Once Upon a Mail Order Bride - Linda Broday Page 0,38

done whatever they accused him of. Some girl had lied. Addie knew too much about lies and evil, false accusations and rotted souls.

Addie turned her thoughts back to Bodie and Ridge and wouldn’t trade either one. They were her family now, and better in every way than the one that had thrown her onto the trash heap.

It was time to cast aside her doubts. She needed no more proof.

This was the only place she wanted to be. Next to Ridge. Watching his back. Sharing his life. Finding some way to be his wife.

The day had yielded so many surprises, she could scarce recall them all. But the best of them was the visit to Dr. Mary’s and rising hope that she would find her voice.

The minute her words returned, she’d thank Ridge for marrying her and giving her a new start.

Ten

Ridge got Bodie settled into a room in the barn that he’d built for a hired hand. The kid never stopped grinning, calling the place the best he’d ever had. How pitiful his life must’ve been to think the small room with bare boards and a menagerie of livestock on the other side of the wall was heaven.

Then, eager to start earning his keep, Bodie began to hobble around and build a sturdy chicken coop.

“I’m riding out for a bit. Keep an eye on things and don’t let anything happen to Addie.” Ridge laid a Winchester beside the kid’s chair. “For strangers if they come nosing around.”

Bodie shook a long strand of hair from his face. “You can count on me, Mr…I mean, Ridge. I have a good aim and a steady finger.”

Satisfied that Bodie could, and would, guard Addie, Ridge stuck his foot in the stirrup and swung his leg over. He rode to the creek where he’d encountered the bounty hunters.

Jack had buried the man Ridge killed in an unmarked grave and scattered brush over it. But Ridge didn’t like the gnawing in his gut. He was being watched—the bounty hunter that Bodie called Hiram had to be lurking somewhere close.

Faint tracks were still visible in the dirt, and Ridge followed a set that led away. In a ravine, he found signs that Hiram had stopped there to bind up his wound. Ridge picked up the tracks leading out the other side.

Why hadn’t he looked for this earlier? Hiram might have stopped long enough that Ridge could have caught up with him. Ridge called himself every name he could think of. He’d missed a chance to end this. However, in his defense, he’d had Bodie to get medical treatment for, not to mention protecting Addie. In the end, he decided he couldn’t have done anything differently. Best to let it go or it would eat at him.

Hiram had traveled north, then doubled back, which told Ridge the bounty hunter’s wound hadn’t been that severe. Ridge lost the tracks outside the entrance to Hope’s Crossing. The road leading into town was little more than a wide path between the two walls of the canyon where the town sat. There was no other way in or out of town. Dammit! Had Hiram managed to sneak into town before they’d put a guard in place? Cussing a blue streak, Ridge dismounted and scoured the ground. Hundreds of tracks from people coming and going over the last day had obscured Hiram’s.

A whinny reached Ridge and he glanced up to see his neighbor, Travis Lassiter, looking down on him from the back of his horse. He rested his arm on the pommel of his saddle. “Need some help, Ridge?”

“I could at that.” Ridge explained quickly. “It’s important to find out where this two-bit bastard went from here—and if he’s still hanging around.”

Travis swung from the horse. “Two pairs of eyes are better than one. I’ll help. Show me what the track looks like, and we’ll widen the circle until we pick it up again.”

They searched painstakingly for over an hour, and Ridge was on the verge of giving up when he finally saw the tracks he was looking for. He and Travis followed the trail—a trail that led onto Ridge’s property and right up to the house.

Ridge’s blood froze. The sign was unmistakable. Someone had hunkered down on the ground underneath the parlor window.

Brown globs of tobacco spit revealed that the watcher had stayed there for some time.

Dark foreboding crawled up Ridge’s neck. The man could’ve been watching Addie, here all alone. He’d have seen Ridge leave when Addie’s questions had become too