The Alaska Brides Collection Part 31

"I would rather-"

"If you're tellin' the truth..." Braden cut her off, his good humor evaporating. "Then stay with me." His eyes challenged her.

To dash past him back to the cabin would be to admit no danger existed. She thought of those pounding footsteps, and a shiver ran down her spine. She knew Braden felt it, because his grip softened. He rubbed the length of her upper arm as if to warm her.

While she wanted to defy him, it was foolish to go off alone. Should she tell Braden her suspicions about what happened in Seattle? He'd just think she imagined that, too. Why not? She'd believed it an accident until just hours ago. That uncomfortable moment on the boat was even vaguer.

It was foolish to go off alone earlier. Especially after I sensed someone watching me. Wait on the Lord.

Amy wanted to scream. She didn't want to wait on anyone. Not Braden, not G.o.d, and not the man who had attacked her. She pictured the cruel, bloodshot eyes of the man in her father's home. She wanted action. She wanted to charge straight for her father's cabin and force a confession out of that man.

She turned and stood at Braden's side like a well-trained dog. "You are right. It would be foolish. I will stay beside you as we go back, and then we will plan together how to oust this evil man from my home."

"The cabin again. What about us? What about Merry? We need you here. What good is a cabin goin' to do you all alone in the wilderness? You can't live there."

"Of course I can." She wrenched her arm away from his tender touch.

"But why would you? That's no life, one woman alone. Why not stay here with us?"

"It is not the cabin I care about; it is justice for my father I seek. That man most likely killed him. That is not something I will forget, especially since the same man is trying to kill me."

"If he is."

They stared at each other. Amy saw the stubborn line of Braden's jaw and knew he'd never help her, never see justice done. G.o.d wanted her to wait. Now Braden wanted her to wait. She couldn't do it.

"Ian should be meeting us down lower." Braden nodded toward the trail. "He took another path."

"That one leads into a ravine cut by a spring. It empties into this spring a long way to the south. You can get to the salmon beds from there, but my way is quicker."

"Now, tell me again how you know someone pushed you."

Amy retold her story, more carefully this time, including every detail. She even told Braden about the noise she'd heard earlier in the woods. As they walked, Amy's tension eased, and she felt the safety of a strong man at her side. It reminded her of her father and how he'd always cherished her.

Looking sideways at Braden, she said, "My mother's name was Yeil; it means 'raven,' a sacred creature to my people. My mother and her village became Christians, but the old names are still special to them, and they often name a child after animals. My name, Amaruq, means 'wolf.'"

"Now that you say it, I can believe that you're an Eskimo."

Amy arched a brow.

"I mean a Clink It," Braden added with a faint blush. "But brown hair and brown eyes are common."

"Mother was a half-blood Tlingit raised in a Tlingit village and wise in their ways. My father is Petrov Simonovich, a Russian fur trader, born and raised in Alaska. They were both strong people from races suited to the cold, dark land." Amy crossed her arms and looked at Braden. "I have inherited their strength."

"You were barely surviving on that boat."

"That is because of an accident in Seattle." She clenched her jaw to keep from adding her suspicions to her story. "Part of the reason I decided to come home was the frantic pace of the city. Also, I could not support myself after my injuries. And I-" Amy stopped, then gathered her composure. "I missed my father. I had not heard from him in a long time. I needed to make sure he was all right."

Braden, his stride shortened out of concern for her, turned as they walked together. Amy saw him study her in the spring sunlight dappled by the hardy cedars and slender spruce that lined the narrow game trail, barely wide enough for two people. The sun sank lower in the sky, but hours of daylight remained.

"Amaruq, huh?" He grinned at her.

Amy tried to remember why her father thought it important to keep her heritage private.

"Amaruq Simonovich. Well, I guess you being here makes more sense than an Irish farmer."

Amy managed a smile. "A lot more sense."

