by Merry Farmer
“I see.” Rupert sipped at his drink. “He’s important, then?”
The bartender laughed. “He sure thinks so. Mostly he just drives everyone around here to distraction with his snobbery and bullying.”
Rupert nearly choked. “He’s a bully?”
“Worst of the worst.”
The man Bonnie wanted to divorce him for was a bully? What was she thinking? How desperate did she have to be to—
He couldn’t finish his question, not even in his mind. He knew exactly how desperate she’d have to be. She’d been that desperate once before and done what so many others wouldn’t to survive.
He had to think about something else. “What’s all this about baseball, then?”
The bartender laughed. “Hey guys,” he called across to the table. “Want to explain to this new fellow in town here why you’re talking about baseball?”
Every man at the table started to talk at once, all of them loud and humorous.
“The finals of Haskell’s baseball league are on Sunday,” Albert the blacksmith said, louder than the others.
“It’s the Westside Wolves versus the Bonneville Bears,” Sheriff Trey added.
“We’re all Wolves,” the man with leathery hands whose name Rupert hadn’t heard yet said.
“And we’re going to wipe the floor with them,” The black man said, a somewhat more ominous tone in his voice.
“Ready to stick it to your father-in-law where it hurts, Solomon?” Albert chuckled, giving the black man a friendly punch on the arm.
With a dignified yet deadly grin, Solomon answered, “A true gentleman earns his honor and revenge on the field of competition.”
It was a simple sentence, but Rupert felt as though he understood an entire story from it. Solomon must have married a Bonneville daughter, and judging by his skin and the look in his eyes, that hadn’t gone over well with Papa Bonneville. Maybe there had even been some violence involved. That only served to make Rupert hate the man more…and to stoke the fires of his determination to win Bonnie back and away from that monster.
“Well, I hope you all win and win big.” Rupert toasted the men with his half-empty whiskey glass.
Sheriff Trey stood and extended his hand. “I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Sheriff Trey Knighton.”
“And I’m Solomon Templesmith, owner of the First Bank of Haskell.” Solomon stood to shake his hand as well, drawing him closer to the table.
Everyone in the saloon was suddenly interested in Rupert and eyed him curiously, from the card-players in the corner to the blonde playing the piano.
“I’m Albert Winslow, town blacksmith.” Albert reached across the table as Solomon and Trey invited Rupert to sit with them. “Everybody calls me Al.”
“Al.” Rupert nodded as he shook the man’s hand.
“And I’m Sean Ridgeway, saddle-maker.”
Rupert smiled. That explained the stained, leathery hands.
“And you are?” Trey asked.
“Rupert Cole.” And then, possibly because he was exhausted from a sleepless night, possibly because his nerves were raw, or possibly because of the talk about Rex Bonneville, he added, “Bonnie’s husband.”
The saloon went silent. The blonde played a sour note, then swiveled on the piano stool to gape at him. The card-players stopped their conversation. The dark-skinned beauty and her male friend at the bar froze mid-laughter. Sam the bartender’s jaw dropped as he paused halfway through cleaning a glass.
The olive-skinned woman who had been serving drinks—and flirting with the card-players—abruptly put down her tray, two glasses clinking and falling over, and dashed out of the saloon.
“Bonnie’s…husband?” Trey stuttered.
“Bonnie Horner?” Sean asked.
Maybe it hadn’t been such a grand idea to blurt it out up front, but there was nothing Rupert could do about it now. He sat back in his chair, crossed his arms, and said, “Yep.”
The others continued to gawk at him. Solomon was the first to recover. He shook his head and said, “I had no idea Bonnie was married.”
“She is. She came out to Colorado after answering my advertisement for a mail-order bride ten years ago.” Ten years and several lifetimes ago.
“Well, I’ll be.” Al rubbed a hand over his face. He blinked, then said, “Rex isn’t going to like this.”
“Rex is going to hit the roof,” Sean agreed. His expression turned ominous.
“Does he know?” Sam asked from the bar.
