Anna's Heart (Wilderness Brides Book 2) (8 page)

“I understand, Anna. We can have supper another night.”

He’d taken her hand, and with a smile on his face, had kissed her cheek.
“One thing I love about you is that you’re always so helpful. Don’t ever change.”

What a contrast between two men. The meaning of their exact same words to her had been so vastly different. One had said them with love in his eyes, while the other had held nothing but contempt for her. Anna adjusted her kerchief on her head. A burst of annoyance shot through her. How could she even think of Franklin and Ethan at the same time, or compare the two? No two men had ever been more different.

Anna walked faster, stumbling over the uneven ground, which was overgrown with greenery. Dead logs littered the forest floor, making navigation more difficult. The forest grew denser the further she walked and the faint trail she’d followed had long disappeared. Her skirt snagged on downed logs she had to go around or over, and the tops of the trees grew thick enough that they obstructed the sun, making it seem eerily dark all of a sudden.

She stopped, her heart beating fiercely against her ribs. She breathed as if she’d run for miles. Perspiration beaded her forehead, sending a chill down her spine when a cool breeze swept over her damp face. She glanced around, her eyes widening. Which way was back to the cabins? The forest closed around her, and nothing looked familiar.

She headed in the direction from which she’d just come, then stopped. Which way was correct? Everything looked the same. She walked past the log she’d gone around a moment ago, but had to stop again. Had that been the log, or was it the one a few feet away?

A cloud covered what little light the sun managed to send to the forest floor, instantly making everything seem even darker. How could she allow herself to get lost like this? She couldn’t have gone that far from the valley that she wouldn’t find her way back.

Glancing around, she studied her surroundings to see if anything was recognizable. The trees all looked the same and the forest was dense enough that she’d lost complete sense of direction. She turned in a circle, slowly studying every tree, but it was useless. Her heart sent the blood racing through her veins, making her legs and arms feel weak with growing trepidation.

The breeze swishing through the canopies sounded louder than before, and several of the tallest lodgepoles swayed and groaned in response. A woodpecker chiseled away at the trunk of a nearby tree, while ravens fluttered their wings and called to one another. The sounds they made were almost ominous.

“I am not lost,” she whispered, squaring her shoulders. If she didn’t return by the time dusk set in, Cora would no doubt insist on a search party to head out and look for her. Anna pressed her lips together. What would Ethan think of her if she got lost? He already had such a low opinion of her.

Anna shook her head. Why on earth did it matter what Ethan Wilder thought? She’d already determined that there was no pleasing the man, despite his apology. He was too set in his ways. Besides, he’d never find out that she’d been momentarily lost.

She smiled. That grouping of trees up ahead looked familiar. Hadn’t she just passed them before she realized she might be lost? With a determined lift of her chin, she set off again. She’d be back to the cabins before anyone even realized she’d been gone.

“
Y
ou’re
out of your mind, Nate. I can’t take that woman all the way to Oregon.”

Ethan glared at his younger brother. First Harley was putting thoughts in his head, and now Nathaniel was trying to do it, too.

“If she’s dead set about going, you have to take her, Ethan. I made a promise to Cora last year.”

“Your harebrained promises are of no concern to me.” Ethan lifted a steaming tin mug of coffee to his lips.

The strong and bitter drink was a welcome change from the taste of mint in his mouth, but after the first couple of swallows, his mistake became evident. A sharp pain jabbed him in the gut. Clearly his stomach wasn’t ready for anything other than the broth Anna had made and the willow bark tea. Cursing under his breath, he set the mug on the table. He raised his eyes to his brother.

“I ain’t the right person to take Miss Porter to Oregon, or anywhere else, for that matter,” he said, gritting his teeth when another painful jab poked his insides.

Nathaniel eyed him with his head cocked to the side. “Are you afraid of Anna Porter?” His eyes lingered on Ethan’s hand over his stomach.

“That woman might finish me off for good if she comes near me again,” Ethan grumbled.

His brother grinned like a fox in the henhouse. “I don’t think she’s got her mind set on putting you in an early grave, but that’s not what I meant when I asked if you’re afraid of her.”

Ethan smirked. He wasn’t going to add fuel to the fire by asking Nate to explain his question.

Nathaniel raised his own mug of coffee to his lips. “I’d never ask it of you, Ethan, but with Cora being with child, I’m not willing to put her through a journey she doesn’t need to make, and I can’t be gone that long if I were to go alone. I can’t go back on my word to Anna that I’d get her to Oregon this summer.” He paused, then slowly said, “I suppose I could ask Trevor and Travis.”

Ethan lifted his eyes to his brother. “I wouldn’t trust anyone with those two. They’re both still wet behind the ears, especially Travis. He don’t listen to anyone or lets anyone tell him what to do.”

“I remember Pa saying the same thing about you.”

Ethan clenched his jaw. He stiffened, making his already-sore stomach muscles hurt.

