Cora's Pride (Wilderness Brides Book 1) (10 page)

Opening one of the trunks, she pulled out a faded green dress. She slipped into it, then raked her brush through the tangles in her hair until her scalp tingled. Outside, Anna urged Josie to sit and eat, while Patrick talked excitedly.

Cora separated her hair into three strands, then braided it into one long rope. Nathaniel’s deep voice drifted into the wagon. She tilted her head to listen.

“Your sister’s right, Patrick. You shouldn’t be talking about killing people.”

“Even bad people?”

He was silent for a moment, then spoke slowly, as if choosing his words carefully. “It depends, Patrick. You should always be ready to protect your loved ones, but at your age, you shouldn’t have to think about such things. What you do in life or death situations will affect you for the rest of your life.”

Cora tied off the end of her braid with a thin ribbon. She held her breath, waiting to hear if he’d say anything else. There was something haunting and deeply troubling in his words and the tone of his voice that made him seem almost vulnerable. She moved to the back of the wagon, climbed over the tailgate and headed away from camp in order to be alone with her thoughts.

N
athaniel washed
the last of his biscuits down with coffee and handed his plate to Anna. He glanced at Cora’s youngest sister, Josie, who sat opposite him at the fire, nibbling at her breakfast. She’d eyed him suspiciously since she’d come out of the wagon a few minutes ago. The other sister, Caroline, had tried to engage her in conversation without much luck.

“Would you care for some more?”

Nathaniel looked up at Anna. He shook his head when she pointed at the Dutch oven in the fire.

“I think I’d best call it quits, but I have to say your biscuits are the best I’ve had in ages, Miss Porter.”

Anna waved a hand in front of her, and her cheeks turned rosy. If only it was this easy to charm Cora.

“Is Cora gonna let you stay?” Patrick asked.

Nathaniel rubbed his chin. His behavior a few minutes ago might get him chased from camp again. After pulling Cora from the water yesterday, he’d wrapped her in one of his blankets before getting the wagon across the river. Once everyone was safely on the other side, Anna had ushered him away before she’d removed the rest of Cora’s soaked dress.

He’d kept his distance, setting up camp and fixing the wagon wheel while Anna and the other girls had hovered over their sister. The thought that she’d nearly lost her life had shaken him up more than he cared to admit, and images of his folks mixed with Cora’s throughout the long night.

Those warm stirrings he’d felt more and more for Cora Miller over the last few days had erupted into a roaring blaze the moment she’d crawled out from under the wagon this morning. Afraid she’d tell him to leave again, he’d seized the opportunity to talk to her without staring down the barrel of her rifle for once. It hadn’t mattered that she’d stood there in nothing but her underthings.

Admittedly, he’d completely taken advantage of her lack of clothing. Problem was, he’d put her on the defensive again. Seeing her - barely dressed, with her hair unbound and her eyes still groggy from sleep - had brought every male instinct in him to life. He’d forgotten everything around him when he’d walked up to her and openly admitted that he’d been responsible for her torn clothes.

She sure surprised him when she’d stood her ground and had even thanked him, rather than rushing off to get dressed. While he’d tried to gain the upper hand, she’d used her feminine wiles to her advantage, completely captivating him. If Anna hadn’t called his attention back to his surroundings, there was no telling what he might have done. Pulling Cora into his arms and kissing her had certainly been at the forefront of his thoughts.

“Mr. Wilder?”

Nathaniel stared into the hopeful eyes of Patrick, who tapped his arm.

“I’m hoping your sister lets me help you get to Fort Hall,” he said to answer Patrick’s earlier question. He glanced up at Anna.

“You sure do get her dander up.” Patrick shook his head and smiled mischievously. “I’m just glad she’s mad at someone else for a change besides me.”

Nathaniel chuckled. “Is she always like that?”

Patrick shook his head. “No. She just don’t seem to like you.” His forehead scrunched for a moment, then his eyes lit up as if he’d had a revelation. “Or maybe it means she likes you a lot.”

Nathaniel’s brows rose. “How do you figure that?”

“Well, she always gets mad at me when I do stuff I’m not supposed to, then tells me it’s because she cares about me, and that if she didn’t love me, she’d have no cause to get angry.”

Nathaniel laughed. If that were the case, Cora Miller must find him irresistible. “Well, I hope she likes me just enough to let me stay and go to Fort Hall with you.”

His eyes drifted beyond the camp toward the river. Cora had left the wagon after getting dressed, and walked away from camp. She’d had plenty of time for privacy. What was keeping her?

Nathaniel stood. He smiled at Patrick, then at Anna and the girls. Josie avoided eye contact. Caroline smiled back, while Anna looked at him with a questioning glance.

