After returning to town, he slogged toward city hall.
Marrying Annie meant someone else could hold old women’s smelling salts, lock up pigs, and pester people until they built sidewalks.
The clank of the tin bell above the collector’s office door announced his arrival.
Bryant startled behind the hip-high counter and slammed the ledger shut in front of him. The man’s dirty blond hair was mussed, as if he’d been working in the wind instead of inside. “Hey, Jake. Didn’t expect you to drop in. Thought you’d had a lead.”
“‘Had’ is about right.” Jacob stepped to the counter separating them and held up his hands, making a gesture like he was strangling air. “Those rustlers like to frustrate me. My tipper knew what he was talking about though. I was out at dawn, and sure enough, on the Laramie under that clump of chestnuts, I found signs of a fresh camp. But the tracks disappeared into the river as they always do. Looked like they stole about thirty head this time. I know of some cattle missing from the Crawfords’, but not that many.” He didn’t want to think of how close he’d been to nabbing them. He picked up a shred of paper from the counter and rolled it between his fingers. “However, I came here to see if you had time to talk about something else.”
Bryant wiped at the sweat on his forehead despite the cool spring breeze coming through the windows. “I’m expecting someone.” He glanced at his timepiece.
Jacob held in a sigh. Why did he feel as if Bryant would only talk to him if cornered lately?
Bryant wet his lips and then nodded. “But I can squeeze you in.”
After looking about the office to make sure no one would overhear, Jacob leaned forward. “What would you say to me getting hitched?”
Bryant’s eyebrows hit his hairline. “I’d ask which young lady was blackmailing you.” He laughed, and then, tickled, seemingly couldn’t stop.
Jacob’s lips tightened into a thinner line as Bryant’s laughter turned into amused tears.
After a few attempts to control himself, Bryant abruptly sobered. “You ... you mean you’re seriously interested in one? Surely every single woman in this county has made a bid for you at least once already. Has Miss McGill finally won you over?”
Picturing himself taking tea at the mayor’s mansion of a house with its gingerbread ornamentation and its pastel paint job made him shudder. McGill’s daughter was all frills and lace and fluttering eyelashes. Whoever married her would probably have to tiptoe across pink rugs and dry his hands on his pants so he wouldn’t dirty the embroidered towels. Perhaps McGill was always so irritable because he had to sleep in a room painted lavender and could never put his feet up on his doily-covered furniture.
Having McGill as a father-in-law would surely land success in Jacob’s lap, though. The crotchety man possessed several places of business, the large ranch north of Annie’s with forty cowhands, the mayoral position, and men falling all over themselves to solicit his good will.
Yet, if being the self-righteous McGill’s employee chafed, then being his son-in-law would be intolerable.
And Miss McGill would probably dress him up in silk cravats and top hats.
“Not her. Considering I’ve been single this long, if I choose to marry someone that young, she’d have to be unusually mature—which is not an adjective I’d use for Miss McGill.” She might be able to make a man sweat with a simple sweep of her hazy blue eyes, but she had no substance. A man didn’t marry a pile of fluff and lace just because forty loomed closer every year. Better to be alone the rest of one’s life than regret every last year of it. Perhaps he’d been too picky, but he’d seen too many unhappy couples result from careless matchmaking.
Besides, there just hadn’t ever been anyone for him.
Bryant tapped his pen. “Who are you asking then?”
“Actually, she asked me.”
“Really?” Bryant cocked his head and smirked. “Didn’t think you’d go for a bold one. Though with the way you drag your feet...” Bryant forced a laugh. “That’s probably the only way a woman could snag you with the matrimonial noose.”
Jacob shook his head. “Don’t you give me any ‘ball and chain’ talk. No man would think twice about settling down if he could get a wife who champions him like yours does.”
Bryant tugged at his shirt buttons. “Yes, she does think I’m something.” He cleared his throat. “But I’m curious to know who’s turned your head.”
