The Reluctant Bride (The Ladies Club of Laramie Book 4)

by Everly West

  "As Levi's wife, I'm here to attest to his honesty. His integrity. And the wonderful ideas he hopes to bring about change for the working people of this town and the entire territory of Wyoming. If you have any doubts about Levi's worth, then doubt no further. You will not find a better man for this job. I swear it as his wife."

  Eva heard the emotion in her voice and realized she meant every word she said. She would defend Levi with every fiber of her body. Against her father. Against the whole world if necessary.

  Levi crushed her into a hug and held her for several seconds while the thunderous applause filled the room. Then he turned her to face the crowd and another rumbling applause overwhelmed Eva.

  Her father wasn’t ready to concede. “And would you still attest to his honesty and integrity if you knew that he lied to you about your wedding? That you proposed a temporary marriage of convenience, but he and his friend there, The Honorable William E. Baker, a federal judge fully capable of legally marrying you to this scheming bastard?”

  Eva heard her father’s words, but it took a moment or two for their meaning to sink deep enough for understanding.

  Governor Moonlite's booming voice interrupted the crowd's appreciation. "Well, there is some truth to Delacroix’s accusations, but I think Levi Copper should be commended for setting his sights on the prize and doing whatever it takes to grasp it. When I first spoke to Levi about giving him my support, I told him the people of Laramie and the whole of Wyoming Territory would identify with him more if he were a married man. I offered him my support if he would agree to this marriage. I’m certainly glad to see he took my advice. Don’t these two make a lovely couple?”

  The man's words punched at Eva's stomach. Confusion made her movements sluggish.

  "Eva?” Levi whispered against her ear and took her by the hand to the side of the stage to allow the governor to take center stage. Eva felt weak in her knees.

  “Will everyone please be seated?" The man's booming voice could be heard over the occupants in the room, pulling their attention to focus on his words.

  "I want to thank everyone for coming out to this very important town hall meeting. This will be a critical election for the citizens of Wyoming Territory, and it is important that you all vote your conscience." The man chuckled and turned to point at her and Levi where they stood. "You've heard from the candidate's wife and her glowing adoration for the man is hard to miss, but I would like to you to listen a moment to someone else who is also in support of Levi Copper as your territorial congressional representative and perhaps he's a little less biased than Mr. Copper's new bride, although these two men have been friends for many years.

  "This man is very well respected throughout the territory and he has dedicated his entire career to making impartial decisions based strictly on the facts. So, without further delay, please allow me to introduce the Honorable William E. Baker, the territorial judge of Wyoming Territory."

  Eva watched in disbelief as Levi's friend stepped from somewhere behind her and walked up to the podium to speak. Will was William. The same man who performed her make-believe wedding ceremony. The same man who provided her with a fake marriage certificate. He was a federal judge. A man legally capable of marrying her and Levi in a legally binding marriage. Her father was right about Levi. How could he do something like this?

  She listened to his familiar voice speak, vouching for Levi's integrity. And honesty. And character.

  As Eva listened, the truth of her situation becoming increasingly clear to her. She realized Levi was still holding her hand. She needed to put some distance between her and Levi. She tried to discretely pull her hand out of his, but he wouldn't let go.

  Instead he leaned in and whispered. "Eva, please let me explain."

  Eva looked up and into those beautiful eyes she had always trusted. “There’s only one question I need you to answer. Is our marriage legal?” She whispered back to him behind her gloved hand to hide her words from the audience.

  “I’ve known Will for a long time, so yes, I knew he was a federal judge.”

  She refused to look at him, knowing she wouldn't be able to hide her disappointment or her tears.

  “Did you know our marriage was legally binding?” She whispered.

  He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he squeezed her hand and held on tight.

  “I asked you a question, Levi.” She knew people were watching them, so she pasted on a bright smile even though there was no joy or happiness behind it.

  “Did you know our marriage would be legal?”

  “Yes. I knew, but—"

  She knew standing on the stage in front of the whole town wasn't the place to have this conversation, but she had to know what his part in all of this was before she walked out of his life for good.

  “You knew how I felt about marriage and my freedom and holding on to my independence. You knew, and yet—you used me to get what you wanted. You used me just like my father did.”

  She pasted a smile on her face and kept her eyes on the crowd in front of her listening to the man speaking—the federal judge who was fully authorized to wed two people and sign a legally binding marriage certificate.

  "And now, I'd like to introduce you to the next Wyoming Territorial Congressman, local business man and well-respected entrepreneur, Leviticus Copper."

  Eva not only heard the thunderous applause that signaled the end of Levi's friend's speech, but she felt it through the stage's wooden floor boards. Will turned from the podium and sent her an apologetic look. Then his gaze shifted to Levi. "Levi, your constituents are waiting to hear what you have to say."

  She saw Levi nod to Will and then he tried to pull her alongside him to the podium. "No, you need to go alone." She whispered between clenched teeth. Her fake smile pasted on her face and forcefully pulled her hand out of his. There was nothing he could do to make her go without causing a scene. She watched his eyes send her a silent message, but she didn't want to hear it.