“I’d best go talk to Cora, and see what her plans are,” he mumbled.

Anna nodded. Their eyes met. “I have a feeling she’s changed her mind about you.”

“I sure hope so.”

Anna Porter studied him. Her gaze held a knowing look. She was much too perceptive for being such a quiet mouse. Perhaps that made her read people better. She seemed to know exactly what was on his mind where Cora was concerned.

“She didn’t take her rifle with her, did she?” He grinned and winked at Anna.

Caroline giggled. “Josie has the rifle, but she doesn’t know how to shoot it.”

Josie shot her sister a mortified look and nudged her in the arm. Nathaniel looked at the girl. She’d been skittish from the moment he’d climbed onto the wagon seat in the middle of the river yesterday and maneuvered the mules out of the water. At the time, he’d chalked it up to fear of what was happening, but she’d continued to watch him with a wary eye once they were safely out of the water.

“Well, maybe we can change that. Out here in the mountains, shooting and hitting your target is a good skill to have,” Nathaniel offered.

Josie glanced up at him.

“Only if you want to learn,” he added.

She nodded almost imperceptibly.

“I wanna learn, too. I bet you’re a better teacher than Cora,” Patrick chimed in.

“Not right now,” Anna scolded. “You’re going to come here and collect the dishes so we can wash them and pack the wagon.”

Patrick made a face, but complied. Nathaniel gave Anna a parting nod, then headed for the river. His pulse increased with every step he took. He shook his head and inhaled slowly. All of a sudden, talking to Cora made him more anxious than facing down a grizzly. He shrugged. He’d done both in his lifetime, and walked away alive . . . so far. He grinned. This time wouldn’t be any different.

Cora stood by the riverbank a short distance from camp, gazing across the expanse of the water. Her arms were wrapped around her middle while her skirt fluttered around her legs. She’d braided her hair again, but strands of it had come loose and brushed against her cheeks. She looked unsure of herself, alone, and completely vulnerable.

She raised her head in his direction as he approached. Her eyes shimmered, just before she turned her attention back to the river. There was no reaction from her to his presence, so Nathaniel stepped closer.

“We should reach Fort Hall by tomorrow afternoon, if we head out soon,” he said. “Unless you need another day to rest up.”

Cora glanced his way again. The sadness and defeat in her eyes vanished, replaced by a guarded look.

“Why do you want to help us?” she asked, her voice quiet enough that he had to strain his ears to hear.

Nathaniel took another step toward her. She shifted weight and her body visibly tensed. He stopped. He’d come to talk to her, not raise her hackles again.

“Why are you so adamant about refusing help?” he countered. Would she tell him?

She turned to face him fully and raised her chin to look him in the eye. Her quick flash of annoyance was gone before he could blink, and her gaze softened. Nathaniel’s chest tightened. Although he’d enjoyed her feistiness, her gentler, feminine side appealed to him just as much, if not more. Her guard was still up, but it appeared as though he’d successfully convinced her that he wasn’t out to harm her.

Cora dropped her gaze and shrugged. “I don’t know,” she whispered, then laughed bitterly. She shook her head and stared across the river again, her eyes scanning the vast landscape beyond. Her arms wrapped more firmly around her middle. “I thought I could do this on my own, if need be. All I’ve done is make a big mess of things and put my family in danger.”

Encouraged that she’d even answered his question, he asked another. “What happened, Cora? How did you end up out here alone?” Anger welled up in him at whatever it was that had hurt her.

Her eyes were round as saucers when her attention returned to him. Her gaze lingered, traveling over his face, as if buying time to answer. Or perhaps she wasn’t going to answer. Nathaniel waited. This fragile truce that seemed to exist between them could shatter any moment.

She finally broke the silence. “My father left one day, telling my mother that he needed a change in his life, that he was tired of being a farmer and busting his back to feed us all. He ran off with a saloon girl.” She scoffed. “The only good thing he did was sign a paper giving my mother the land and property back that she brought to the marriage. My mother did the best she could on her own. Folks urged her to get off the land, but she wasn’t a quitter, and she didn’t raise me to quit, either.” She swiped at the loose strands of hair that grazed her cheek before continuing. “We kept a crop in the ground despite everyone saying we couldn’t manage it on our own. On her deathbed, she left the property to me and asked me to keep the family together.”

Cora turned away and walked up the riverbank. She sniffled and swiped a hand across her face. Nathaniel fell into step beside her.

“Moving west is a dangerous undertaking,” he offered. His father had sold everything for a dream at something better for his family. It had cost him and Nathaniel’s mother their lives.