“Then you oughta know that trusting the safety and well-being of anyone to Travis would end badly,” he growled. He stared at Nathaniel, curbing the urge to punch his brother for yet another reminder about his past failures. Hadn’t he been tormented enough in the last day with thoughts of how he’d failed his parents?

Nathaniel watched him with a smirk on his face and a challenge in his eyes. Ethan ran his fingers through his hair. He’d been backed into a corner.

“I can’t travel with a woman,” he said. “How’s that going to look to other folks? She wouldn’t like her reputation sullied like that. An unmarried lady don’t travel with a man.”

The door squeaked on its hinges, and Harley walked in. The old man stopped in his tracks, glancing from Nathaniel to Ethan. His mustache and beard shifted when he smiled.

“Who’s an unmarried lady?” he asked.

“Anna Porter,” Nathaniel said quickly before Ethan could tell Harley it was none of his concern.

“Are ye thinkin’ o’ weddin’ up with her, Ethan?” Harley’s eyes sparkled with hope. Ethan ground his teeth.

“We were discussing how I’m going to uphold my promise and get Anna to Oregon,” Nathaniel explained with a wide grin on his face.

“There ain’t nothin’ ta discuss.” Harley stepped fully into the cabin, his eyes on Ethan. Harley reached for the mug Ethan had set on the table, sniffed it, then topped it off with hot coffee from the pot by the hearth.

“Ethan’s the only choice ta do it,” Harley said after taking a long slurp.

Ethan shook his head as his frustration grew with his brother, Harley, and even his own thoughts swirling in his head. The day before, he’d briefly entertained the idea that he should be the one to escort Miss Porter, especially after his dream about his mother. After his attempt at making amends with her over his behavior the last couple of days, the thought had vanished as quickly as Anna had rushed from the cabin.

“I ain’t going to Oregon, and especially not with a woman in tow,” he growled with a note of finality, more to get the thought out of his head than for his brother’s or Harley’s benefit.

He stepped around Harley and yanked the cabin door open. The fresh air felt good on his face. His eyes roamed the yard, traveling to the barns and lingering on the cabin Anna shared with the two younger Hudson sisters. Patrick sat along the creek with a fishing pole in his hand.

Movement from Nathaniel’s cabin caught his eye. He groaned inwardly as the woman who seemed to be the bane of his existence the last couple of days emerged. Ethan took a small step back to conceal himself in the shadow of the cabin. She glanced his way, but didn’t appear to see him. She seemed undecided about something, then, instead of heading his way, she walked behind the cabin toward the trees.

Ethan’s eyes followed her until she disappeared into the woods. A satchel hung from her arms. He shrugged. Maybe she was going to collect some plants. He inhaled a deep breath, then headed back into the cabin and braced for another onslaught from his brother and Harley. Sure enough, he’d barely closed the door when the old man came at him.

“Ya could wed up with her, then there’d be no cause fer Anna ta leave.” Harley took a long drink from the coffee mug.

“Leave me be, old man. I’m saying it for the last time. I ain’t weddin’ up with anyone.” Ethan moved toward his bunk. The smell of coffee lingering in the air made his stomach twist into knots. There wasn’t any of Anna’s broth left that had soothed him earlier, so he reached for some of the mint Aimee Osborne had given him.

“You could pretend to be her brother if you take her to Oregon,” Nathaniel offered. “No one would question it. Cora thinks of Anna as a sister, which makes her family to me and you already.”

Ethan shook his head. He nearly laughed at the absurdity of Nathaniel’s suggestion. While the thought of Anna as his wife was ridiculous, thinking of her as a sister was even more unfathomable. He turned his back to his brother and frowned. No. Whatever thoughts might have ever crossed his mind about Anna Porter, none of them had come close to anything brotherly.

* * *

T
he door
to the cabin creaked. Ethan lifted his head from his bunk, catching a glimpse of a skirt between the gap in the curtain and the ground. He sat upright and swung his legs over the mattress. He blinked away the dizziness when he stood. Had Anna returned? His stomach growled. He could sure use some more of the broth she’d made the day before. It was all the nourishment he’d been able to keep down.

“Is anyone in here?”

Ethan frowned. It wasn’t Anna. The voice belonged to Caroline. He slipped an old cotton shirt over his head that he’d dug out of his trunk earlier. It didn’t have any buttons, only strings at the wide opening at the neck. He stepped into his boots, then pushed the curtain aside The dull throb in his hand worsened. The girl stared at him when he stepped into the main room.

“I’m looking for Anna,” Caroline said, her eyes on his bandaged hand.

“She ain’t here.” Ethan glanced around the room to prove his point.

“She told Cora earlier that she was going to help me fix supper. I haven’t been able to find her, and no one else has seen her since she left Cora’s cabin several hours ago.”

Ethan wrinkled his forehead. He’d seen Anna walk into the woods earlier. Had that been several hours ago?

“Where’s Trevor or Travis?”

