Bride School: Mary (The Brides of Diamond Springs Ranch 4) by Bella Bowen

called out.
    “Keep going,” Milly hissed. “The door on the left.
Stay inside. I’ll come for you.” She gave Mary a little push and turned back.
    Mary forced herself to walk normally until she was
on the other side of the door. When she pushed the portal shut, she leaned back
against it, not trusting her legs to hold her up a moment longer.
    “Are you all right, Mary?” Mary Lou sat in front
of a mirror and fussed with her hair. “You and Mr. Hermann seemed to have a
great deal to talk about. I’m sorry if you’ve missed out on the dancing.”
    Mary pushed away from the door and took a seat in
front of the farthest of four mirrors on the wall. Lanterns sat on the long,
narrow table and cast warm light up at her face, making her cheeks look high
and her eyes sunken.
    “I don’t mind,” she said quietly. “He started
telling me a story and it turned out…to be a long one. But entertaining.” She
lifted away the lace and stared at herself in the mirror. How could she have
ever believed she looked anything like Alexandra Campbell?
    Sick with anticipation, she waited to see who
would be the first to call her out for her deceptions—Fontaine, or John. Which
one would be the first to realize she was the unpolished girl from the mountain
pretending to have been invited to the ball?
    It couldn’t be eight o’clock, let alone midnight,
and yet she felt her world growing round and orange…like a pumpkin.
    ~ ~ ~
     
    The Wednesday night dance was called short on
account of weather.
    It seemed like ages before Milly came to the
powder room to collect Mary and give her the news, that the men were going to
bunk up together in the hotel so there would be enough room for the brides to
stay the night in town. Fontaine wasn’t going to risk anyone freezing to death
on her watch.
    By the time Mary and Millie stepped back into the
assembly hall the men were assisting the rest of the women into their coats and
wraps. A man for each woman, elbows cocked at the ready, they marched them out
the door and into the cold. John, however, was gone.
    She and Millie hurried to cover themselves and it
took both of them to gently lay the hood of Alexandra’s heavy cloak over the
little pink hat.
    Mr. Harris offered them both an elbow. “Miss
Campbell, John Hermann has gone to help Mr. Willot with the boards. He asked me
to see after you.”
    “Thank you,” she said, trying not to sound as
disappointed as she felt.
    Elsa opened the door for them and the wind whipped
inside. It swirled a surprising amount of snow into a white tornado that
twirled toward the dance floor as if prepared to take its turn. Without music,
it sank and shattered.
    Mr. Harris led them out into the fury and Mary had
to trust the man's sense of direction because she had to bend her head into the
driving storm. Cold, hard snowflakes hit her face and threatened to freeze her
lashes to her cheeks. With one hand clenched on her escort and the other
dutifully keeping her hood in place, she couldn't have reached out to catch
herself if she fell.
    Unfortunately, Mr. Harris may have assumed that
the best way to protect two women from the weather was to get them to their
destination as quickly as possible. The man hurried along with no regard to
slippery shoes or the fact that the boards that had been placed over the snow
and slush weren’t wide enough for three people walking abreast. He plowed
toward the wood. She released his arm and tried to hang back, but he clamped
his arm down tight and pulled her along. His determination, however, wasn’t
going to help her walk on water.
    Her left foot landed solidly on the board, but her
next step was doomed to land at the bottom of an icy hole. Falling quickly
away, her hand came free, but instead of her toes sinking into the slush, they
lifted into the air. Her entire body was swept up and away from the danger and
she found herself clutched against the chest of a tall man. She held as still
as possible so as not to throw off