Short Straw Bride Read Online Free

Williams hissed in her ear. Eleanor gasped as her aunt’s fingers found the tender flesh on the back of her arm in a vicious pinch. She lowered her lashes to conceal quick tears of pain. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Anabel smile with pleasure and had to restrain a most unladylike urge to slap her smug pink-and-white face.
    “What I’ve got in mind is a gentle girl, one who won’t be too demanding,” Luke said. “I’ve got enough on my hands with the ranch work. I don’t want a wife who expects me to dance attendance on her.”
    Sean Mulligan had known Luke and Daniel since the family had first moved to Black Dog after the war. He’d been a friend of their father’s, and he’d often thought that Robert McLain would have been proud of the way his sons had kept the ranch going after his death, fulfilling his dream. He was fond of both boys—men, he corrected himself, looking up at the two of them. He’d been pleased to see them in his church this morning, but his pleasure had rapidly changed to dismay as he’d listened to Luke coolly outline his plan to find a wife.
    “I don’t want to waste a lot of time,” Luke was saying now. “Spring’s a busy time, what with calving and all.”
    “Finding a wife isn’t like buying a horse, Luke,” Sean protested.
    “Buying a horse would be a damn sight easier,” Daniel put in, grinning at his older brother. “Just check the bloodlines, look at the teeth, take it for a ride and you know what you’re getting. Too bad you can’t do the same with a woman.”
    “Well, you can’t,” Sean snapped. He dabbed at the beads of sweat on his forehead. The mild spring sunshine suddenly felt uncomfortably warm.
    “It can’t be that hard, Sean,” Luke said, looking impatient. “People get married all the time.”
    “Yes, but they generally spend some time getting to know one another. They court. A man doesn’t just pick out a bride like…like…”
    “Like picking out a horse?” Daniel supplied helpfully.
    “Exactly.”
    “I don’t have time for courting, and we can get to know each other after the wedding. As long as she doesn’t have a temper like a wolverine or a face like a mud fence, we’ll do fine. I need a wife, not a best friend.”
    “But…” Sean sputtered and dabbed the handkerchief frantically over his forehead. How could he explain the impossibility of what Luke wanted?
    “There must be some unmarried females in town,” Luke said, his eyes skimming the crowd, unconcerned with the interest he was receiving in return.
    “Yes,” Sean admitted cautiously.
    “What about the redhead in the blue dress?” Luke asked, narrowing his eyes on the statuesque girl.
    “Dorcus O’Hara,” Sean supplied, following Luke’s gaze. Sensing their gaze on her, the girl lifted her chin. “I don’t think she’s what you have in mind, Luke. Dorcus is a bit, er, high strung,” he said delicately.
    “Temper like a hungry grizzly?” Daniel asked shrewdly.
    “Well, er, yes,” Sean admitted, sighing.
    “What about the little one with the brown hair? The one wearing the blue dress and the ugly hat?”
    “Eleanor Williams.” Sean’s pale blue eyes widened in surprise.
    “She taken?”
    “Not that I know of.”
    “Ain’t much to her,” Daniel commented. “What about the yellow-haired one next to her?”
    “That’s her cousin, Anabel.”
    “Too narrow between the eyes,” Luke said critically. “Reminds me of that mule we had in Virginia, the one that’d try to bite anything came within reach.”
    Sean choked on swallowed laughter, trying to imagine Anabel Williams’s reaction to hearing herself compared to a bad-tempered mule.
    “Why don’t you introduce me to a few possibilities?” Luke asked his father’s old friend.
    Eleanor watched discreetly as Reverend Mulligan began introducing the McLains around. Her eyes lingered on the taller one and she felt her heart beat a little faster when he smiled at something his brother said. His teeth