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Chapter One

A DAY’S JOURNEY BY HORSE SOUTH OF THE GRAND CANYON, ARIZONA

B ernadette Reid had a difficult time taking her eyes off of Blaze Levi.

He seemed larger than life as he rode his horse.

He was tall with broad shoulders, and he had muscles that strained under his shirt.

He had wavy brown hair that fell past his shoulders.

On other men, that look would not have been appealing, but he made it work.

He was everything a woman could want: brave, strong, and gorgeous.

When her brother arranged for her to marry Blaze, he had done her a tremendous favor.

None of the men in Pennsylvania were anything like him.

In some ways, he was more like a god than a human being.

She smiled as she envisioned what being his wife would be like.

She’d make the home pretty and take care of their children while he was taking care of the ranch.

Then he’d come home. The children would rush to the door to welcome him, and she would give him a kiss before leading him to the table where a home-cooked meal waited for him.

He would hold her hand as they ate, and he’d regale her with stories of his adventures throughout the day.

Despite all of those other adventures, he would add that marriage to her was the best adventure of all.

Then he’d kiss her and tell her how he couldn’t imagine his life with anyone else.

Zeke Ritter’s head poked into view. At once, her daydream fled away. She blinked and shook her head.

“There’s a watering hole up ahead,” he said. “It’s time for a break. Make sure you fill up your canteen. There’s no telling how long it’ll be until we reach another water source. Out here in this rugged terrain, you need to get water when you can.”

“Yes,” Gail began, her tone hinting at sarcasm, “Zeke is very good at telling us when we should take care of our canteens. If you’re lucky, he’ll even watch over you while you cook eggs.”

Bernadette glanced at her sister-in-law.

Lucas, Bernadette’s brother, rode close to Gail.

Bernadette noted that Lucas didn’t seem all that happy to be going to Quartzsite.

She hadn’t had a chance to talk to him before they left town.

Lucas and Gail had to purchase some more clothes because they hadn’t had enough for this trip.

If Blaze hadn’t already seen to it that Bernadette had some new clothes, she would have had to shop with them.

But since she’d had clothes, she ended up waiting in a restaurant while Blaze and Zeke discussed the best path to take to Quartzsite.

Bernadette didn’t know what to expect from this venture.

She knew they were primarily going to track down Lee and Wilson, who, according to Blaze, needed to be in jail for their many crimes.

Zeke wanted to capture them, too, but he also seemed interested in the treasure that was reported to be in the area.

Though the idea of a treasure hunt was intriguing, she was coming along to be with Blaze.

After he succeeded in bringing Lee and Wilson to justice, she would marry him and live with him on his ranch in Hardyville.

“Are you hungry?” Zeke asked her, once more intruding on her thoughts.

“If she’s hungry, I’ll get her something,” Blaze told him. “I have plenty of things packed to eat.”

“I have a lot of things packed, too,” Zeke replied. “I’ve been on long ventures before. I know what I’m doing.”

“Did I say you don’t know what you’re doing?”

“Not aloud, but it was implied.”

“If it was implied, I’m sorry you misunderstood what I was saying.”

Zeke frowned. “That’s an odd way of apologizing.”

“How can I apologize for something that you did?” Blaze asked.

Gail groaned. “Will you two stop already? You’re making me wish Lucas and I took Bernadette back to Pennsylvania instead of taking another journey through the Arizona wilderness.”

Bernadette shot Gail a startled look. She wasn’t going to change her mind about being one of her chaperones, was she?

“We’re far from a train station at this point,” Zeke spoke up. “There’s no leaving Arizona until the next town, but I’m as anxious to find Lee and Wilson as Blaze is. It would be a big accomplishment.”

Blaze arched an eyebrow in his direction but remained silent.

When Gail’s gaze went back to Bernadette, Bernadette gave her a pleading look. Gail was happily married to Lucas. Couldn’t Gail let Bernadette marry Blaze, especially after all the work Lucas went through in arranging the union?

Gail let out a resigned sigh. “I just want some peace and quiet for a while. My head is hurting from all the bickering you and Blaze keep doing.”

In unison, Bernadette, Zeke, and Blaze agreed to stay quiet.

The group spent the next fifteen minutes in silence as they made sure their horses got enough to drink, filled their canteens, and took care of more personal matters.

Bernadette kept stealing glances at Blaze.

She supposed she shouldn’t be embarrassed every time he caught her watching him.

