An Uninvited Bride on his Doorstep by Ava Winters
Chapter Five
Logan strode swiftly back to the house. He hadn’t wanted to leave Winona alone in the first place, but he needed to check on the pens. His brothers hadn’t returned to the house yet and he feared some injury had befallen them, or one of the hands, or maybe they faced some difficulty with the cattle.
He sent Darrell first, with instructions to report to him as soon as he’d checked up on Gregory and Jay. When the foreman didn’t report after a few hours, he could wait no longer. He checked on Winona and, satisfied she was safe, and comfortable, and unlikely to wake for several more hours, he dressed in fresh clothing and headed for the corral. He made it halfway when he realized he’d left his boots at the house and was dressed only in slippers.
Not wanting to turn back, he endured the discomfort in his feet and quickly made his way to the pens. Gregory and Jay were all right, as were the hands. The cattle seemed fine too. Jay reported they’d lost ten head. He seemed devastated by the news, but Logan knew that was a minimal loss considering the storm they’d survived. He found Darrell talking with several of the hands.
He approached him and angrily demanded to know why he didn’t report back. Darrell protested he was just about to head back, and Logan apologized before giving him and the rest of the hands the night off. He left Gregory and Jay to watch over the cattle and quickly made his way back to the house.
As he approached, he saw a light inside. His heartbeat quickened and he half ran toward the house, slowing when he recognized Caraway’s wagon. The doctor must have returned to check on Winona. He didn’t remember Caraway’s warning that he would return with Winona’s parents until he walked into the house and heard Heath Ross’s voice. “When will she wake, doctor?”
“Hard to say,” Caraway responded. “She suffered a nasty blow.”
Logan burst into the room before Heath could respond. The three of them turned toward him. Caraway’s face was equal parts frustration and apologetic. Audrey’s was angry and contemptuous. Heath’s expression was unreadable.
“You!” Audrey said, striding forward and sticking her finger into Logan’s face. “How dare you!”
Before Logan could respond, Heath said, “Doctor, will you please take my wife home?”
Audrey whirled on Heath. “Excuse me?”
Doctor Caraway seemed as unhappy with the suggestion as Audrey and opened his mouth to protest when Heath replied. “I need to speak with Logan alone.”
“You will not send me away—”
“I’ll see to it you’re compensated for your trouble,” Heath said to Caraway, ignoring Audrey.
“Heath! Are you listening—”
“Now, Audrey!” Heath boomed.
Audrey recoiled as though slapped. She turned to Logan, shaking, her eyes nearly bloodshot with rage. She turned back to Heath and opened her mouth as though to say something, then spun on her heel and stormed out of the room. Dr. Caraway followed slowly, sharing a look with Logan on his way out.
Heath waited until they heard the front door close behind Audrey and the doctor. Then he said, “How dare you take advantage of my daughter, Logan.”
Logan’s blood began to boil. “Take advantage? Are you serious? I didn’t take advantage of her; I saved her life!”
Heath continued as though he hadn’t heard Logan. “What kind of man takes advantage of a poor, injured girl? Have you no honor?”
“Have I—have I no honor?” Logan’s hands balled into fists, and he had to stifle an urge to strike the older man. “How can you speak of honor?” he said when he could control his tone. “You stabbed my father in the back, Heath. You had an agreement with him, and you went back on it. You betrayed my father, and you want to stand there and talk to me about honor?” He pointed at the mirror in the corner of the room. “Face that mirror and talk about honor, you snake.”
Heath’s lips curled and Logan wasn’t sure if guilt or disgust motivated the gesture. “That was business, Logan” he said softly. “Some people win, some people lose. That’s all it was.”
“Yeah, and some people get stabbed in the back by lying, two-bit, good-for-nothing coyotes!” Logan shouted.
“I don’t have time for this,” Heath said. “You will release my daughter to me right now. She is to be married to an honorable young man with class and I won’t have her reputation put at risk by association with—” his lip curled again. “With the son of a failure.”
Logan stepped forward and raised his hand. He no longer cared about the fallout of his actions. He was going to beat Heath Ross within an inch of his life for that comment.
“No!” Winona shouted suddenly.
Both men jumped. Logan turned to the bed and saw Winona sitting bolt upright, staring at her father. He lowered his fist, grateful she hadn’t seen him about to attack Heath.
