Mail Order Bride: Westward Christmas Novel (Montana Mail Order Brides, Book 11) by Linda Bridey Page A

“You have to back Ben.  He’s your man!”
    Seth laughed.  “You wouldn’t think it, but she loves these fights.  I brought her to one as a joke and she’s been hooked ever since.”
    Sasha said, “No, you wouldn’t think it.  Of course, I can understand how she feels.  There’s something…primal about it.”
    “I guess there is at that,” Seth said as he watched Sammi land another blow on Ben’s back.
    Ben struck back with a kick that took out Sammi’s legs.  He never struck Sammi in her pelvic region for fear of damaging anything pertaining to childbirth.  Legs, arms, and such were fair game, but in his mind, anything to do with her hips was off limits.  Reckless felt the same.  If Sammi knew they sometimes gave her preferential treatment regarding this, she’d be furious.
    She landed hard and rolled away from Ben, who followed her closely and got ahold of one of her legs.  Sammi kicked out with the other one and caught Ben’s rib cage with it.  His breath left him for few moments and then he got her shirt collar and dragged her onto her feet.  She laughed and hit him on his ear.
    Ben recoiled from the blow and punched her shoulder as he shook his head to clear the ringing in the offended ear.  Sammi backed up as she rubbed her shoulder and Ben rubbed his ear.  Both shook their head at the other and the fight was over.  They came together in the center of the circle and hugged as they laughed together.
    Cheers and groans went up because it was Ben who won, since he’d taken on two opponents and was still standing.  Those who had backed Sammi were dismayed to have lost money since they’d already lost money on Reckless.  It was one time Joe was glad he wasn’t betting.  Ben picked up his shirt as Reckless came over to him.
    “That was very sneaky, Ben,” he said with a smile. “I won’t fall for that again.”
    Ben grinned.  “You’re not the only one who can be creative, you know.”
    Reckless shook a finger at him and went back to work.
    Ben found Sasha standing with Seth and Maddie.  He’d been worried about her reaction to all of the commotion.  She bounced up and down a little and grinned at him.
    “Look at what you won me!” she said, holding up a fistful of money.
    Ben laughed.   “You bet on me?”
    “Of course!  Well, I wasn’t going to bet at all because I’ve never done that, but then Maddie showed me how and now I’m rich,” Sasha said with a laugh.  Never would Sasha have dreamt that she would go to a saloon and bet on a fighting match.  She felt alive and didn’t want it to end.
    “You looked so…primal, so virile out there,” she told him.  Ben hadn’t put his shirt back on yet and she let her eyes roam over his sweaty, muscular torso.
    Ben saw the spark of passion in her eyes and wanted to take her back upstairs.  Instead he said, “Thank you, sugar.  Let’s get a drink and sit down a little while.”
    Sasha said, “All right.”
    On the way to the bar, people congratulated Ben and Sasha smiled as they stepped up to the bar.  Jake handed Ben a shot and said, “A drink for the winner.”
    Ben downed it and Jake threw him a clean bar rag.  Ben wiped sweat from his upper body and then threw the rag in the dirty rag bin with the others to be washed.  Sasha could have groaned as Ben’s glorious body was covered once again as he put on his shirt.  She stepped a little closer to Ben and inhaled the musky scent of his overheated body and sighed.  He smelled intoxicating.
    Suddenly Luke Samuels, Seth’s cousin, came shoving his way through the crowd.  “Ben!  You gotta come with me!” he said as he grabbed Ben’s arm and pulled him with him.  At six foot four and weighing two-hundred pounds, Luke was one of the biggest men in the area and he easily moved people out of the way.
    Luke let Ben’s arm go and said, “It’s Wendell.  He collapsed.  We can’t get him to wake up.”
    Ben ran up onto the stage and motioned for everyone to