The Proposition

The Proposition
Kate Bridges

Sergeant-Major Travis Reid Was Coldhearted TroubleBut for the sake of the child she'd lost, Jessica Haven was ready to travel with a man who hated the sight of her. Still, the trail-toughened Mountie was her last, best hope for justice–and maybe her one true chance for love!She Was The Mayor's Spoiled Daughter Travis Reid had been ready to dismiss Jessica Haven as the flighty society miss he remembered, concerned only with her own comfort. But the determined young woman surprised him with her unexpected verve and sensuality. And their trek across the wilderness was fast becoming a journey of the heart!

KATE BRIDGES

THE PROPOSITION

This book is dedicated with everlasting thanks and

deepest respect to my agent, mentor and friend,

Charles Schlessiger. Thank you, Charles, for

taking a chance and believing in an unknown writer.

It’s a pleasure working with you.

I’d also like to thank my friend and fellow writer

Janine Whalley for her generous contribution of time

and advice on the matter of horses. Thanks, Janine,

for patiently answering every question I had regarding

stallions, broodmares, foals and training.

Any mistakes I may have made in the story are my own.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Epilogue

Chapter One

Alberta, July 1892

Unaware of it, the man astride the horse dominated her attention. For three days running, Jessica Haven had watched Sergeant Major Travis Reid exercising the stallion on the oval track inside the fort, desperately trying to have a word with him, and for three days running the officer had ignored her. Today she’d force him to listen.

Sitting in the bleachers beside her, awash in early-morning sunlight, a small group had gathered to watch. The men concentrated on the dangerous bucking of the unbroken mustang, but Jessica knew the women focused on Travis.

“It’s a pity he’s leavin’ his horses,” said the banker.

“Sad shame what happened to his wife,” whispered the commander’s sister.

The officer twisted in the saddle. Leaning forward in concentration, his dark head tilted and body flexed, he melded with the sculpted lines of the horse. Dressed in the work clothes of the North-West Mounted Police—loose white shirt tucked into tight black breeches—he ran a large hand over the stallion’s neck and whispered something into its mane.

His hard muscles coaxed the animal into submission.

Jessica fanned her heated face and rearranged her flowing cotton skirts around her ankles, uncomfortable that it was obvious the man stirred her. Her absence of two years hadn’t changed his ability to dominate her senses.

Roughrider, his men had nicknamed him, a man skilled at riding untamed horses.

The name suited him, she thought, watching him dismount. He was rough. Travis was a master horseman, the Mounties’ best. Jessica had heard he also excelled at tracking outlaws, that he’d been promoted four times in three years. He’d risen from corporal to sergeant major faster than prairie lightning.