Braden smiled and then laughed. Ian appeared from a little side trail and gave Amy a startled look.

"I am fine." Her mouth spoke the words, but her heart knew the truth. No one was fine who had someone trying to kill her.

Chapter 13.

Someone tried to kill you?" Meredith clutched Amy as if she were hanging off a cliff right that very minute.

Tucker jumped from his seat at the table, knocking his chair over. His eyes were wary, his body tense, coiled for action as if the attacker might come into the room at any moment.

Amy decided someone needed to build st.u.r.dier furniture for this household, and she was just the one to do it.

She saw Ian's eyes darken with worry as he hurried to Meredith's side and slid his arm around her to calm her. Braden stood beside Amy, the two of them just inside the door. He rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head at Amy as if she were upsetting Meredith deliberately.

"He did not succeed." Patting Meredith's hand, hoping to calm her, Amy added, "From now on I will be on my guard. Do not get all in a dither."

Meredith, always as sweet and cheerful as her name, squared her shoulders and clenched her fists. Despite Meredith's bout of sickness caused by the baby, Amy remembered that Ian's wife had survived the frigid Alaskan winter and cared for two men, all without complaint- and certainly without climbing on a roof and crowing the sun up in the morning.

Meredith's eyes narrowed. "I am not in a dither." She turned on Ian. "What are we going to do about this?"

"Well, I thought-"

"We are going to my father's cabin and have it out with that man." Amy cut him off.

Amy shifted her gaze from Braden to Ian to Tucker. "You know that is who pushed me. Until we prove that, no one is safe. Such a dangerous, ruthless man. He could harm anyone if his twisted mind told him to."

"Ian, you've got to see to this." Meredith wrapped her arm around Amy's shoulders.

"You don't know he did anything wrong." Braden dragged his hat off his head and hung it on the peg beside the door. "You didn't see anyone."

"We'll get to the bottom of it, honey." Ian slung an arm around Meredith.

Amy pulled away from Meredith and whirled to face Braden. "Are you going to accuse me of being a liar again?"

"We can't go off and leave the women at home." Tucker shouldered his way between Meredith and Ian. "You stay, Ian. You're a married man going to be a father. Braden and I will go to Amy's cabin and take care of this."

Braden ran both hands through his hair, his agitated motions making the unruly curls wild. He raised both hands in front of him as if surrendering. "I never said you were a liar."

"You called Amy a liar?" Meredith ducked under Tucker's arm and scowled at Braden. "Why, she's the most honest woman who ever lived."

"That is not the way I remember it, Braden Rafferty." Amy shook a finger under Braden's nose. "You accused me of-"

"Now, honey, don't go getting mad at Braden." Ian circled Tucker's huge frame and rested his hands on Meredith's shoulders.

Amy jammed her fists on her hips. "Why are we wasting time talking when we should be heading for Father's house?"

Wait on the Lord.

Amy shook her head to clear it of the impossible idea. Now was the time for action- past time in her opinion. "You are not going without me. Tucker, Braden, and I will go. Ian and Meredith can stay here."

"I did not say you lied."

Amy glared at Braden.

"We can all go." Meredith wrung her hands as if she were afraid of being left out. "I have been in this cabin nonstop for six months."

Meredith was practically confined indoors thanks to the bear tracks Ian had seen. The only time she went outdoors was when Amy cooked their meals. And then she sat in the yard, within feet of the house. Amy knew anyone living like that would be eager for a change.

"Now, we can't do that." Ian rubbed Meredith's shoulder. "I wish we could, honey. I know you'd like to go to town."

"Are you out of your mind?" Tucker turned on Meredith. "We're not going on a picnic. You can't come. It's dangerous."

Despite the rudeness, Amy saw how dearly Tucker loved his sister.

"We are wasting time." Amy's arms flew wide. "If none of you are going, fine. I'll go myself."

