Marriage at Any Price

by Lauren Canan

  Curled under her blanket, she looked miserable.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to share the bed?”

  “I’m fine.”

  With a sigh Seth turned off the light next to the bed. Short of picking her up and physically putting her on the bed, there wasn’t a lot more he could do. He had a feeling the little feline would show her claws big-time if he tried it. He loosened the string on his sweatpants and closed the adjoining door.

  * * *

  The next morning Seth woke up to an empty room. Then he found the note on the nightstand next to where he slept. Gone to work. Back at six. He grabbed his cell and looked at the time. It was barely seven in the morning. Ally worked twelve-hour days?

  He showered, got dressed and headed to the ranch where Ally worked, stopping along the way for a to-go breakfast and coffee. When he arrived at the Triple Bar Ranch, he found her at the back of the main barn lunging a chestnut yearling in one of the exercise pens. He stepped over and held out a sausage biscuit and a cup of coffee.

  She walked over to where he stood against the corral fence and took the coffee and biscuit. “Thanks.”

  “No problem. Are you going to talk to your boss today about leaving?”

  “No,” she told him hesitantly. “I’ll quit only after you can tell me the house is yours. Or mine.” She shook her head. “You know what I mean.”

  “You can trust me, Ally.”

  “Time will tell.”

  “How about this afternoon we head to Calico Springs and see if we can decide on some furniture?”

  “I have to work.”

  “I close on the property tomorrow. What are you going to sleep on if we don’t get some beds?”

  “I was reconsidering, thinking I’ll just stay here.”

  Seth sighed. “Why purchase the farm if you don’t want to be there? Was I mistaken to think you wanted your ranch?”

  “No. But—”

  “No buts. If you don’t want your ranch, tell me now.”

  He knew what she was thinking: she wanted her ranch, but without him.

  “I’ll be ready at noon. Thanks for breakfast.”

  Seth nodded. “I’ll call my assistant in LA and have her arrange for some housekeepers. Setting up that house is going to be a big undertaking.”

  “How much help is needed to tell the delivery people where to put two beds and a stove and refrigerator?”

  “I had in mind a little more than that.”

  The filly began to paw, anxious to return to the barn or pasture. Ally broke off a small piece of the biscuit and fed it to the young horse, which seemed to soothe its impatience somewhat. Dropping the remains of the biscuit into the sack, she took another sip of the coffee and handed the cup and bag back to Seth.

  “How did you know I liked cream in my coffee?”

  “Just a guess,” he answered as he took the empty sack. “I’ll pick you up about noon.”

  * * *

  Ally watched him walk away from the corral, his long strides carrying him down the graveled road to his car.

  He was a strange man. She didn’t as yet have him figured out. His looks were what she’d always pictured someone from California would look like: tanned and muscled with blond highlights in his hair where the sun hit it. His face was strikingly handsome, with laugh lines around the edges of his mouth and dimples when he smiled. His wealth should have made him arrogant, but she still hadn’t seen any sign of that. He almost blended in with the locals, people she’d known most of her life. Strange. The other Masters brothers had grown up in Calico Springs. Someone who didn’t know him would assume Seth had as well.

  He came back at noon, and they went shopping. The first stop was to a car dealership, where Seth picked out a new pickup truck. Then they went to shop for furniture and some household necessities.

  “Don’t you want to try out the mattress before you make your decision?” Seth asked Ally, standing next to a row of floor models.

  “I’m sure whatever you select will be fine.”

  “At least sit on it. Ultimately you will be the one who keeps and sleeps on the mattress when you take over the house. You might as well pick out what you like.”

  Humor him, she thought, and move on. She sat down on the closest display model and immediately didn’t like it. She moved to a second then a third. By the time she found one she liked, they were at the opposite end of the large showroom.

  “That’s it?” Seth asked. “That’s the one?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Send out two, both king,” he said to the sales associate. “Now let’s find bedroom suites to go with them.”

  “How do you know you’ll like the mattress I picked out?”

  He looked around the huge showroom, which was on the third floor of the shop, and at all the mattresses she’d tried out. “I doubt I could do better. Come on.”

  Together they went to the second floor, where they purchased two bedroom suites, a living room suite, a kitchen table and chairs, and loungers for the den.

  “I’ll have the list of items we bought sent to Karen, my assistant, and tell her to fill in the rest. Anything she misses we can get later,” Seth said as he gave Ally a ride back to work.

  When they got back to Triple Bar Ranch, he told her he’d pick her up at seven, take her back to the hotel to change and they’d go out to dinner.

  Head spinning, all Ally could think was, What have I gotten myself into?

  * * *

  “So tomorrow you’re a ranch owner,” Ally said as the waitress set her dinner plate in front of her. She put her napkin in her lap and picked up the fork.

  “Tomorrow the deed will be transferred to my name. I don’t have to be there. It’s all handled internally within the company.” He took a sip of his coffee.