Cora scoffed. “Every man from the oldest widower to the youngest bachelor came to call not a week after we laid Mama to rest. We had a decent plot of land, and I was told that I needed to do the sensible thing and marry, so that a man could properly tend the place.”

Nathaniel smiled. The fire was back in her voice. “So instead of listening to everyone’s advice, you decided to pack up and head for Oregon?”

She stopped and glared at him. “It got so bad, Mr. Wilder, that I couldn’t walk into town without getting accosted by men wanting to court me. Every last one of them only wanted my land.”

His eyebrows rose, perusing her face. Didn’t she realize she was a beautiful woman? “I highly doubt that’s the only thing they wanted from you, Cora.” His comment earned him a heated glare. He cleared his throat. “I don’t know much about courting, but you can’t blame a man for wanting a piece of land and a beautiful wife to come home to.”

Her mouth gaped open and she stared at him. “All any man ever truly wanted from me was my property,” she spat. “We left Ohio because . . . because someone thought if he couldn’t get the land through me, he’d get it through one of my sisters.”

Nathaniel’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

Cora’s chest heaved when she inhaled a deep breath.

“My baby sister was violated by a man we knew, someone my folks invited for Sunday supper when they were still alive. My parents considered him a friend.” Her voice cracked. “He thought that if he shamed her in such a way, she’d have to marry him, and he’d get the land. He knew he wouldn’t persuade me to marry him.” Her shoulders slumped and her voice faltered. “She was fifteen years old.” She straightened. A cold gleam flashed in Cora’s eyes. “I wanted to kill him for what he did to her,” she spat, then turned away from him and held her hands over her face. Her entire body shook.

Nathaniel stood, staring at her back, too stunned to speak. The reason for Josie’s haunted eyes became perfectly clear. He cursed under his breath. He raised his hands, hesitated, then placed them on Cora’s shoulders. She stiffened instantly. Nathaniel kept his hands on her, giving a gentle squeeze. He nudged her to turn and face him.

Moisture spilled from her eyes when she looked up at him. Nathaniel stepped closer. Pulling her against him, offering a shoulder to cry on, was the most natural thing to do. She resisted at first, her body becoming rigid in his embrace. He wrapped his arms more fully around her and rubbed his hands up and down along her spine to ease her tension.

“It’s all right to cry,” he whispered into her hair. “Lean on me if you want.”

Slowly, she relaxed. A shudder passed through her when she leaned into him. Her arms wound around his back and her hands clung to his shoulders, as if she’d fall if she didn’t hold on for dear life. She sobbed into his shirt. Nathaniel stood there, stroking her hair and holding her close.

The thought that Cora Miller would be in his arms this morning had been no more than a wishful dream during the night. Tender feelings sprang to life in him again for this woman who’d remained strong against everything standing against her. Today she’d cracked, and he was there for her. He would always be there for her, if she’d let him.

Minutes passed. Cora straightened and eased away. Stunned and disbelieving eyes stared up at him, along with a hint of something he’d briefly glimpsed earlier when she’d stood in front of him with a blanket clutched to her chest.

“Feel better?” he asked lightly and smiled.

She stepped back and swept a hand over her face.

“I . . . I’m sorry,” she stammered. “I don’t know what came over me.”

“Even the strongest tree needs to bend every once in a while,” Nathaniel rattled off, rather than telling her he wasn’t sorry that she’d cried in his arms and allowed him to comfort her.

She smiled uneasily, then raised her chin. She stood straighter, and the moment was gone.

“Who’s Ted?” The question was out before he could stop himself. She’d already told him more than he’d ever expected.

Cora gave another scornful laugh. “Ted is the reason we’re here.” She looked him straight in the eyes. “I didn’t expect to meet with resistance when we arrived in Independence to join with a wagon company. The farm was already sold, and we were prepared to leave, but no wagon master would take us because Anna and I, being of age, didn’t have husbands.”

Nathaniel frowned and shook his head. “What happened, Cora? How did you and your family end up alone?”

“I met Ted in Independence. He offered to marry me and managed to talk one of the wagon masters into letting us join them.” She shook her head. “I accepted, because it was the only way to get to Oregon. I thought he was different from the suitors back home. I thought Ted simply wanted a wife, and that a marriage would benefit us both.”

“He’s your husband?” The question left a bitter taste in Nathaniel’s mouth. “What happened to him?”

“I expect he’s halfway to California by now. He decided to go gold mining rather than fulfill his promise to me.” She laughed coldly. “While we were at Fort Laramie, he told me our marriage wasn’t valid, that the man he’d paid to marry us wasn’t really a preacher.” She glared up at him. “I hope you understand a little better now why I’ve been reluctant to put my trust in you. I’ve learned that I’m better off relying on myself.”