Jacob leaned across the counter, but stopped, pressing his lips together. He hadn’t decided on how to answer Annie’s offer yet, and she’d be embarrassed if people knew he’d refused her—if that ended up being his decision.
Pulling back, he tapped his knuckles on the counter. “I best not say. It is a rather abnormal way to go about this, considering it’d be a marriage of convenience and all.”
“What convenience do you need?” Stepping back, Bryant held up his fingers and ticked them off. “You own one of the best houses in town. You have a job that commands respect. You have girls vying for you, pretty ones I might add. You’re good looking, have no real demands on your time outside of work, and shoot better than most in the county.” Bryant clamped his hands on his hips. “What haven’t you got?”
Stepping back to the wall behind him, Jacob seated himself in a chair. “I’d rather not live in town, my job is meaningless, and the girls you’ve seen following me around like puppies can’t offer me more than an attractive face.”
Bryant scoffed. “But this other girl can?”
Jacob put his hands behind his head and listened to the clock tick. Annie’s ranch would give his time meaning. And though she wasn’t the prettiest woman he’d ever seen, she sported a personality he admired—dedicated to the Lord, giving, hard working—and had children in need. He glanced at his friend, who waited with his elbows propped against the counter. “I believe so.”
Bryant came around to take a seat a few feet away. “Don’t tell me she’d be able to get you a ranch.”
Jacob couldn’t keep the smile off his face.
A groan emitted from Bryant’s lips. “You’d be giving up one of the best jobs in the area. Your job as lawman is secure. But just one bad winter—”
“Nothing I’ve done since my parents sold the ranch has satisfied me, and you know that. I’ve yet to have enough money to buy property I’d be happy with since I waited too long and all the prices have shot up. But with her, I could have what I came up here for.” Jacob leaned back in his chair. “I might be daft to pass on the offer.”
Bryant leaned forward, his elbows denting his knees. “Unless the woman would make you miserable.”
Jacob pictured Annie. Quiet, unassuming, and something behind her eyes that made his guts knot up. “I don’t think so. The girls in town can’t compare, and bachelorhood doesn’t hold much charm when you’re living it.”
The clatter of the bell made Bryant shoot up. Conrad McGill eyed the two of them, his nostrils flared like usual, as if his white walrus mustache constantly tickled his nose. “Gentlemen.”
Jacob touched the brim of his hat but refused to jump out of his chair despite the censure he saw behind his boss’s eyes. “Mayor.”
McGill turned to Bryant, leveling an intense glare at the man. After receiving a slight nod from Bryant, the mayor walked behind the counter. “I’ll be in my office if you need me.”
As soon as McGill’s door closed behind him, Jacob turned to his friend, who was standing straighter than a fence post. “McGill has the personality of a mule.”
Bryant shrugged and sank back into his chair.
“He isn’t making your work difficult, is he?”
“Why—” Bryant’s voice cracked. “Why, not really.” He stood again and smoothed his pants. “Just, you know, bosses are bosses. They’re never happy.”
“He’s my boss too, but he seems more hands off with me.” Jacob mentally shook his head at Bryant, who kept his gaze averted. What had happened to their carefree friendship? Any time he inquired in
to his friend’s life lately, Bryant answered with clipped, careful sentences and changed the subject. Maybe he was facing hardship at home with Leah, though the thought of anyone having a hard time getting along with that sweet lady was almost impossible to believe.
“Ah, but you’re free to walk around town, out from under his thumb. I’m under it all day.” Bryant walked back behind the treasury counter. “So, I ought to at least act like I’m working.” He flashed a smile that reached no deeper than his lips. “But as to your marriage plans, follow your gut. You generally make well thought-out decisions.” The ledger’s cover thumped onto the counter as Bryant flipped open pages. “Certainly, you make wiser decisions than I.”
Jacob crossed his arms. “If any man in this territory chose a better wife for himself than you did, introduce me to him.”
