know he was pleasing
her.