Rocky Mountain Widow

Jillian Hart

MILLS & BOON

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk/)

Table of Contents

Cover Page (#u7377e367-a273-545b-9398-4d7b5a8c2b35)

Praise (#ub40b37b1-9174-5cfb-bfd9-4b20700ab492)

Excerpt (#ub51854ee-9f9b-54da-a8f9-7d9bd1a97ddf)

About the Author (#u58e4129c-8832-5c08-b715-c5dcf6f52f22)

Title Page (#u3912fd49-c02b-5a0f-83bc-88a15677189d)

Prologue (#ua5563f9d-6443-5218-bd29-07110ef15972)

Chapter One (#uedf2d911-e99e-5c8e-bef9-7ef554628b8a)

Chapter Two (#u49f85bcc-e2ad-50e9-be1a-a5fec340d298)

Chapter Three (#u04537a83-7ac2-50a7-977d-856dcd1ae7de)

Chapter Four (#u0ba574b2-083c-5dd3-8faf-741fb42e9132)

Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eightteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)

Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

Prologue

Bluebonnet County, Montana Territory 1884

“You shamed me again, woman.” Ham towered on the board wagon seat beside her, nothing more than a shadow in the night. “Again!”

Claire rubbed the bump her gold wedding band made beneath the mitten on her left hand and tried not to give in to the rising resentment. He wasn’t through maligning her for the night, not by a long shot. It didn’t matter that she hadn’t said a word while she’d waited outside in the cold for hours until Ham decided he’d had his fill of whiskey and poker.

Or that during this long wagon ride home across the high country plains, she’d never said a word, either. Not of his drunken state, his careless driving, or the fact that the ground had hardened with ice and no other driver was out on the roads in this frigid night. That anyone else had more sense than that. But not Ham. No, not Ham.

He chucked in his throat, a disgusting sound, and spit with great skill. “You made me look bad in front of the boys.”

The boys being a table full of grown men playing poker in the smokiest, seediest saloon in the county. Claire held her tongue, because she’d learned the hard way that when he’d been drinking hard, Ham became mean and was always looking for the chance to get meaner.

He was not a good husband. Was there a chance he could be a decent father? She rested the palm of her hand on the round of her slightly swollen stomach. The doctor today had said she was doing well and the baby’s first kicks were strong. That was happy news. But she’d had some spotting.

“You must be careful.” The doctor’s tone had been grave. “Follow my advice. Go home. Put your feet up. Have Ham get Mrs. Simms to come over and take care of things for a spell.”

She hadn’t gotten up the courage to tell Ham anything, and he hadn’t asked. He never did, especially when he’d been drinking. The alcohol changed him, and when he was like this she had to be careful not to anger him.

Mama had warned her about men. Whenever one comes courting, he’s the best man on earth, she’d said. Punctual, attentive and decent. He has manners and treats you right. Once he gets a ring on your finger, then it’s a different matter.

You were so right, Mama. Claire glanced sideways at the man who’d wooed her and charmed her and made her believe in the impossible.

As she looked at the bulky man swaying drunkenly at her side, reeking of cheap whiskey and stale tobacco smoke, it was hard to fathom a time when he had been mistaken for wonderful.

Her judgment had been poor and she regretted it greatly.

“What are you lookin’ at, woman?” Just like that, Ham had worked himself up into a fury. “You don’t got any right to judge me, woman! I’ll drink what I want, when I want and with who I want.”

“All right, Ham,” she said quietly, gently, for it was the wisest way to manage him when he was like this. When he was so irrational, he was like dynamite ready to explode and devastate everything.

“And don’t you go givin’ me that look.”

It was better for her if she kept him calm, so it was desperation that made her set aside her anger. She didn’t like the way he treated her. She didn’t like how she had to behave to keep him rational. What else was she to do?