Anonymous Bride by McDonough Vickie;

Author:McDonough, Vickie;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction/Christian Romance
ISBN: 1821739
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2009-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 19

Luke sipped his morning coffee and studied the newest batch of wanted posters that had come in on yesterday’s stage. He didn’t recognize any of the men, nor had there been any illegal activity in the region since he’d arrived other than a pickpocket who seemed to have moved on to better pickings. The peaceful little town hardly needed a marshal, except maybe on Friday and Saturday nights when the cowpokes came in.

Max looked up at him with big brown eyes, and Luke realized that Jack hadn’t come by with the bucket of breakfast scraps that she normally brought each morning. He gazed out the window and watched the citizens of Lookout as they went about their daily business. Maybe he and Max should wander over to Rachel’s and see what the holdup was. But then he might run into one of the brides.

Rachel hurried past his window and charged through his open door with a scowl on her normally happy face. What now?

He rose and nodded. She sure was pretty when she had a bee in her bonnet.

“Have you seen this morning’s paper?” She set the scrap bucket down in front of Max and slapped the Lookout Herald on his desk before he could respond.

Luke picked up the paper and read the headline. “THREE BRIDES BATTLE FOR ONE MAN’S HEART.” Grinding his back teeth, he slammed the newspaper against his desk and paced the small office. Was nothing sacred?

“What are we going to do?” Rachel stared up at him, her soft blue eyes looking vulnerable.

Luke didn’t like her fretting. He wanted to fold her into his arms until her frown turned into a smile. To avoid doing just that, he picked up the paper again and started reading: “Lookout, Texas, to host bride contest. In hopes of helping their cousin, Marshal Luke Davis, find a wife, Garrett and Mark Corbett wrote to several mail-order brides. Imagine their surprise when not one, but three women arrived in town to marry the same man.”

Luke clenched his jaw. This whole situation was getting out of hand faster than a drunken brawl at the Wet Your Whistle. He continued reading about the pie-making contest that would be held in three days and how people could participate and raise money for the church by paying five cents for a small taste of each pie. Then they could vote for their favorite. At least the newspaper lady had told the truth about the contest and hadn’t added a slant to the story. Nor had she mentioned blackmailing him with threats of a lawsuit.

He laid the paper back on his desk, slid his hip onto the corner, and crossed his arms, wishing this whole thing would go away.

“Are you really going to marry one of those women?” Rachel nibbled her lower lip, and he couldn’t help watching. She’d always done that when she was nervous, and it never failed to intrigue him. Her lips looked so soft. No, he knew they were soft.

He shook his head to steer himself away from such disastrous thoughts.

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