Ducking his head, Bryant twiddled a pen. “I can’t take credit for Leah. She’s a gift from above I don’t deserve.”
Was Annie and her land a blessing from God?
He’d never been so nervous to accept a gift.
After Jacob’s long stride took him from the office, Bryant heard his boss’s hefty plodding behind him.
“So Jacob didn’t find the rustlers, I take it?” A wheeze whistled through McGill’s vocal chords with every word.
“No.” Bryant shook his head. Why did he even bother asking?
“You got the papers?”
Bryant slipped out the document he’d slid between the ledger’s pages when Jacob walked in. He shoved it toward his boss. “Yeah.”
“And the books?”
Footsteps in the hallway made Bryant look up. Once they passed, he turned to McGill. “They’ll be done this afternoon, as long as I’m not interrupted again.”
“Good. I need to take them to Robert on Monday for his approval. I want everything done by next week.” His fingers drummed on the counter next to the ledger. “Remember, this is for their own good.”
Right. Taking land from people was always for their own good. His heart thumped in a pathetic rhythm.
If only he had won a few more hands of poker. “Whatever you say.”
McGill leaned on the counter and got in Bryant’s face. “You’re not backing out.” He wasn’t asking a question.
“No.” If he revealed their boss’s crimes to Jacob, McGill would end up in prison, but so would he. And then his sweet Leah would discover he was not what she thought him to be, and his daughter, Jennie, would no longer be able to attend the blind school.
He had a few small debts left, but he’d not stoop to ask McGill to cover for him ever again.
Using his pen, Bryant jabbed the air between him and McGill. “But this is the last time. I think I’ve more than paid for the debts I owe you.”
Steepling his hands in front of his face, McGill stared Bryant down.
Bryant refused to lower his gaze.
“That’s if you don’t rack up any more debt.”
“I won’t, and even if I did, I won’t be asking anything more from you.”
“If that’s so, get this one done right, and it’s over. Probably a good thing. Don’t want the marshal to start catching on. Four’s probably pushing our luck anyway.”
Bryant nodded. He knew how easily one could push his luck, because that’s how he ended up in this mess.
McGill thumped the ledger. “Make it good and clean.”
After his boss left, Bryant glanced through the hallway door window and listened for anyone heading toward the office. Once the quiet lasted a couple minutes, Bryant flipped open the ledger and found his place. He’d already fixed the critical lines, but he’d have to make sure there were no more entries needing doctoring.
He rubbed his temples. Would Leah forgive him if she discovered his involvement with McGill’s underhanded dealings? At a minimum, she’d never think highly of him again.
He flipped over another page.
Thank you for keeping her from having any idea about what I’m doing.
But that prayer brought him no comfort.
Chapter Six
“Wanna race?” Spencer poised himself to charge up and over the pond’s bank.
“Not fair.” Jacob waved the fishing gear in his hands. “You’ll win for certain.”
“I can carry something.” Spencer extended his empty arms. “Then we’ll both have to run with stuff.”
Laughing, Jacob shifted everything into his right hand and ruffled Spencer’s reddish-brown hair. “I think your mother would have a problem with me letting you run with pointy things.” At Spencer’s pouting lower lip, he added, “We’ll race another day. Why don’t we catch up with your sister?”
Off like a shot, Spencer ran after Celia. The girl had been indignant over him pulling her away from working the cattle earlier. Spencer would welcome a new father into his life, but Celia? Jacob quickened his pace to catch up.
Ahead on the bare plains, Spencer giggled as he circled his sister through the swishing grasses, darting in close to tickle her, ducking her attempts to smack him on his way out.
A Saturday morning of playing with the children had lightened the boy’s spirits if not Celia’s, though he’d caught her smiling at least once. Ranch children worked hard at chores, and rightfully so, but sometimes kids needed to play. He cherished the memories of his father occasionally dropping everything to romp around with him and his siblings for an afternoon.
