Homespun Bride by Jillian Hart

that Aiden wasn’t too happy about anything. “We’ll make sure he doesn’t let her down this time.”
    â€œWe’ll do our best. I got his train ticket taken care of. He ought to be arriving two weeks from tomorrow.” Aiden’s wide shoulders sagged a notch.
    It was quite a burden. Thad could feel it, too. “I’ll do my best, too. We’ll get him straightened out.”
    â€œIt all depends on how the territorial prison has changed him.”
    Thad didn’t know what to say about that. Life had a way of changing a person in the best of circumstances. “I wish I would have come back sooner.”
    â€œThe wages you sent home made the difference between losing our place and keeping it, so put that worry out of your mind. Between us, we’ve got enough of them as it is.” Aiden checked his watch. “Let’s hurry up. I’ve got to pick up Ma and take her to her church meeting in thirty minutes.”
    â€œHey, I thought you were going to look at property with me.”
    â€œI’m not going to leave you to do this on your own, little brother. You need a wiser man’s opinion.”
    â€œAnd where would I be gettin’ this wise opinion? Surely not from you?”
    Aiden smirked—the closest to a smile he ever got. “I’ve been keeping an eye on the land prices around here. Figured we would take a peek at the sale sometime, too.” He gestured toward the sale. “When Finn gets home, he’s got to have something to ride. He’s not using my horses.”
    Or Sunny. Thad nodded in agreement.
    Aiden cleared his throat as they started walking. “You wouldn’t be thinking about beauing that woman again.”
    â€œNoelle?” Beauing her? There was an outlandish thought. “No. I learned my lesson and I learned it well.”
    â€œNow it’s time for me to worry about you, brother. If it’s not Miss Kramer, then what else has put that look on your face? There are the Worthington daughters. A few of them are of a marriageable age.”
    He’d hardly noticed the one in the parlor—then again, he would never notice anyone else when Noelle was in the same room. The pang that ached in his heart was best left unexamined. He spotted the land office. “The real question is, brother, why are you mentioning those daughters? Say, you wouldn’t be sweet on one of the Worthington girls, would you?”
    â€œMe?” Aiden spit out the word. “You’ve been gone a long time, brother, or you’d remember my opinion on most women.”
    â€œI remember just fine. But I reckon that you’ve been alone a long time. That might have changed your opinion some.” Thad tried to say the words kindly, knowing his brother hurt for the wife and the newborn son he’d buried. Years hadn’t chased the haunted look from Aiden’s face. “Even I think about marrying now and again.”
    â€œYou?” Aiden’s jaw dropped in disbelief. “Didn’t figure that would be likely.”
    â€œNow, I didn’t say I was serious about it right this moment, but I’ve considered marriage from time to time.” He stepped to the side to allow two women to pass by on the boardwalk. “The real trouble is finding a sensible female.”
    â€œBrother, there isn’t a one of them on this green earth. God didn’t make a woman that way, and if you think otherwise then you are just fooling yourself.”
    â€œSpoken like a man destined to live alone for the rest of his life.”
    â€œAnd you aren’t?”
    â€œNo, not me.” Thad blinked against the sudden sharp glare of wintry sun as the road curved northeast. “I’m holding out for the kind of woman a man can count on. Maybe someday I’ll find a woman who understands that life is a battle you’ve got to fight every day.”
    â€œGood luck with that one, little brother.”