Page 1 of A Forgotten Heart (Wind River Mail-Order Brides #5)

“ H ey, McGraw!”

Nick McGraw glanced up at the shout as he guided his horse down the muddy, icy track that was Main Street in the tiny town of Calvin, Wyoming. His dog, Patch, circled the horse, careful to stay clear of its hooves.

Nick’s old school chum Ames Lancaster was on the boardwalk outside the leather-goods store, bundled in a coat and red scarf, his black wool derby tucked low over his head.

“What’re you doing in town? Don’t you know there’s a storm brewing?” Ames’s eyes drifted to the heavy clouds sinking closer to the tops of the buildings.

Not so different from the heaviness weighing on Nick’s chest.

“Business.” Nick patted his satchel, the strap looped across his chest, with a gloved hand.

An icy gust sliced through Nick’s coat, minuscule snowflakes stinging his cheeks beneath his hat.

Ames scoffed. “It couldn’t wait until this storm clears?”

Not when his family depended on him. “It didn’t look so bad when I left.”

Nick’s oldest brother, Drew, had insisted that the sale contract be finalized at the land office as soon as possible.

With Christmas only a little more than a couple weeks away, Nick imagined Drew didn’t want to worry about anything—or anyone—causing trouble with the simple transaction.

Drew was big on legacy, on protecting and expanding the land their pa had left them.

Nick blinked away the snowflakes gathering on his lashes.

Another arctic blast blew over them, making him shiver. He urged Surrey on.

“Don’t get caught out in it!” Ames called out after him.

Ames wasn’t joking. Dense moisture thickened the air, promising a dump of snow. Nick would need to finish his errands and seek shelter. Soon.

Normally he looked forward to his trips to town. Seeing friends. Catching up on their lives. But today was different.

How long would it be before he saw town again?

After his business at the land office, he’d be stuck in a winter cabin on the side of a mountain for months. Isolated. With only cows for company.

Children’s laughter wafted from the schoolhouse as a few stragglers scurried home. Probably released early on account of the coming storm.

He tried not to look. He really did. But when he passed the white clapboard schoolhouse, his eyes devoured the snug little building.

He hadn’t been inside the new schoolhouse, built after the first had been destroyed by fire almost a year ago. That had been just before his cousin Merritt, the longtime schoolmarm, had gotten married and stepped down.

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.