The Christmas Bride - A Western Romance Novella (Book 4, Burnett Brides Series)

by Sylvia McDaniel

  “It’s Mary Eugene’s recipe,” she said. “Are you ready to give up pursuing me?”

  Her heart did a little stutter step, and she realized she didn’t want him to give up. But she didn’t want marriage. What did she want?

  He smiled. “No, but sooner or later you’re going to have to tell me why. Ride back with me, Eugenia.”

  Part of her wanted to beg off, but another part of her wanted him to understand. Needed him to understand her reasoning for why she didn’t want him to pursue her.

  “Yes,” she finally said, not knowing for certain that she’d made a wise choice, but knowing Wyatt was a special man. He deserved to know why she kept saying no.

  “We could leave the picnic right now, but I fear the speculation we’d create,” he said. “Not that I care, but you might.”

  “No. I don’t want to stir up speculation.”

  The tongues would already be a wagging since she was sitting next to him and they were working on the Christmas pageant together.

  Wyatt smiled at her. “God, you know how to use a man’s words against him.”

  She shrugged. “It’s the truth.”

  Lucas came running up, his shirt pulled out of his pants, his face red from exertion. His sweet baby face already disappearing into a little boy’s features. “You promised to teach me horseshoes.”

  “Did someone set up a game?” Wyatt asked the boy.

  He reached out his hand. “Yes, come and show me.”

  Wyatt set his plate down, took the boy’s hand, and stood up from the wagon. “Excuse me, Eugenia. Lucas and I are going to play horseshoes.”

  Eugenia watched the pair walk away. He was good with her grandchildren. Her family liked him, and no matter what obstacle she threw at him, he wouldn’t let it deter him from his pursuit of her. But she had to stop this before it went any further.

  She had to stop this before someone got hurt. She had to stop this before she got hurt.

  #

  As the afternoon sun slid down the western sky and the temperatures started to cool, the crowd began to pack up their buggies for the drive back to town.

  When Wyatt and Lucas finished playing horseshoes, he brought the boy back to Eugenia. He was looking forward to a lively conversation on the return trip about why she didn’t like marriage. He was anxious to hear her reasoning.

  He walked around the twenty or more buggies, searching for her dark hair spun with gray. Her sweet voice with its southern drawl that made him smile. As he strolled along, he saw her, seated in her son’s wagon with baby Desirée in her lap.

  His breath tightened in his chest. What was it about Eugenia that had his body responding to the sight of her? Why did he want to spend so much time with her?

  He strode toward them, and when he came up on their wagon, she gazed at him, her blue eyes challenging him. He lifted Lucas up into the wagon beside his grandma.

  “Wyatt, I need to ride home with Travis and Rose. Desirée is getting fussy, and one of us has to hold her all the time.”

  Rose climbed into the wagon. “You can hand her to me now, Eugenia.”

  Looking directly into Eugenia’s sapphire eyes, he smiled, knowing she had just been caught in a lie. Eugenia sat there frowning, but finally released the child to her mother, and Wyatt decided to make it easy on her.

  “I’ll see you at rehearsal on Tuesday,” he said, wondering how much longer he could continue this game with Eugenia. Frustration gripped his insides and twisted them tighter than a vise.

  Time was running out before he quit chasing this woman who he knew was attracted to him but held back. God, whatever Thomas had done to her, it was hell trying to get her to consider marriage again.

  “I’ll see you then,” she responded.

  He turned and walked away, realizing that somehow she’d had second thoughts about telling him why she hated marriage. Every time he thought they’d made progress, she took a step back. How much longer could they do this?

  #

  Tired, Eugenia sat on the edge of the buggy with Lucas between her and Rose. He leaned his head against her shoulder.

  “Nana, why aren’t you married?” Lucas asked.

  “Because your grandfather passed away before you were born,” Eugenia said, thinking this was a new question he’d yet to ask her.

  “Passed away?”

  “He died.”

  Lucas sat up, gazing at her with eyes so much like his father’s that she wondered how Sarah had kept his paternity a secret for so long.

  “Don’t you want to get married again?” he questioned, his sweet little-boy face gazing at her in wonder.

  “Not really.”

  He frowned. “Wyatt showed me how to play horseshoes this afternoon. I like him.”

  “Good. I’m glad.”“He needs a wife,” the boy said, tugging on her dress sleeve to make certain she heard him.

  Eugenia turned to look at her grandson, knowing instinctively what was about to come out of this babe’s mouth, wondering where he’d heard this statement.

