Page 37 of A Dangerous Heart (Wind River Mail-Order Brides #4)

He’d heard the town had hired a new schoolteacher this past September, but he didn’t know who or whether they were filling the position well. All he knew was that the new teacher wasn’t him.

For so long he’d dreamed of being the one standing at the front of that classroom?—

Nick slammed the lid on those pointless thoughts and nudged his horse faster.

Piano music filtered out into the quiet street from the saloon. A familiar horse hitched outside snagged Nick’s attention.

He slowed to a stop.

There was no mistaking the blood bay Thoroughbred standing out like a king among its subjects.

It belonged to Heath Quade, a neighbor to the McGraws and a constant thorn in their side.

The man had poisoned their family’s well months ago, and weeks later, had attempted to reroute the river that flowed onto McGraw land, their only source of water.

Why was the man at the saloon instead of at his ranch with his daughter?

Nick’s stomach dropped. It didn’t bode well.

He nudged his horse forward, but his gaze stayed on the horse as he rode by.

The man had been a menace ever since Nick’s pa had refused to sell his homestead to the greedy rancher decades ago. The man was still targeting the McGraw family, like a wolf hunting its prey.

Maybe it was telling that Quade was at the saloon. Two months ago, he’d suffered a hit to his reputation after his foreman and cowhands had been caught working with outlaws.

All of them had been arrested.

All except for Quade.

It unnerved Nick that Quade had kept his nose clean during that debacle—somehow. Still, whispers in town had finally turned against him. Some of the more prominent ranchers in their county had pulled support from Quade in his position as president of the Cattlemen’s Association.

Something like that could make a man furious.

If Nick’s gut was right, more than one storm lay on the horizon.

Nick puzzled over the rancher’s business in town until he reached his cousin Merritt’s house. He reined in his horse and dismounted, shaking snow from his shoulders and arms.

Patch faced the snow-splattered street with a whine. Nick reached down and scratched behind Patch’s right ear. “It’ll be fine, pup. We’ll hunker down at the newspaper office with Ed.”

With the snow threatening like this, the half-day’s ride back home to the ranch would be treacherous. It would be safer for Nick to stay with his brother Ed and Ed’s wife, Rebekah. They were newlyweds, so it would be awkward, but safer than being caught out in the storm.

Merritt swung open the door at Nick’s knock. Both eyebrows flicked up, concern etching her forehead. “Nick? I didn’t expect to see you. Everything okay?”

She opened the door wide enough for him to slip inside, but Nick hesitated, pinching his lips together.

He saw the quick flash of what he imagined was disappointment before she smiled.

He’d never told her why he’d returned to Calvin before completing his teaching certificate. She’d never asked.

Nick inhaled and removed his hat. He stepped past Merritt into the warmth of her entryway. “I can’t stay. I gotta rush over to the land office but wanted to find out…”

Merritt tucked her shawl closer around her and tilted her head.

She was going to make him say it.

“…whether you’d had an answer to one of your letters.” Nick’s words tapered off as his attention drifted behind Merritt, toward the parlor and the decorations saturating the house.

“Jack decorated,” she explained in a murmur. Her husband was new to celebrating Christmas.

Pine garland swagged along the ceiling and over the fireplace mantel. Perfectly tied bows of red velvet accented the boughs. A large fir tree stood in the corner, draped in strings of popcorn with ornaments of dried apples and starched yarn.

All of it screamed of a joyous season. Joy Nick could not share. Not anymore.

Outside, a gust pelted snow against the window. Merritt’s expression softened. “I didn’t realize you were in such a hurry to find a wife. It’s only been a couple of weeks.”

Nick rubbed the back of his neck, his face going hot. She was right. It’d only been a couple of weeks since he’d asked her to write some letters on his behalf, hoping that one or two of her long-distance acquaintances might be interested in corresponding with him.

But in those intervening weeks, he’d had plenty of time to observe his oldest brother, Drew, doting on his pregnant wife, Kaitlyn, and his next oldest brother, Isaac, teaching his adopted sons to carve a whistle.

His other brother Ed had been holding Rebekah’s hand in church last Sunday, their clasped hands almost hidden in the folds of Rebekah’s skirts.

Nick had still seen it.

He didn’t begrudge his brothers their happiness. Quite the opposite. But he wanted someone to look at him the way Kaitlyn looked at Drew.

