Mail Order Bride: Westward Christmas Novel (Montana Mail Order Brides, Book 11) Read Online Free Page A

traveling. 
                  He thought about what a remarkable woman Sasha McCall was.  She had braved everything the year before to help Sparrow escape.  It was unusual for a woman to embark on something like that by herself, and the fact that Sasha had done exactly that was a testament to the dedication she had to the people she cared about.
                  Now here she was making the trek yet again, only this time she wasn’t planning on going back.  Ben smiled at that idea.  Normally Ben wasn’t given to being nervous about seeing a woman, but there was something about Sasha that made him a little anxious.  He cared more about her impression of him than he had with other women.
                  He looked at his watch.  The coach was almost twenty minutes late.  While for some coaches this might have been standard procedure, it wasn’t for Beth.  The lady driver kept a tight schedule and became extremely unpleasant when something held her up.  After waiting for another twenty-five minutes, Ben concluded that something was very wrong.  He clicked to his horse, Othello, and turned his buggy around to head out of town the way the coach would have come.  Ben figured that he would drive to Wolfe Point to see if he could glean any information about the coach’s whereabouts.
     
                  As Sasha rode along on one of her Morgans, Ingrid, she thought that the route from Lexington, Nebraska to Dawson, Montana must be cursed.  This was the second time that something bad had happened while she was on her way there.  This time, one of the axles on the coach had broken.  Thankfully, they had just about reached Wolfe Point when it happened. 
                  Beth had said it might be a couple of days until they could get the coach repaired and Sasha had groaned internally at the thought of being held up that long.  Then she remembered how they had used her mares to get to Dawson the previous year.  She’d brought them with her, trailing behind the coaches.  The mares were quick and had stamina to spare, so she had decided to ride Ingrid to Dawson, while she led the other mare. 
    Beth said she would bring her suitcases as soon as the coach was repaired.  Sasha had taken what she could carry in her large reticule; a couple changes of clothing and a few toiletries.  She could buy more things in Dawson if she needed them until Beth was able to get her suitcases to her.  She kept the mares at a fast trot. 
    Sasha judged that she’d gone about half the distance to Dawson when she saw a buggy coming her way.  She made sure her other mare, Sandy, was over out of the buggy’s way.  The buggy got closer and Sasha went to smile at the occupant when she saw that it was Ben.  He’d been about to tip his hat to her when he recognized her.
    “Ben!” Sasha couldn’t prevent the smile that seeing him brought to her face.  She halted her horses.
    Ben pulled Othello down to a walk and turned the buggy around to come up beside her.
    “Miss Sasha, it’s a pleasure to see you again, but what on earth are you doing on the road like this?  What happened?” Ben said with a grin as he looked up into her beautiful face.
    “It’s a pleasure to see you, too, Ben.  The coach axle broke and I didn’t want to stay in Wolfe Point for another two days.  So I decided to bring my horses and come on to Dawson,” Sasha said.
    Ben looked at the Morgans.  “Well, they’re a fine looking pair of mares.  Don’t let Joe try to buy them from you, because he will.  Stay right there,” Ben said.
    He pulled the buggy in front of the mares and then jumped out of it.  Coming back to the horse Sasha rode, he said, “Let’s get you down from there, sugar.  You can ride in the buggy with me and we can lead your mares.”  He offered her his hand.
    Sasha hid a smile at his use of the word “sugar”.  It was also amusing to her that he thought she needed help