He glanced at the Gepharts’ little cemetery, a line of markers under a tree, a common sight in the west. Families were often quickly torn apart by life, but they had a bond stronger than any other.
Jacob plodded through the quick growing grass.
I hardly know her, Lord. These children aren’t mine, and I haven’t ranched in years. Shouldn’t I be losing sleep over this decision? Am I imagining your peace, or am I smothering my jitters because I want this ranch so badly?
Last night, thinking perhaps he’d lost the sense to be nervous, Jacob had envisioned wedding Gwen McGill instead.
A shiver ran down his spine. Now that had worked him into a cold sweat.
If God disagreed with the decision Jacob had made last night, the Lord would have to warn him away before the wedding.
In the distance, Annie scurried from the barn to the house, her skirt caked in mud and decorated with stray straw. He didn’t deserve a ranch, a wife, and children with so little effort.
Thank you, Lord, for your blessings.
With long strides, he caught up to the children and surveyed the land that would soon be his. Cows lowed in the distance and birds soared lazily in the blue haze embracing the mountains. Each whiff of air drifting from their peaks brought the spicy scent of cedars, pine, and sage. He sucked in that smell and held it for a minute before releasing his breath.
Before today, only his parents’ Texas ranch had stirred him so.
At the porch steps, he dropped the tackle and poles. “Spencer, why don’t you put these away and bring in more wood? Celia, finish lunch for your mother, please.”
Spencer darted off, but Celia cocked her head, a question written across her face, yet she kept her peace and finally turned to climb the steps.
He followed her in and walked over to where Annie was washing up. “Would you mind going on a walk with me? Celia will take over lunch.”
After throwing a surprised glance toward her daughter, Annie nodded but didn’t meet his eyes. “I’ll just need to give her some directions first.”
“Sure. I’ll wait on the porch.” He gave Celia a look, hoping she understood he expected her to follow through.
Outside, Jacob scanned the stubbly land. Green sprouted amidst the dead brown grasses covering the ground, and the cottonwood, standing guard over the gravesite, waved in the wind. He pulled on his tightening collar. How did a man offer his hand to a woman after she’d already proposed to him? A woman he’d be spending every day with—and every night. He squelched the heat radiating throughout his body with a deep breath. Her husband’s death was t
oo recent and her grief too raw for them to move forward with their relationship quickly, so he’d have to follow Annie’s lead. How long until she’d decide her second marriage was no longer convenient but desirable?
No time for courting before the wedding though. The county required her tax payment next month—and two weeks was barely enough time to work in a wedding and a move.
The front door creaked open.
Annie’s hands twisted in her apron with every step she took.
Jacob straightened and almost offered his arm, but she passed him and stepped off the porch, as if drifting in a daydream. Following, he placed one hand on her back and pointed toward the spring. “Why don’t we head that way?”
The few times he’d talked to Annie in the past, she’d struck him as a decisive, confident woman, so her present shyness plucked at his heartstrings. He wished he could pull her into an embrace and smooth away her fears. “Thought we should talk.”
She nodded. “Thank you for getting Celia to cook.”
“No problem.” How long had Celia been slacking on her chores? Hopefully she’d not be too much trouble. Enough young people in town bandied about defiant attitudes which often got them into scrapes with the law. But soon, worrying over the townspeople’s foibles would no longer be his battle to fight.
After walking stiffly next to each other for a few paces, Jacob decided on a safe topic. “So, I’ve looked over your books, and you’re right. You need help to keep this place running, but at the same time, I commend you for how well you’ve done.”
Her eyebrows crinkled. “I’ve lost more cattle than we ever have before.”
Jacob laid a hand on her shoulder. “You’re not responsible for what rustlers do.” He swallowed hard. Just because he couldn’t catch them, didn’t mean he was at fault for every new missing calf either.
Annie’s head hung low, and her chest expanded with a huge sigh.
Romancing the Bride Page 5