Eleanora (The Widows 0f Wildcat Ridge Book 8) by Pam Crooks

Author:Pam Crooks [Crooks, Pam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: The Widows 0f Wildcat Ridge Series, Multi-Author Collections & Anthology, Historical Romance, Women's Fiction, Victorian Era, 19th Century, Forever Love, Bachelor, Single Woman, Love Possibility, Frontier-Pioneer Era, Cowboy & Western Romance, Hearts Desire, American West, Clean & Wholesome, Christian Stories, Faith Based, Inspirational Reads, Love Inspired, Life-Changes, Second Chance Reunion, Honesty & Trust, Home & Family, Lifetime Love, Romantic Schemes, Love-Family & Forever, Action & Adventure, Small Town & Rural Area, Beautiful & Feisty
Publisher: Pam Crooks
Published: 2019-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Eleanora pulled the door to her room closed after checking on her sleeping daughter for the third time in the past hour. Any other night, Eleanora would be in bed with her, reading a book or doing needlework until she couldn’t stay awake any longer.

But not tonight.

Not when Reed wasn’t back yet.

She sat at the kitchen table. It was silly to worry about him. He was a grown man and didn’t need her to fret over him. But it was cold and black as coal outside, he’d never ridden alone in Utah Territory before, and he should have returned to the hotel by now.

She’d waited supper as long as she could, until Tessa’s little belly protested the delay. With their meal finished, the kitchen cleaned, her daughter bathed and put to bed, Eleanora was left with little to do while the night dragged on but wait.

Feeling silly.

Until the front door opened, and the scrape of boot soles tripped her pulse into an uneven rhythm. She stood abruptly; when her feet refused to stay put, she rushed into the lobby, then halted in mid-step, bare hands clasped in front of her.

It was him. Tall, handsome and blessedly safe.

He was dressed differently than when he’d left the hotel after breakfast. New Levi’s that were spattered with dirt, a heavy coat, and a fawn-colored Stetson. It was as if he’d become a different person. No longer from the big city, but a cowboy as rugged-looking as any she’d seen.

His gaze locked on her, and he halted, too. Just stood there and stared at her for a long moment, and what did he see that held him mesmerized? Did she look as if she’d been worried half to death?

“You’re late,” she said, her voice more breathless than she wanted it to be.

“I’m late,” he said, too, at the same moment.

He grinned, and her heart did a funny flip.

“Sorry,” he said. He pushed the door closed. “Want me to lock it?”

“Please do.”

Door secured, he walked toward her with the slow tread of a man who’d had a long day on a horse he wasn’t accustomed to riding, and why did that make her chest swell with an emotion she wasn’t used to feeling?

“Let me fix you something to eat,” she said softly.

“Can’t think of anything I’d like better,” he murmured, drawing closer.

She pivoted and strode into the kitchen, more for a sudden need to keep space between them than to feed him. But feed him she would, as much as he could eat, until he felt warmer, less tired and more content.

“You can wash up over there,” she said, pointing to a basin with a bar of soap and towel nearby. She lit the stove and set a pot on the burner. “It won’t take me long to warm up this stew.” She turned to him. “Do you like stew?”

After he took off his coat and hat and hung both on the back of a chair, he wet his hands in the basin. “I’m hungry enough to eat shoe leather right now.

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