The Virgin Bride Arrived With Fear in Her Eyes Mountain Men Said “Darlin, I Don’t Bite Unless”

Chapter 10

The storm broke on the fourth day.

Evelyn awoke to silence. The wind had stopped howling, and pale morning light filtered through the frosted windows. She was warm, wrapped in layers of blankets and the solid presence of Elias beside her. They had not done more than kiss. He had held her through the long cold nights, had kissed her until her lips were swollen and her heart was racing, but he had never pushed for more. He seemed to understand without being told that she needed time. That trust, once broken, had to be rebuilt slowly, carefully, like a house made of glass.

“Storm is over,” Elias said, his voice rough with sleep.

Evelyn stretched, her muscles protesting after days of inactivity. “Do we need to check the animals?”

“I will go. You rest.”

But she did not want to rest. She wanted to move, to breathe fresh air, to feel something other than these cabin walls.

She followed him outside, and the world that greeted her took her breath away. The snow had transformed everything. It lay in drifts taller than she was, glittering in the morning sun like a sea of diamonds. The trees were coated in white, their branches bending under the weight. The sky was impossibly blue, so bright it hurt to look at.

“Beautiful,” Evelyn breathed.

Elias stood beside her, his breath fogging in the cold air. “Yeah,” he said. “It is.”

They spent the morning digging out. The path to the barn had to be cleared. The animals fed and watered. The cabin checked for damage. By noon, Evelyn was exhausted and soaked with sweat despite the freezing temperature.

She was inside warming herself by the fire when she heard hoofbeats.

Her heart stopped.

Elias was already at the window, his rifle in his hands. “Stay back.”

“Who is it?”

He did not answer. His body was tense, coiled like a spring, ready to release. Then the tension drained from his shoulders, and he set the rifle down.

“It is Harlow. Beatrice’s nephew.”

Evelyn appeared through the window and saw a young man on horseback, bundled against the cold, picking his way carefully up the trail. Elias went out to meet him. Evelyn watched through the glass as they spoke, saw Elias take something from the young man’s hand, saw his face go still.

When he came back inside, he was holding a letter.

“What is it?” Evelyn asked.

Elias handed her the paper without a word. Evelyn read it, her blood turning to ice with every sentence.

Elias,

A man came to town yesterday asking about a girl from Boston. Red hair. Young. Arrived on the stage a few weeks back. He says he is her cousin, looking for her. I do not believe him. He has the look of a hunter, not family.

Be careful. I will alert the sheriff if I see anything more.

Beatrice

Evelyn’s hands were shaking so badly the paper rattled. “They found me.”

She told him everything she knew about Julian Croft. The banker with the cold eyes and the colder smile. The fifty thousand dollars her father had accepted. The contract that treated her like livestock. Croft’s obsession with purity. His reputation for cruelty. The rumors — the wives who had died, the accidents that were not accidents.

By the time she finished, Elias’s face was carved from stone.

“He will come,” Evelyn said. “He does not accept being refused. He will see this as theft. He will come for me.”

“Then let him come.”

“You do not understand. He has money. Power. He can hire as many men as he needs.”

“I do not care how many men he has.”

“He could destroy you. Destroy everything you have built here.”

Elias looked at her, and in his eyes she saw something she had not expected. Not fear. Not even anger.

Certainty.

“Evelyn,” he said, “I have lost everything before. My home. My wife. My daughter. Everything that mattered to me was taken, and I survived. I rebuilt. I learned to live again.”

He stepped closer, his hands coming up to cup her face. “If they come for you, they will have to go through me. And I promise you — that is not something most men survive.”

Evelyn felt tears pricking at her eyes. “Why? Why would you risk everything for me? You barely know me.”

“I know enough.”

“What do you know?”

“I know you are brave,” he said. “Brave enough to run from a monster. Brave enough to marry a stranger. Brave enough to face every hardship this mountain has thrown at you without breaking. I know you are kind. You talk to Wraith like he is a person. You thank the chickens when they give you eggs. You said please to a horse.”

Evelyn laughed through her tears. “That is ridiculous.”

“No.” Elias shook his head. “It is who you are. And I would rather die protecting that than live without it.”

He kissed her then — hard and fierce and full of promise.

When they broke apart, Evelyn took a shaky breath. “Teach me to shoot.”

“What?”

“If they are coming for me, I will not just hide behind you. Teach me to defend myself.”

Elias studied her face for a long moment. Then, slowly, he smiled. It was the first real smile she had seen from him. It transformed his face, softening the hard lines, lighting up his gray eyes.

“Right,” he said. “We start tomorrow.”