Every single person in the bar hung on the answer.
“No.” Rupert shrugged. “Not unless Bonnie told him, and I seriously doubt she did.”
One of the card players whistled low and shook his head.
The blonde at the piano stood up, crossing her arms over her ample chest, and approached the table. “How do we know you’re telling the truth?” she asked.
Rupert started to answer, but before he could get a word out, the saloon door banged open and Bonnie ran inside, the olive-skinned woman, and blond, and the redhead from the porch right behind her. She searched for half a second before finding him. Her expression lit with alarm and fire and something so passionate that Rupert thought for a second he might just be able to sweep her up and carry her home to Everland.
Until she demanded, “What are you doing here?”
Behind her, the olive-skinned woman—who must have raced to fetch her—moved to back Bonnie up, as the blonde and the redhead flanked Bonnie’s sides.
“So it is true!” the girl who had been playing the piano exclaimed.
“Oh, gosh!” The blonde with the childlike voice who had exposed her bosom to him slapped a hand to her mouth and blushed pink. “That’s Rupert?”
“Wait, you know me?” Rupert stood to face Bonnie and her girls.
“Yes,” Bonnie answered, crossing her arms and pursing her lips. “That’s him.”
“I showed him my legs,” the blonde confessed. “I’m so sorry, Bonnie. I didn’t know he was your husband. I never would have if I’d known.”
“You should have seen the way he blushed,” the redhead who had joined in the fun laughed.
“He did,” the blonde giggled. “Blushed and ran away, poor thing.”
Bonnie’s pursed lips twitched. The shock and fury in her eyes glittered to something Rupert dared to call humor. Was she laughing at him? And why did that make him want to stand at attention the way two perfectly nice pairs of legs hadn’t?
“What are you doing here?” Bonnie asked again, slower, emphasizing each word.
Everyone in the saloon turned to Rupert for answers. Rupert clenched his fists at his sides, not out of any feelings of anger, but because if he didn’t physically hold himself together in some way he was likely to fall apart. He peeked past Bonnie’s shoulder at her girls, glanced sideways at the men whose acquaintance he’d just made. What did he have to lose by telling the truth? If he failed miserably, he could tuck his tail between his legs and run home to Everland. Nothing was holding him back from spilling out his guts with a dozen strangers looking on.
“I want you back, Bonnie,” he said, facing her head-on. “I’ve wanted you back from the moment you left me all those years ago.”
“Rupert,” she warned him, flushing deep red. Her expression seemed furious, but her eyes…her eyes held nothing but heartbreak.
He took a step closer to her. “You have no idea the kind of hope you gave me when you showed up in Everland the other day and told me you loved me. It was like the answer to a prayer that my heart has been praying all these years. And when I held you in my arms again…” He took a breath, holding his arms out to the side. “All I want to do is find a way to make things right between us again.”
Silence followed.
A moment after that, the blonde with the childlike voice sighed. “I like him, Bonnie.”
“Es tan romántica,” the olive-skinned woman cooed.
“What are you going to do?” the woman who had been
playing the piano asked.
Bonnie stood stock still. Rupert swallowed. He could feel himself breaking out in a sweat. He checked the men at the table, figuring they would be the closest thing he had to allies if it all went wrong. They looked as dumbfounded and out of their depths as he felt.
At last, Bonnie’s expression resolved into determination. She stared right at Rupert and said, “Come with me.”
Without waiting to be sure that Rupert would follow her, Bonnie turned and marched through Pearl, Della, and Domenica and out the saloon’s door to Main Street. She couldn’t decide if she was embarrassed or humiliated or…or overjoyed. For Rupert to show up out of the blue and make that kind of a speech in front of a room full of people who she considered friends?
Well, she couldn’t exactly say he showed up out of the blue. But if she would have bet on it, she would have put all her money on him cursing her name, planting himself in Everland, and never wanting to see her again. Of course, that meant that as likely as not, he was there to punish her for walking out. All of those beautiful words he’d just spoken might be not so much out of genuine feeling, but because he was angry and attempting to make her look like a cold-hearted witch in front of her friends.