“Sweetheart,” Heath said. “I—”
“Don’t you sweetheart me!” Winona spat. “I will not marry that—that animal!”
“Winona!” Heath cried. “Why would you say something like that?”
“I saw him, Pa,” Winona said, tears welling in her eyes. “I saw him. He beat a poor old man in front of his wife. He said he was going to tear his home down around their heads.”
Heath and Logan stared at her, too shocked to reply. “I never loved him,” she continued. “I never loved him, but I liked him. I thought he was at least a decent man. I thought if I married him, I could at least escape the torture of living in that house with that woman you married. I just can’t now. Not now that I’ve seen him for who he truly is. He’s a monster, Pa, and I can’t believe you would marry me to someone like him. Did you know about this? Did you know Jude and his father are evicting people from their homes to build this station? How can you support such behavior?”
Heath lowered his eyes and didn’t respond for a while. Finally, he said, “This is how the world works, Winona. This is how families like ours build wealth and prestige.”
“On the backs of those less fortunate than us? Pa, how can you say that?”
Heath’s eyes hardened. “This is the world, Winona. The real world, not the black-and-white fairy tale world you read about in your storybooks. There are those who are fortunate and those who are not. There are those who do what it takes to succeed—” he stared Logan in the eye “—and those who don’t.”
“What happened to you?” Winona said. She seemed on the edge of tears. “You are not the father I know. You are nothing like the man I grew up with. You’ve changed. You’ve become a monster.”
Tears began to course down her cheek as she said this. Seeing her in such anguish stirred something inside Logan. He glared at Heath and before the older man could respond to his daughter’s accusation, Logan said, “What kind of man would sell her daughter to such a ruthless animal? For what? Wealth? Prestige? The satisfaction of knowing your pocketbook is just a little bit larger than your neighbor’s? Winona’s right, Heath. You are a monster.”
Heath opened his mouth but didn’t say anything. The anger disappeared from his face, replaced by shame. He stared at the floor as Winona continued.
“You know, Audrey was right. My honor has been tarnished. I wasn’t taken advantage of, by Logan or anyone else, but my reputation is at risk. The only way to fix this is by marriage.”
Logan stared at her, stunned. Heath looked up, hope returning to his eyes. “I’m glad you see it that way, Winona. Let’s get you home and we’ll make arrangements immediate—”
“Marriage to one of the Foley brothers,” Winona finished.
***
Her father and Logan stared speechlessly at her. Both wore identical expressions of shock and confusion. Logan blinked and opened his mouth as though to say something, then closed it and blinked again. Her father’s expression morphed from confusion to hurt, from hurt to rage, and finally from rage to resignation. Without another word to Logan or Winona, he turned and left.
Logan continued to stare wordlessly at Winona. She stared back, also silent. Winona heard the front door open and close, her father’s muffled footsteps outside, then his horse’s hoofbeats as he rode off. Finally, the noise died down and Winona had nothing left to distract her from Logan.
He was tall, taller than Jude and bigger too, with thickly muscled shoulders and arms and a taut stomach that appeared carved from marble even underneath his wool shirt. His jaw seemed chiseled from the same stone and gave his face a strong, noble look. His hair, a sandy-blonde so dark it appeared nut-brown until the light hit it and illuminated wispy golden highlights. He looked like a fairy tale knight come to rescue her from her controlling father and abusive stepmother.
It was his eyes that captured her, though. If the rest of his appearance called to mind a storybook hero, his eyes conveyed a more dangerous message. Silvery-blue in color and set deeply behind ridged brows, they seemed to pierce through her. She felt vulnerable in a delicious way and made no attempt to hide the effect he had on her but stared steadily and frankly back at him, a flush warming her neck and coloring her cheeks.
After a long moment, Logan finally spoke. “What in the world do you think you’re doing?”
His voice was soft and wondering, unable to fathom what he’d just heard. She opened her mouth to respond when the reality of what she’d done set in. Her cheeks reddened further as shock set in. Her heart raced.
She’d just broken off her engagement to Jude, turned her father and stepmother away from her presence and promised marriage to one of three men, one of whom she’d never met before and two of whom she’d never even seen. In only a few minutes she’d irreversibly altered the course of her life.