  A rush of goose bumps covered her skin. What must it be like to be able to obtain a ranch with no more concern for the cost than she would have buying a can of beans at the grocery store? Granted, Seth didn’t write a check for the purchase price but he could have had it been necessary. She hadn’t been raised in poverty—far from it. But this was new to her.

  “A can of beans.”

  “Excuse me?” Seth asked.

  “You buy a five-hundred-acre ranch as easily as I would buy a can of beans.”

  He grinned. “Firstly, I didn’t actually buy it. No money changed hands. The company has over one hundred thousand acres in Texas alone so this wasn’t a big deal. And secondly, isn’t that what families do for each other?”

  She opened her mouth but no words would come out. Then, “Okay. Sure. You’ve got me there. The next time I need a cup of sugar I’ll know who to call.”

  Seth’s baritone laughter rang out over the restaurant.

  Seth had chosen a new restaurant located along the banks of the Calico River. They’d been given a table next to the wall of glass overlooking the water, which shimmered with a silver glow from the lights along the banks. A small candle in a glass chimney spread its ambient light across their table. Looking up at Seth, she was once again drawn in by the handsome planes of his face. The deep laugh lines on either side of his mouth added to the overall integrity of his features. His dark brows seem to bring out the golden flecks in his brown eyes. As her gaze dropped to his generous lips, she realized they were pursed in an effort to hold back a smile.

  She immediately focused on her plate and the perfectly prepared steak.

  “By this weekend you should be able to start getting the barn ready for the transfer of your horses. I’m sure they’ll be glad to be home again. How long has it been?”

  “Just over a year.”

  “You’re gonna need someone to help you out, at least at first. Unless you know someone, why don’t you stop by the employment office tomorrow and arrange for some cowboys to come to work?”

 
“I can do anything that needs to be done.”

  “You can’t do it all—check the fences on that much land, repair the barns, do whatever it is you have to do to the stalls, clean out the feed bins, fill up the water tanks—and that’s just the parts I know about—besides horses to train. There’s probably a lot more to it than I’ve mentioned. If you need more than three ranch hands, get them.”

  Ally sat back in her chair and placed her fork by the side of her plate. “Why are you doing this? The agreement was you buy the farm in exchange for me marrying you for three months. There was no furniture involved. Certainly no ranch hands. Right now I barely have the money to buy feed for the horses.”

  “Then get whatever you need.”

  “That isn’t what I meant. You didn’t answer my question,” she said, exasperated. “Do you not understand that I don’t have the money to repay you for all of this? Marrying you for ninety days hardly gives me carte blanche to your bank account. And right now I have no clue how I’m going to pay you back for what you’ve already provided.”

  Seth put his silverware down and folded his hands in front of him, his elbows on the table. “What you’re doing for me means a lot, Ally. I don’t expect either of us to stay in a practically empty house for three months. The rest is just common sense. I wish you would see it that way. You’re paying me by allowing me to be a part of the probate. And before you say it, if my part of the estate turns out to be nothing, you’re giving me a chance to try. My mother died from leukemia. I promised her I would find a way to fight it. The research center depends a great deal on the money from the will. Without you there would be no money and no chance for obtaining any.”

  Ally knew there were a dozen women she could name right off the bat who would jump at the chance to marry Seth Masters. Ironic he would choose the one least interested. She consciously relaxed. She had a document, signed and notarized, that would ensure his agreement was honored. He had the same. All she had to do was get through three months. As to the household furnishings, she’d explained she couldn’t afford what he seemed intent on buying. She had no choice but to let him buy what he wanted and hope they could settle in the end.

  He was a man’s man. A rugged, self-assured, no-nonsense kind of guy who looked every bit of his million dollars. Maybe billion dollars.

  “Okay. I’ll say no more about it.”

  “Good. How is your steak?”

  “It’s good.”

  By the time they arrived back at the hotel, she was exhausted, more from emotional stress than physical exertion. Dropping her purse on the small sofa, she grabbed a clean T-shirt and headed straight for the shower. They had accomplished a lot. Tomorrow Seth would close on the ranch. Then, in a few days, he’d deal with the probate of the will. Understanding his need for additional funding for the research center made her look at him in a different light. For the first time she began to see him as someone who cared, not just a millionaire who wanted more. His mother’s death must have been devastating. She could relate after losing her dad and having no one. No siblings, no family. He had his brothers, but how close had they been at the time of her death? She hoped the probate went well for him.

  After a quick shower, she dressed in the oversize T-shirt and returned to the main living area. Making her small bed on the sofa took no time. She lay down and wiggled, trying to find a comfortable spot, plumped her pillow and closed her eyes. Sleep when it came was not restful. She tossed and turned. And it was cold. She tugged the blanket around her, but it did little to help in the cool room. A thought drifted across her mind that she should get up and adjust the thermostat, but instead she lapsed into a troubled sleep.