As soon as she heard the door shut behind her, she spun back around. He’d followed her. She launched right into a furious, “What do you think you’re doing?”
He blew out a breath and spread his arms wide. “I don’t even know.”
Bonnie blinked. That wasn’t the answer she’d been expecting. It made her restless. She shifted her weight between her legs, chewing her lip. “Well…you didn’t have to go humiliating me in front of my friends like that.”
Rupert’s eyes blazed wide. “Humiliating you?”
There was the answer to whether he’d meant those beautiful words. He had. And she’d just accused him of using them to hurt her. It was just one mistake after another with the two of them.
She continued to fidget, no idea how she would salvage the situation. “I kept our marriage a secret on purpose. Now they’re all going to think I’ve been lying to them for years, playing them for fools.”
“Why didn’t you tell them the truth?” He glared at her, but Bonnie couldn’t tell if the emotion rippling off of him was anger or pain.
“What was I supposed to tell them? That I had a husband who I’d left?”
“Yes,” Rupert answered through clenched teeth.
“And how do you suppose that would have played out with the good people of this town? Most of them barely accepted me when I first opened my Place. A house of ill repute doesn’t exactly elevate the neighborhood.”
“Then why did you open one in the first place?”
His indignation set her over the edge, and she threw up her hands, genuinely irritated. “We’ve been through this before. Hell, Rupert, half the people in this town understand what you don’t seem to be able to grasp. My girls only entertain who and when they want to. The rest of the time, they work to better themselves so that they can escape into calmer lives. And even if they didn’t, they have done more to keep the unruly young ranch hands and cowpokes of this area from tearing the place down than Trey Knighton could if he had an army of deputies. They—”
“What’s going on here?”
The all-too familiar voice of Rex was like ice pouring down Bonnie’s back. She snapped her mouth closed so hard that she bit her tongue. Every muscle in her body jerked tight with tension. Worst of all, Rupert stared at her as though he deserved some kind of an explanation.
He probably did.
It was all Bonnie could do to breathe in and put on as much of a smile as she could manage. She turned slowly toward Rex.
“Rex. I was just about to come looking for you.” Her voice sounded unnaturally high and guilty as sin.
Rex glowered at her. He must have come to town on business of some sort. He wore one of his finer suits—one Bonnie had picked out for him and had shipped in from San Francisco—and had a clean Stetson on slicked-back hair. His gold watch fob glittered in the afternoon sunlight, but that was the only thing about him that glowed.
“Who is this?” He narrowed his eyes at Rupert.
Panic flared up in Bonnie’s gut. “Rex, this is—”
“Rupert Cole.” Rupert stepped past her, holding out a hand to Rex. “From King Cole Construction in Everland.”
“Everland?” Rex took Rupert’s hand, but barely shook it before pulling back as if Rupert were diseased. He sneered as he swept Rupert with a glance, evidently finding him wanting. Then he turned to Bonnie, suspicion painting dark lines on his face. “Didn’t you just get back from some nonsense errand in Everland?”
“I—”
“She was there to see me,” Rupert cut in.
Bonnie’s panic grew so pitched that the edges of her vision went black. If she could have stomped on Rupert’s foot, she would have, if only to get him to shut up. She wasn’t ready for Rex to figure everything out and turn her life upside down just that moment.
“Bonnie!” Rex barked. “What is the meaning of—”
“She came to Everland to ask me about building a house on your ranch,” Rupert interrupted.
Bonnie’s eyes shot wide. She stared at Rupert. He sent her a sideways glance that made him look like he had something sour in his mouth.
“Since you two are planning to get married and all,” he continued, almost growling.
He hated her. He had to hate her. After the way she was making him lie for her?
But no, she hadn’t made him do anything. He was spinning tall tales on her behalf that would do him no good, but would keep her head attached to the rest of her body for a little while longer. Best of all, Rex didn’t question a word of it. He dismissed Rupert out of hand and turned to Bonnie.