"Are you out of your mind?" Braden leaned until his nose almost touched hers. "You're not going anywhere alone again as long as you live." Braden's orders only made her more impatient. "And I didn't call you a liar. I wondered if you might be mistaken, is all. It's hard enough believing someone is capable of murder, but to accuse a man with no evidence-"

"The evidence"-Amy jabbed the second b.u.t.ton on Braden's brown broadcloth shirt- "is his presence in my father's cabin. I am telling you for the last time, my father would not have sold it."

She pulled her hand back for another good jab.

Braden caught her hand. "Stop that."

Amy jerked against his grip, and he let her go.

"When you said 'for the last time,' you didn't even begin to mean it, did you?" Braden sounded exhausted.

Amy clenched her fists.

"Now, Amy, you can't know that about your pa. He might have sold the cabin." Tucker hooked his thumbs into his suspenders.

"He's her father. Who would know better?" Meredith shoved Tucker sideways.

Not budging an inch, Tucker scowled at Meredith.

"And that means it was stolen." Amy ignored Tucker and jabbed Braden again. "So if my father died under unexplained circ.u.mstances, then this man is suspect in his murder."

Braden caught Amy's hand. "I told you to stop that."

"Amy's word is good enough for me, Braden. We have to help her. Stop being so stubborn." Meredith crossed her arms, the very picture of stubbornness.

"The law needs more than Amy's suspicions." Ian stuck his head between Tucker and Meredith.

Tucker quit glaring at Meredith and turned to Amy. "Don't even think of going down there by yourself."

Amy pulled against Braden's grasp.

Braden didn't let go. Fire flashed from his blue eyes.

Common sense said to give an angry man some s.p.a.ce. She stepped closer and rose on her tiptoes. "Then you had better quit making excuses and come with me. Let us go see if the deed is still in the hidden drawer in Papa's mantel. It is just an old paper given to him by the Russian trapper who lived there before him. Father would have signed it over if he'd sold. And if the man killed my father and stole the cabin, that deed will be tucked in there, all the proof you and the law need."

Braden rolled his eyes. "We can't just go off in these woods and leave everyone behind."

"Why not?"

"It's not safe to leave Ian and Merry alone. You, Tucker, and I would be fine, unless there's really someone after you."

Amy gasped. "You just called me a liar again." Amy whirled to face Meredith. "Did you hear that?"

Meredith stepped up to stand shoulder to shoulder with Amy. "I most certainly did."

"Not a liar, mistaken."

"Then we will go, just the two of us," Amy said to Braden. "We will sneak up to his place, wait until he is away, go in, and have a look in the mantel. If everything is in order, we will leave. Tucker and Ian can stay here. That way, Meredith will be safe."

"You can't sneak into a man's house," Ian pointed out. "It's against the law."

"It is not sneaking in if it is my father's house. I am welcome there."

Braden shook his head. "But you can't know if it's your father's house until after you sneak in. So it's wrong. Finding something that makes it right later still makes it wrong when you first do it."

"What are Ian and Tucker keeping me safe from?" Meredith threw her hand in the air. "Until this man attacked, I have felt as safe as a babe in arms."

"What about those bear tracks Ian saw?" Tucker reminded her.

"That was days ago," Ian said. "The bear must have moved on, because the tracks are old. This isn't his regular territory. I can tell by his size he's an old fellow, and I've seen no sign of him before."

"Bears roam widely. Just because he has never been here before does not mean he is pa.s.sing through," Amy said.

Ian shook his head. "He's miles from here by now, heading north. And I should be the one to go. Once we're in the wilderness, I'm the one who can find a trail and keep an eye out for trouble. And now that the bear's gone, whoever stays here will be perfectly safe."

A crash shook the cabin and startled Amy into stumbling against Braden. He wrapped his arms around her as they whirled toward the sound. The cabin door hung on one hinge, and the paw of a polar bear poked through the opening. The fierce roar of the hungry bear nearly rattled the timbers that held up the cabin.