After what’d happened five years ago, Nick had given up on the idea of finding himself a perfect match. But watching his brothers find love had reminded him that man wasn’t meant to be alone.

He sighed. He’d figured it’d been a long shot. “I’ll be wintering up on the mountain with the cattle. After everything that’s happened with my brothers and their wives, I’d prefer it if they didn’t have a chance to interfere in this.”

Her lips twitched. She knew all of it. Kaitlyn’s unexpected appearance, answering a letter from Drew that had been addressed to someone else.

Ed’s failed attempt at securing Isaac a mail-order bride—romancing Rebekah himself.

And then David and Jo’s misguided attempt at matchmaking that had resulted in a wife for Isaac.

Nick didn’t want a surprise bride.

“You want me to hold your letters?” Merritt asked.

“Better you holding on to them than any of my brothers getting hold of one. That is, if there are any.”

Merritt stifled a smile. “Of course there will be letters. You’re a good catch, Nick McGraw.”

He wasn’t so sure.

Footsteps sounded on the front porch, followed by someone stomping the snow off their boots.

Nick quirked an eyebrow. “Expecting someone?”

Merritt shook her head. “No. Since I know you need to leave, do you mind seeing who it is outside while I get something from the kitchen for Kaitlyn? It’s a new book for Jo that I’d like to send home with you.”

She didn’t give him a chance to answer as she disappeared into the kitchen.

He reached for the door just as it swung open. Nick stumbled backward to keep it from knocking into him.

“Sorry, Merritt!” But the woman with snow dousing her black coat and blonde hair peeking out from beneath a lopsided hat didn’t sound sorry.

She turned away and closed the door before he could get a look at her face. He felt a beat of recognition, even as she said, “Brrr, the temperature is dropping fast.”

She patted away the clumps of snow from her coat, the motion somehow familiar, then peeled off her gloves and shoved them into her coat pocket. “I sent the kids home early today with the snow settling in. It’s the last day before break anyway. I hope it was early enough for them to get home.”

She turned while unbuttoning her coat. “I really need to talk to you.”

Her head tilted up and their gazes collided.

Nick’s breath seized in his lungs. He couldn’t move, his heart frozen mid-beat.

The overdone Christmas decorations faded away as he looked at the only woman who had ever noticed the real Nick McGraw.

Elsie.

Even thinking her name released a rush of memories from the place where he’d barricaded them. They rubbed against something so tender, so raw within him, that all his nerves fired at once.

Her face paled as she gave a heavy blink—as if she, too, wanted to make sure her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her.

A drip of melted snow slipped from her hat. Her hand trembled as she brushed away the drop from her cheek.

His hand twitched, as if it remembered the softness of her skin, her hair, and longed for the connection. He clenched his hands until his nails cut into his palms.

Her jaw slackened before she said, “Nick?”

What was she doing here? In Calvin, Wyoming. At Merritt’s house.

The door—his means of escaping this torturous moment—was behind her. He couldn’t hear Merritt in the kitchen, but she was only steps away. He didn’t want to wait for a book or for anything.

He just wanted out of here.

Elsie fiddled with the pleat of her skirt, the same way she always had when nervous. “What are you doing here in Calvin?”

He forced out the words, though they cut his throat like glass. “I live here.”

* * *

Moments before reaching her friend Merritt’s house, Elsie Atchison had leaned into the wind working against her and shoved the letter deeper into her pocket.

I’d hoped to tell you in person, but I can’t wait any longer. I love you.

Love her? How could Arnold Nelson love her? He didn’t even know her. Not the real her hidden beneath layers of expectations she worked hard to meet.

Snow soaked through her boots, freezing her toes. She forced them faster toward Merritt’s.

She’d left the empty schoolroom, but her feet hadn’t turned toward the room she rented in the family home of one of her students.

The family had left to visit a far-off daughter for Christmas.

The house would be entirely too quiet. Elsie needed to talk through this disaster. Needed to find a solution.

Merritt would help. She was her sister Darcy’s friend, Elsie’s by proxy. She might even be able to tell Elsie how to fix this mess.

The letter crinkled as Elsie hugged her middle.

Love? How had these letters gotten so out of hand? She’d only agreed to the correspondence to avoid disappointing her parents. She’d known Arnold forever but had never felt that way about him.

The thought of marrying Arnold closed in around her as if smothering her. She wanted to teach. Not marry. Her mother couldn’t understand how Elsie felt. Pretended she didn’t hear when Elsie brought it up.