“Speaking of that very thing, I’m through with waiting, do you hear me?”
“I hear you, Rex,” she sighed. “It’s hard not to when you start bellowing like a stuck bear.”
“And I’m through with your sass!” he added, even louder.
Bonnie flinched, half because of the threat inherent in his words and half because Rupert was standing right there to see it. Nothing about this situation was going to turn out well.
“You’ve delayed long enough,” he went on. “I’m tired of waiting for our marriage to be finalized, and I’m extra tired of waiting for you to get started on producing that heir of mine.”
“There’s no need to go getting yourself all worked up about it,” she replied, rubbing her forehead where a headache was coming on.
“Good. So you’ll have no objections to having the wedding on Tuesday.”
Bonnie dropped her hand and stared at him. Rupert made a sound that didn’t quite form into words. “Why Tuesday?” Bonnie asked.
Rex rolled his shoulders and looked momentarily embarrassed. “I’ve got too much to think about with this baseball game until Sunday. Monday I’ll likely be sleeping off my victory celebration. So Tuesday it is.”
Tuesday was less than a week away.
Then again, with George filing the divorce decree the day before, there was no reason to delay.
“Fine, Rex,” she sighed. “Tuesday will work splendidly for me.”
Rex took a half step back in surprise. “Really?” Before she could answer, he cleared his throat and put his fierce demeanor back on. “Good. I’ll tell my girls. They can help you decorate and fuss over menus, or whatever it is women do to prepare for a wedding.”
Without another word, he stomped off to be about whatever business he had.
“I love you too,” Bonnie muttered, full of sarcasm. Well, she’d asked for it.
As much as she wanted to go her own way, retreat to the sanctuary of her Place, and remind herself of all the reasons she was doing something so heartbreakingly stupid, she still had Rupert to deal with.
“Thank you,” she told him, not quite able to meet his eyes.
“For what? For chickening out at the last s
econd and making up some fool story?” He grunted at himself and spat in the dirt. “I need a bath.”
Just like Rex, he marched past her, arms crossed. She supposed she’d asked for that too. Any hope she had for her tragic love story having a miraculously happy ending was pretty much in its grave. Heart heavy, she turned to slog her way across the street to her Place.
“Bonnie!” Rupert stopped her before she was halfway across the street. His disgusted look had changed to one of determination. “Don’t think this is the end of things between us. And don’t you begin to think for a second that I’m actually going to let you marry that horse’s behind.”
Chapter 9
For the second night in a row, Rupert barely slept a wink. This time, instead of tossing and turning over memories of his amazing night with Bonnie and worries about how she would react when he came after her, he was just plain furious. Rex Bonneville was a first-rate moron and a shameless bully. How could Bonnie even contemplate marrying the man for money?
He was so tempted to use Bonneville as his excuse to throw her over forever, to find that ridiculous divorce decree and sign it in disgust, that he almost jumped out of bed to pack his things and leave in the middle of the night. The only thing that stopped him was the knowledge that if he hadn’t let his temper get the better of him four years ago when he’d found out Bonnie was a madam in Haskell, none of this would have ever happened. For all those years, the two of them just kept running away from each other when things got bad. Well, he was tired of running.
That and the fact that every fiber of his being and every molecule of his heart longed for Bonnie, as if she’d branded her name on his soul.
By the time the first rays of dawn broke through the curtains of his hotel room, Rupert had decided the only reasonable thing to do was to convince Bonnie that marrying Bonneville would be the biggest mistake of her life, and to win her back.
He rose and dressed in a groggy blur, then headed downstairs to the lobby and the hotel restaurant. As much as he wanted to charge into battle, he had no idea what that battle was or where it would take place. In fact, as he sipped a cup of strong coffee and picked at a plate of bacon and eggs, he felt utterly clueless. How did you stop your wife from going off and marrying a wealthy rancher so that she could keep her cathouse open?