“I don’t know. They rode off earlier this morning and haven’t been back. I was about to find Nathaniel and ask him if he would look for Anna, but Patrick told me he and Harley went off to check on their traps. They took Josie with them. They said they weren’t going to be gone long, but I’m getting worried.”

Ethan’s eyes fell on his rifle propped by the door. “I think I know where she might have gone off to. I saw her earlier.” He frowned at his own words. If she’d been gone for hours, she might have gotten lost. “I’ll find her,” he added.

“You will?” Caroline’s surprised wide-eyed look was almost laughable. “I mean, are you sure? Your hand won’t give you trouble?”

“I don’t need my hand to walk.” Ethan moved to the door. He grabbed for a water skin and powder horn that hung on the wall and draped them around his neck and shoulder before reaching for his rifle.

“Tell Harley and Nathaniel I’ve gone looking for Anna, due north of here. I’ll bring her back.”

Ethan left the cabin without a backward glance at Caroline. He shook his head to dispel the lingering dizziness. It was time he got back on his feet. No more dawdling around the cabin, getting weaker by the hour. It had been nearly forty-eight hours since he’d drunk that vile tea that made him sicker than a dog. A good walk in the woods would perk him up quicker than lying around in bed all day.

Picking up Anna’s footprints in the soft soil was no problem. It appeared as if she’d gone for a leisurely stroll, stopping every once in a while to, presumably, look at her surroundings. She didn’t seem to have a clear destination. Her tracks led through the forest, following the easiest and most accessible path possible, around downed logs and dense shrubs. What had prompted her to head into the woods alone?

He must have covered a good mile when her footfalls became less noticeable where the ground turned rocky. Ethan focused on spotting broken twigs or scrapes on rocks made by her shoes. He reached a small clearing when it became evident that she’d realized that she was lost. She’d turned in a circle, then backtracked a short distance, then gone in a completely different direction.

Ethan shook his head. Fool woman. Why would she go somewhere unfamiliar, especially if she hadn’t told anyone which direction she was heading? The sooner she left the valley, the better. He scoffed. Nathaniel’s conversation came back to him as he continued to follow Anna Porter’s tracks. If she continued on her present course, she would come to a dead end, unless she planned to climb some steep rocks.

He glanced up at the darkening sky. It wasn’t so late in the day that he’d run out of daylight if he didn’t find Anna soon, but the grey clouds moving in from the west meant he might get wet.

“Wouldn’t be the first time Miss Porter is the cause for me getting soaked,” he grumbled out loud.

A slight breeze tickled the back of his neck, lifting strands of his hair that grew nearly to his shoulder. A shiver passed through him. What if she was hurt? Not only did she have to navigate dead trees and dense undergrowth in this area, but the terrain was getting steeper, and sharp rocks or hidden boulders could cause anyone to slip and fall.

“Blast it woman, where are you going?” he called into the breeze. His answer was the faint trickle of water as it splashed across rocks.

She had to realize she wasn’t anywhere close to where she’d started her walk. Either she was deliberately going in this direction, or she was hopelessly lost and disoriented. No doubt it was the latter. At least he hadn’t seen any indication by the tracks she’d left that she might be injured.

Ethan stumbled over a large rock that had been concealed by dense undergrowth. His rifle saved him at the last second from falling, using it as a crutch to keep him on his feet. His left hand was completely useless at the moment. He cursed under his breath. He was still weak. His hand throbbed painfully and his stomach rumbled from lack of food. He lengthened his strides with the thought of Anna lost and probably scared. Just one fall and she could break her leg, or worse.

The spring cut through the rocks further ahead, tumbling over boulders on its way down the slope and into the valley several miles away, where it would meet up with the creek that flowed through Harley’s Hole.

“If she’s got any sense at all, she’ll follow the stream,” he mumbled. A smile cracked his face when her footprints indicated she was doing exactly that. Maybe she wasn’t as helpless as he’d thought after all. Perhaps she’d realized that if she followed the water, it would take her back to the valley.

His path along the creek was quickly blocked by the thick growth of berry bushes that grew along the water’s edge. The terrain here sloped downhill and became rather steep in spots, the uneven ground concealed by shrubs and undergrowth. Crossing the creek would make for easier footing on the other side.

Ethan studied Anna’s tracks. They stopped at the water’s edge. He scanned the rocks closer to the creek. There was a mark on some of the slime in the water that indicated that she might have attempted to cross here.

“You should have gone further upstream where it’s safer and not as steep and slippery,” Ethan said under his breath.

He stepped into the water, choosing his way over the slick rocks and staying clear of the thorny bushes that grew over the edge of the creek. Many of the branches dangled in the water. The stream wasn’t deep, reaching midway up his calves, but the bottom was slippery with scum and uneven rocks.

Ethan gripped his rifle in his right hand as he set one foot in front of the other. His sole made contact with a sharp rock that moved as he stepped on it. He swayed slightly to keep his balance while at the same time, the sound of breaking twigs alerted him to something behind him.