Fear accompanied this realization, but it quickly faded in the face of resolve. She’d altered her future, but that was what she wanted in the first place. She wanted freedom—freedom from her father’s rules, her stepmother’s audacious expectations, and society’s ideas about what was right for her future. More than anything, she wanted the freedom to choose her own life and she was willing to sacrifice anything to get that.
Well, she had sacrificed everything, but she’d gotten her freedom. She had no idea what the future held, and though that thought terrified her, it also exhilarated her. She was her own woman now, in charge of her own destiny.
“Did you hear me?” Logan repeated. “What do you think you’re doing?”
She took a deep breath and met his eyes defiantly. “I think I’m marrying you,” she said.
“I think not!” he replied, indignation overcoming his shock. “What makes you think I’m gonna marry you?”
“You have to,” she replied. “My honor is at stake. I’ve spent the night in your house, in your bed. If you turn me out now, I’m no better than the soiled doves at O’Keefe’s.”
“What are you talking about? You were in my bed, but I wasn’t with you. You were recovering from a head injury. You slept alone! I wasn’t even in the house most of the time.”
“That may be true but that’s not how people will see it,” she said softly.
“Well, I’m sorry to hear that, Winona, but it’s not my fault your family’s friends are foolish. I brought you here to save your life, not to win your hand. You’ll stay here until the doctor says you can leave, then you’re going back home.”
“I am not going back there!” she snapped, eyes flaming.
He shrugged. “All right, then wherever you want to go that isn’t here.”
She sighed, frustrated. He might have the look of a fairy tale prince, but he sure didn’t have the noble spirit. “Look, Logan, I’ve spent my whole life trapped in that house. I’ve never had a choice. I’ve always had to do what other people told me to do. Do this, say this, wear this, behave like this, marry this man: I’m not a porcelain doll! People can’t just decide what’s best for me without asking me how I feel. That is my future. That’s what I have to live with for the rest of my life if I go back there. I’ll admit, it’s not ideal marrying a man I’ve just met, but a poor choice is better than no choice at all. I’m not going back,” she finished with finality.
“What about my choice?” Logan protested. “Don’t I get to have a say? Look, you’re beautiful, Winona but I don’t want to marry a woman I’ve just met any more than you want to marry a man just because your parents are forcing you.”
Her breath caught in her throat when he called her beautiful and despite her frustration, she flushed warmly again as he continued arguing.
“Look, you’re angry at your father. I get it. Lord knows I have my own differences with him. If you want help finding a job or paying for a room at the boarding house for a spell while you get yourself situated …” he trailed off and stared expectantly at her. Once again, her momentary infatuation disappeared. How could he be so alluring and so frustrating at the same time?
“Don’t you have brothers?” she asked. “If you don’t want to do the right thing, maybe one of them will.”
Logan scoffed. “That’s never gonna happen.”
“Well, hold on now, Logan,” a voice interrupted. “I think we can speak for ourselves.”
Winona and Logan turned toward the doorway. Two young men stood there. Both were younger than Logan, the older of the two about her own age and the other perhaps a year or two younger. They smiled at Winona, neither able to hide the frank looks of admiration on their faces as they stared at her. She smiled and glanced at Logan triumphantly. His face reddened and she turned archly back to the other two boys.
“Well, hello,” she said, making her voice as sweet as possible. “My name’s Winona. What are your names?
“Winona, stop this—” Logan started to say, but the middle brother cut him off.
“Well, good morning, Miss Winona,” he said, flashing her a debonair smile. “My name’s Gregory Foley but you can call me whatever you want.”
She giggled, exaggerating the sound to rub salt in Logan’s wound. “Pleased to meet you, Gregory.”
“The pleasure is all mine.” Gregory bowed slightly then turned to the younger boy. “The shorter, less handsome young man next to me is my much younger brother, Jay.”
The younger man glared at Gregory, then turned to Winona. “I’m pleased to make your acquaintance, miss. And I’m only a year younger than him. I’m eighteen. Not that that matters, I—” he reddened, and Gregory patted him on the shoulder playfully.
Winona flashed her most stunning smile at him. “It’s wonderful to meet you, Jay. Thank you for welcoming me into your home.”
She glanced at Logan again. The oldest Foley brother’s face was buried in his hands as he endured his brothers’ awkward introductions. After a moment, he looked up and she smiled sweetly at him. He reddened with frustration but before he turned away, she caught a hint of a smile on his lips.