  * * *

  The warmth that surrounded her was heavenly. A heavy weight rested over her waist, while delicious heat met her back and legs. The feel of silken sheets beneath her stirred her to consciousness. A hard mound pressed against her lower back. Slowly she opened her eyes and immediately knew where she was. On the bed. In Seth’s arms. His erection pressed against her. How she got there wasn’t clear. She heard his deep, even breathing and tried to slow her speeding heart. Hoping not to disturb him, she lifted the covers from over her and slowly moved his arm from around her waist. Before she could slip to the edge of the bed, his arm was back wrapped around her as his large body nestled her closely, his hot breath against her neck. Good grief. He must think she was a pillow. This was not good. She didn’t want to be in his arms when he woke up. She didn’t want to be in his arms, period. While her mind raced to figure out what to do, she heard his breathing change.

  “Good morning.” His deep voice caused goose pimples to flash down her spine.

  Ally immediately sat up, threw the covers back and slipped out from under his arms. The room had a slight chill, and for an instant she wanted to go back to the warm nest they’d formed during the night. Instead she walked into the main room where her jeans lay on the sofa, grabbing them and her shirt.

  “Good morning,” she replied, looking at him suspiciously. He was still lying on his side in the bed, his arm propped on top on the pillow, his head resting on his hand. His hair was tousled. The five o’clock shadow gave him a devilish look that was highlighted by his eyes. His full lips were open, showing strong white teeth. It looked as though he’d found a tasty morsel in his lair and wanted to devour her piece by piece. She watched as his eyes roamed over her.

  She swallowed hard as her body blossomed with heat that sizzled from her lips all the way down to her core. This was not a man who would be happy to be her new best friend. He knew a woman’s body, and he wouldn’t hesitate to show her just how well he knew her if she gave him the least bit of enticement. Which she did not intend to do.

  “Do I need to ask how I came to be in your bed?” She seriously doubted she had made her way there in her sleep, and she darned sure didn’t do it on purpose.

  “I found you on the floor. You’d lost your blanket. You were cold. Rather than go through the hassle of getting you stuffed back onto that tiny couch, it just seemed logical to pick you up and put you in bed. I made sure you were warm and went back to sleep.”

  “Well. Thank you for that. I think. Excuse me,” she said as she turned and marched to the bathroom, still clutching her clean clothes.

  How was she going to make it through three months of this?

  * * *

  Two days later excitement overtook her common sense when it came to her job. Why train horses for someone else when all she wanted to do was be in her childhood home and get her own ranch up and running again? After Seth gave her his assurances, she tendered her resignation at the Triple Bar Ranch. Then they were on their way to the farm. Her farm. Seth’s farm. She wouldn’t be honest with herself if she didn’t admit to having misgivings that she’d come to rely on Seth a little too much. She was putting her future in the hands of a man she really didn’t know, trusting him when he told her everything would be okay. Trusting him when his father had brought all of her hardship to bear. Knowing her heart was becoming involved scared her the most.

  The cleaning ladies arrived around ten o’clock, and after receiving instructions from Ally, they set to work.

  By two o’clock, the furniture arrived. And at the end of the day, Ally put aside her own cleaning implements, feeling a sense of accomplishment for the first time in a very long time.

  “It all looks good,” Seth said as he entered the kitchen where she was unpacking a box of dishes his personal assistant had bought online and arranged to have shipped. They’d also received linens, cookware and three other large boxes of miscellaneous items.

  “It’s getting there,” Ally agreed. “The new furniture will fit in the house perfectly. I still need to finish unpacking and buy some groceries.”

  “You can do that tomorrow while I’m at Ben’s office.”

  “Oh! I’d forgotten. Tomorrow is the reading of the will. I hope it goes well for
you. Do you know your half brothers very well?”

  He nodded. “Well enough, I suppose. I’ve been coming here every summer since I was six. Spent a couple of Christmas holidays with them. That pretty much stopped when I went to college, but we’ve kept in touch.”

  “I’ve never had any direct dealings with them,” Ally said. “When I lost my ranch, it was handled by corporate attorneys and your father. I never met any of your brothers. I hope they are not as bloodthirsty as your father. I’m sorry, but that’s what he was to me.”

  “I understand. I had a different impression of him, though under different circumstances, I could see how he’d be somewhat cold.” Seth said. “But I’ve never found my brothers to be anything like that.”

  “Good. Seth? Try not to worry about tomorrow. I know how important it is for you, but believe it will go as planned. No reason why it shouldn’t, right?”

  “You never know. I hope you’re right.” He looked at her as if he’d seen a whole new side of her. But maybe she was just being ridiculous. “Thanks for the encouragement.”

  “Of course,” she responded. For a long moment their gazes caught, and neither moved to break the eye contact. “Well, I need to go to the barn and check on the progress out there.”

  Ally strove to make her heartbeat slow down. Seth was just standing there, his thumbs hanging from his jeans pockets, the long-sleeved shirt rolled to just below his elbows, and those eyes so brown, the flakes of gold glinting. He had her pulse hammering. He was so male. Extra stamina was needed to avoid falling for this guy. Still, she couldn’t help but ask, “Want to come with me?”

  “Sure.”