They were betrothed, after all. But she still felt that nervous excitement every time their eyes met, and she ended up shifting her gaze away from him.

Unfortunately, Zeke ended up getting in her way half the time.

At first, she thought he was going back and forth to take care of things, but after a while, she realized he was only pacing.

Couldn’t he pace in a location that wasn’t between her and Blaze?

This area was large enough for him to walk somewhere else.

She shook her head. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear he was doing this on purpose.

Before they got ready to head out, Gail went over to her. “I didn’t mean to snap at you earlier. Zeke is annoying enough as it is, but when he and Blaze get into these petty arguments, I can’t handle it.”

“I don’t know why Zeke thinks he can compete with Blaze,” Bernadette whispered so the others wouldn’t overhear. “Blaze is obviously better at everything than he is.”

“I know,” Gail agreed. “As soon as I saw Blaze, I knew you were going to get rescued. With Zeke, I wondered.”

She was glad Blaze had found her. She’d hate to think of what would have happened if he hadn’t. Poor Lucas hadn’t been trained to go against three outlaws, and Gail was no match for them. Speaking of Lucas and Gail being together…

Bernadette made sure the others were distracted before she said, “You and Lucas made no haste in getting married. I didn’t know he was even going to propose to you.

” Yes, he had been courting Gail when she left Pennsylvania, but Bernadette got the impression he wasn’t all that interested in her.

Bernadette assumed he was going to end the courtship and pick someone else.

Gail blushed. “I know our courtship was a bit of a whirlwind, but we all grew up together. It wasn’t like we were strangers. We already knew enough about each other to decide whether or not we were a good match.”

Bernadette glanced at Blaze, who was getting his horse ready.

When Gail put it like that, she supposed the hasty wedding wasn’t so strange.

Maybe Lucas wasn’t the type who liked to wait for things.

He had, after all, been quick to answer a mail-order bride ad on her behalf and had arranged for her to go to Arizona within the span of a month.

“Lucas was very sweet when he proposed,” Gail went on, her voice taking on an excitement that let Bernadette know she was more than happy to talk about Lucas.

“He asked my father for permission first, and then he arranged for his servants to prepare a meal for the two of us with all of my favorite foods. If you take away the violinist, we had the room to ourselves.”

“He hired a violinist?”

“He knows how much I enjoy listening to the violin. He even had the violinist play my favorite music.” A blush crept up her cheeks. “He gave me roses. He recited my favorite poem to me. Then after dinner, he knelt in front of me, professed his love for me, and proposed.”

Bernadette’s eyes grew wide. She wouldn’t have thought her brother was such a romantic. He seemed more of a pragmatic type of gentleman. Growing up, he had often commented that frilly things were pointless. “He was really trying to make the evening special.”

“It was special. It’s my best memory.” She held out her hand so Bernadette could see the ring on her finger.

“He gave me your mother’s ring on our wedding day.

He said it’s been passed down in your family.

I was so touched by that. This means more to me than those expensive rings that other brides get. ”

Did he get that ring for Gail because he wanted to keep passing it down the family line, or was it because he didn’t have money for one that fit Gail’s financial station in the community?

“We should get going,” Zeke called out to the group. “We have more miles to cover before it’s time to set up camp for the night.”

Gail offered Bernadette a smile then went over to Lucas. Bernadette watched as Lucas gave Gail a kiss before he helped her get on her steed. Yes, he did love her. But Bernadette still couldn’t believe he hadn’t said anything to her about this before she left Arizona.

“I can help you on the horse,” Blaze said.

Turning her attention away from her brother and Gail, Bernadette noted the way Blaze was smiling at her.

At once, sparks traveled all through her.

It was even more pronounced when he touched her hand and helped her into the saddle.

Once she was ready to go, he kissed her hand.

Her entire body flushed with pleasure. Imagine how much better it would be when he kissed her on the lips!

He returned to his horse and mounted it with the swiftness that told her he had been riding a horse for most of his life. She sighed wistfully. Was there anything he wasn’t good at?

“Alright,” Zeke said. “We continue our way southwest.”

As Zeke led them down the path, Bernadette chose to ride next to Blaze.

Lucas and Gail brought up the rear, and Lucas softly said something to Gail that made her laugh.

Zeke gave a glance back, but instead of looking at Lucas and Gail, his gaze settled on her then went to Blaze.

Then he faced forward. The action happened so fast that Bernadette would have missed it if she blinked.

She took a deep breath then released it.

This was going to be an interesting journey.