“Yes. But I’m telling you, Miss Pierce, I didn’t write this letter. I never even heard of the Becoming Brides Matrimonial Service until just now.”
“But…” Amanda sank back in her chair.
The door opened and a man walked inside. Tall, with dark hair and the same green eyes as Jason, they could only be brothers.
Except that this brother was grinning from ear to ear.
He pulled off his hat and nodded politely to Amanda.
“Pleased to meet you, Miss Pierce. I’m Ethan Kruger,” he said. “Shady just told me he brought you up the mountain today.”
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Kruger.” Her manners were so deeply ingrained they sustained her even in this time of distress.
Ethan turned to Jason. “So, you sent off for a bride, huh? I should let you do the ordering all the time.”
Jason, unamused, pushed himself to his feet. “I didn’t order a bride.”
Ethan frowned and gestured to Jason’s shirt. “Eating at the trough with the pigs again, Jas?”
He looked down at the apple pie still stuck to his shirt and trousers, mumbled a curse, and headed for the washstand in the corner.
Ethan eased onto the corner of the desk. “Tell me, Miss Pierce, have you two set a date for the blessed event?”
“Just shut your mouth,” Jason said, pointing a dripping finger at his brother. “I’m not marrying her. This is all a mistake. Look at the letter.”
Ethan grinned at Amanda, then picked up the letter and looked it over. “This isn’t your handwriting.”
“I know that.” Jason wiped the last of the apple pie from his clothing and flung the rag into the basin.
“Can’t say that I recognize whose it is.” Ethan shook his head. “Must be some sort of a joke.”
“A joke?” Amanda came to her feet.
Ethan chuckled. “It is sort of funny.”
Funny? Amanda’s temper rose. She’d traveled miles and miles from the safety and security of home to come here—and she wasn’t exactly sure where here was—endured hardships, threats to her personal safety, bad manners and foul smells. And the Kruger brothers thought it was funny?
“Somebody made the whole thing up and forged my name,” Jason said to Ethan.
“Who’d do a thing like that?” Ethan asked.
“I don’t know, but I intend to find out.” Jason walked back to his desk.
Ethan shrugged. “Why don’t you just go ahead and marry her?”
Jason stopped short. “What the hell would I do with a wife?”
“If you have to ask that question, you have been up on this mountain too long,” Ethan said with a grin.
Jason’s gaze came up quickly and landed on Amanda. Her cheeks flushed, taking the edge off her anger and reminding her that she was here on business and she should stick to it, even if these two men wouldn’t.
“Mr. Kruger,” she said. “I believe you’ve misunderstood my intentions here. I only—”
“Look, Miss Pierce,” Jason said. “I’m not looking for a wife now or anytime in the future.”
“If you’d just let me explain.”
“The last thing anybody here needs is a wife,” Jason said.
“But—”
“This is a logging camp,” Jason said. “My men work twelve hours a day, six days a week. It’s dangerous work. Just a few seconds of lost concentration can cost a man his life—or the life of the men he’s working with. I’m not having a bunch of women up here distracting my crew from their job. Nobody here wants a wife.”
“Nobody?”
“Nobody.”
Amanda drew in a deep breath. “I see….”
Bitter disappointment coursed through her. She’d pinned so much on this trip. All the plans she’d made—plans that had kept her going in the past few days—were gone. Along with her high hopes for the future.
Amanda swallowed hard, refusing to let her feelings overwhelm her. She’d come here to find out, to learn, to investigate. Now she had her answer.
She drew in a big breath, pumping up her courage. “Well…I suppose there’s nothing left to do but…leave.”
Ethan poked Jason in the arm. “You could at least tell her you’re sorry she came all the way up here for nothing—on account of you.”
“Oh, yeah.” Jason shifted uncomfortably and turned to Amanda. “Look, Miss Pierce, I really am…sorry…you got dragged up here on some wild-goose chase.”
“No you’re not,” Amanda said, her disappointment turning to anger. She’d had enough of the Kruger Brothers’ Lumber and Milling Company, and enough of the Kruger brothers themselves. Jason had made it abundantly clear that he had no use for her whatsoever, and she was in no mood to be patronized.
“Well, look, Miss Pierce—”
“You’re not the least bit sorry I wasted my time, so don’t pretend otherwise,” Amanda told him. “You, Mr. Kruger, are thoughtless, inconsiderate, and rude. Don’t add lying to your list of faults.”
Amanda put her nose in the air and sailed across the office, then looked back at him. “And you have horrible table manners!”
She gave the door a very unladylike slam on her way out.
Jason and Ethan just stood there staring at the closed door.
“Damn….” Jason mumbled.
Ethan grinned. “Yeah, bedding down with her would—”
“That’s not what I was thinking,” Jason said quickly.
“Like hell you weren’t.”
Jason turned away, pacing the width of the office, refusing to look at his brother.
“What are we going to do with her?” Ethan asked, as he pulled matches from the desk drawer and lit the lanterns on the walls.
Jason spun around. “Do with her? I’m not going to do anything with her.”
“It’s too late to get her down the mountain tonight,” Ethan said. “Shady can’t make that trip in the dark. The trail is dangerous enough in broad daylight.”
“She can’t stay here.”
“What