  The governor clapped Levi on the back and pulled him toward the podium. "And here he is, your next Wyoming Territorial Congressman, Leviticus Copper!"

  The crowd cheered and Levi turned to acknowledge the crowd's acceptance of him. Her smile still pasted on her face, she turned and cut a look to Will. He shrugged and mouthed “sorry” as if that were explanation enough. It wasn't.

  She faked another smile and nodded to everyone she passed on her way to the stage stairs. A man reached out to help her down them and she thanked him with her brightest smile. Instead of turning up the aisle where everyone would see her, including Levi, she turned toward the door behind the stage that led to the alleyway outside.

  Eva nodded to the man who opened the door for her and stepped into the chilly evening air. Eva inhaled the deep aroma that was Laramie. Dust. Horses. Cattle from the train's holding pen at the end of town. She had spent more than half her life in this town and suddenly, she felt like a complete stranger.

  Tears stung at Levi's deception. She couldn't come to terms with his betrayal yet. She would need time and there was only one place she could go to get the time she needed.

  She walked quickly to her parents’ home. She knew they would still be at the meeting and she would have time to pack a few things for her trip. Then, she would head to her friend Sarah’s house and spend the night. Tomorrow morning, she would purchase a ticket on the stage or train or whatever mode of transportation would take her away from the deceit and lies of the people who professed to care about her only to barter her away at the first opportunity to gain the upper hand.

  Tears burned her eyes as she entered her parents’ home by the servant’s entrance. She expected this kind of thing from her father, but Levi? Never. She had trusted him without reservation and now, she could never forgive him.

  * * *

  Levi sat in his office and tried for the hundredth time to reconcile the day's receipts, but he couldn't push his mind to focus on the task at hand. No matter how many times he refocused his
thoughts, they always pulled him back to Eva.

  It had been two months since she left him standing on that stage. Someone said they thought they saw her leave by the alley door. As soon as he had been able to leave the town hall, he ran to the hotel hoping she would allow him a moment to explain, but when he arrived in the main lobby, he was mobbed by well-wishers and it was another half an hour before he was able to escape to his third floor suite. She wasn't there and no one had seen her.

  He had gone to her parents’ house every day since she left, hoping to get some answers as to where she had gone, but her father gleefully told him his daughter had finally come to her senses and left him in the dirt where he belonged.

  Levi kept watching and hoping someone would slip up and say something that would give him some clue as to where she had gone, but her father finally grew tired of insulting him and ordered his staff to stop answering the door.

  A knock on his office door pulled him from his despair. "Come in," he snapped.

  The door swung open and Will walked in. "Still stewing, I see." His friend eyed his empty whiskey glass and raised his brows in question.

  "Yes, I'm still stewing. Why wouldn't I be? There's no sign of her, Will. It's as if she just vanished into thin air." Levi slammed his ledger shut and removed the glass stopper from the crystal decanter and splashed a heavy-handed portion into his glass. He offered the bottle to Will. He shook his head no.

  Levi didn't really care one way or the other. He slammed the bottle down on his desk and tossed the entire contents of his glass down his throat. The whiskey burned like hell. Just something else he didn't care about. He poured another glass full of whiskey and sat back in his chair. His eyes met Will's and he nearly broke down.

  Will remained silent and Levi’s frustration hit his limit of tolerance. He picked up the crystal paperweight and threw it across the room. It shattered into a thousand pieces—just like his heart.

  "Feel better?" Will asked.

  "Where could she be, Will? I have asked all of her friends from the Laramie Ladies Club. If they know something, they aren't talking about it. Her parents won't talk to me. I even hired two private investigators to see if they could find any trace of how she left or where she went. Nothing."

  "Do you think if you find her, she's going to listen to you?"

  "I don't know, but I have to try. I have to do something to make her understand how much I love her. Let her know how sorry I am that I lied about—everything." Levi felt more lost and lonelier at this moment than he ever had growing up without parents. He didn't think Eva would ever forgive him, but he had to try to explain his reasons for tricking her into a real marriage.

  His conversation with the governor about getting a wife took on meaning only after Eva asked him to marry her. It wasn't as if he had planned it all...not exactly.

  "I bought her a house the day of the town meeting. Did you know that?" Levi casually asked Will.

  "No, why would you buy her a house if you knew there was a possibility that she might not—" He heard his friend stop short.

  "If I knew she might not stay?" Levi filled in the blank. "Because she said she never felt like her parents’ home belonged to her. They decorated. They made the rules. They told her when to sit and when to come and go."

  "But what about your suite of rooms upstairs? Hell, there's probably more room up there than most houses can boast about," Will questioned. "Besides, that whole third floor is like a palace. It is unbelievable what you have done with—"

  "That's the problem. I decorated it. I designed it. And it was all built for a bachelor's taste. Dark woods. Browns and tans. Hunting horses and foxes. Not the roses and damask ladies often like. I had my opportunity to tell her the truth the night of the kitchen fire. I planned to tell her the next day, because I was hoping we were growing closer, but she was gone and I didn’t get to see her until she arrived on the stage with me. It's like fate kept stepping in my way. And then her father told her in front of the whole world that I lied. It was him that day, wasn’t it? He was lurking outside my office door and he heard us talking. I’ll bet it gave his such joy to know he had me."

  Levi stood and paced around the room. His heart ached. His stomach churned. His success, his bid for the congressional seat, this hotel—nothing mattered anymore except being with Eva and that opportunity was lost to him forever. Not only had he lost his wife, he had lost his best friend.

  A knock at the door made him want to send whoever it was away running for the door, but he was a businessman and he had an obligation to his staff to keep this hotel running so they had a paycheck at the end of the week.

  Will answered for him. "Come in."

  He turned to the door to deal with the intruder, take care of their needs, and then send them away so he could wallow in his misery, but when the door opened, he thought he had gone from dreaming to hallucinating.

  Standing in the doorway was Eva's mother, Lila Delacroix. He couldn't speak. He couldn't move. He wasn't sure what he was thinking were real thoughts.

  He saw the frown on her face at the unkempt sight of him. He hadn't bathed in two days—maybe three. He hadn't bothered to groom his beard, or his hair in weeks, and his clothes were wrinkled as if he had slept in them for days.

  Will stood and greeted the woman for him. "Mrs. Delacroix, what an unexpected surprise. I apologize for my friend here. He has lost something he loved very much and he's not coping well at all."

  Levi watched his friend approach the lady and bow. Then he offered her his hand. When Eva's mother sort of smiled and gave him her hand, he led her to the chair next to the one he had been sitting in. "Mrs. Delacroix, would you care for some tea? Or perhaps coffee?"

  "No, thank you, Judge Baker, I'm fine."

  Will gave him a look over the woman's large feathered hat that said, "Get a grip."

  Levi shook the whiskey and his fatigue off, smoothed his wrinkled shirt and raked his fingers through his unkempt hair. Taking his chair behind his desk, he watched Lila Delacroix watch him.

  He was nervous as hell. Why on earth would Eva's mother come to visit him? Her parents hated him. A thought punched through his confusion. Something has happened to Eva. The thought made him nearly lose a belly full of whiskey. He swallowed twice to keep the bile from rising up and embarrassing them all.

  "Mrs. Delacroix, is Eva alright? Has something happened to her?" Levi didn't want to know the answer to that question. Not really, but—

  "No, Mr. Copper. The last letter I received from her said she arrived unharmed at her destination."

  Tears burned Levi's eyes. "Good. That's really good to know. Thank you for telling me that much, Mrs. Delacroix." The emotions from the last two months leached out between his words. He heard the catch. He knew the room's other occupants heard it too.

  He caught the sympathetic look from Will, and he was embarrassed. Then he caught the thoughtful look of Eva's mother and good sense returned. "What brings you to see me, Mrs. Delacroix? Does Eva need something? Money perhaps. Whatever she needs, all she has to do is ask."

  The woman remained silent for a moment or two longer and then she looked him right in the eye and asked, "Mr. Copper, do you love my daughter?"

  Stunned she would even think his name, her daughter, and the word love in the same sentence, he hesitated for a half second. "I have been in love with your daughter since she and I were children. Ever since that day I walked her home, I've been in love with Eva."

  "Yes, I remember that day. It was the day she came home dirty and scraped. Her father was furious with her for not paying attention. I was furious with the lot of you, until—" Levi watched the woman hesitate.

  "Until?" He had to know where this conversation was going to lead.

  "Until, I saw the look on Eva's face when she talked about how you stepped in to save her. You made quite an impression that day, Mr. Copper."

  He remained silent. Mrs. Delacroix continued, "Every time you and Eva talked, I could tell. Her eyes lit
up and her face glowed. She was happy."

  “Then you knew about our weekly visits by the lake outside of town?” He couldn’t believe it.

  “Yes, I always knew Eva wasn’t at piano lessons. Goodness, I hope not. If that girl had spent that much time at lessons and still couldn’t play a lick, I’d be sorely disappointed in my only offspring.” The woman was joking with him.

  "Then tell me where she is, Mrs. Delacroix. Tell me how I can find her so I can fix this," Levi begged.

  "Is it true Eva asked you to marry her?"

  "Yes."

  "And is it also true the governor promised to support you in your bid for congress if you were married?" the woman pushed.

  Levi answered without hesitation.

  "Yes, that is true, but Eva had already asked me to marry her before the governor made his promise to support me instead of your husband."

  "And did you marry Eva because of the governor's comment?"

  "Hell, no. I’m sorry, Mrs. Delacroix. I apologize for my language, but I would have married Eva on the spot. I wanted to do what was best for her. Then, when the governor's offer came to light, I admit, I jumped at the chance. The two things I wanted most in this world were offered to me for the taking." He hesitated for another second and then added. "Besides, I love her. I wanted her to be my wife. I would have asked years ago, but I know how you and your husband feel about me, so—"

  "I only want what makes my daughter happy, regardless of how my husband thinks. I had hoped she and the governor's son would get along and fall in love. Then Henri would get what he wanted, and my daughter could finally be happy, but her heart was already taken."

  "I ask you again, Mrs. Delacroix. Why have you come this morning?" Levi pushed for answers.