  “I told him he should marry my nana.”

  “And what did he say?” she asked, thinking of ways that she could do bodily harm to Wyatt.

  “He told me he would ask you.”

  Eugenia took a deep breath to calm the anger exploding within her. Her blood began to writhe and roil like a serpent in search of its victim. She wanted to wring his neck for bringing her grandson into this. Wyatt had no right to persuade her grandson that she needed a husband.

  “Please say yes, Nana,” the child whined.

  A calmness she’d forgotten she possessed soothed her frazzled brain. “Lucas, marriage is not something that people enter into lightly. You should love the person that you marry.”

  “But Momma says we’re supposed to love everyone. Don’t you love Wyatt?” he asked.

  Oh, the innocent questions of children.”Yes, we are to love everyone, but love between a man and a woman is a different kind of love.”

  “How?”

  Eugenia was going to beat Wyatt. She was going to tie him up and whip him with a switch! How did someone explain to a five-year-old the difference in the love between a man and a woman?

  “You love me, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “You love Momma and Daddy and this new baby that’s coming, right?”

  “Yes. But your momma and daddy, they love different from the way they love everyone else.” Eugenia said, hoping that Lucas wouldn’t say something completely inappropriate.

  Lucas made a face. “Yeah, they like to kiss.”

  “Exactly. You don’t go around kissing everyone, do you?” she asked innocently, still wishing bodily harm on Wyatt.

  “No.”

  “That’s the difference between a husband and a wife’s love. They like to kiss,” Eugenia said, hoping that was his last question. Almost certain of what he would ask next.

  “So you don’t want to kiss Wyatt?”

  Eugenia took a deep breath and ignored the snickers coming from the front of the wagon. How did she answer that? She did enjoy the feel of Wyatt’s kiss, but she couldn’t say that out loud in front of her kids and grandkids. She would never admit to them that the man’s lips made her feel like a young woman. She would never admit the feel of his lips left her hungry for more.

  “No, Lucas, I don’t want to kiss Wyatt,” she said firmly. No, at this moment, she didn’t want to kiss Wyatt. She wanted to torture him slowly for making her lie to her grandson.

  “I guess this mean you’re not going to marry him,” Lucas said with a pout. “I was hoping he would be my new grandpa.”

  More snickers came from up front, and if she could be certain it wouldn’t shame Lucas, she would have hit each of her sons over their heads.

  “Lucas, I never intend to marry again.”

  Eugenia clenched her fists, the hair on the back of her neck standing at attention. Never involve her grandchildren if a man wanted to court her. That was a little too close to
home, and she would die fighting for her kids and grandkids. Never mess with her family unless a person wanted to get hurt.

  Wyatt was about to get hurt. She would go out and tell him to back off completely. Involving her grandson made it clear. It was time to end this now.

  #

  Wyatt heard his hounds braying and the sound of a buggy coming into his yard. He peeked out the window in time to see Eugenia pull up to the hitching post. He opened the door and stepped on the porch. “Eugenia?”

  “We need to talk.”

  There was that tone back in her voice that told him she wasn’t there on a social call.

  He shooed the dogs away and helped her alight from the buggy.

  “Come on in,” he said.

  “No. I can’t. That wouldn’t be proper. And this won’t take long.”

  He smiled and reached for her hand. She pulled away. Something had made her mad enough that whoever stepped into her path today was bound to get stung.

  “Do you want to sit on the swing?” he said, pointing to the swing he’d built Beatrice on the porch.

  “No,” she said, cutting him off and taking a step back from him. “Did you talk to my grandson about us yesterday?”

  Wyatt looked stunned for a moment. “No, he asked me some questions.”

  “You didn’t tell him that you were going to ask me to marry you?” she asked, her sapphire eyes flashing at him.

  Wyatt shrugged. “He asked me if I had a wife. I told him no, so then he offered you up to be my wife. What could I do? If I said no, then the boy would think that I didn’t like you or I was lying to him. So I said yes, I would ask you to marry me.”

  An innocent conversation would now be strung up, and Wyatt might as well swing from a rope because at the end of the day, she would still be mad enough she’d think he did this on purpose.

  “I had to explain to him on the ride home why I could never marry you,” she said with a rush. “I had to tell this sweet child that I never intended to marry another man,” Eugenia said, her body tense.

  Wyatt took a deep breath and tried to calm her down. “I’m sorry. It was an innocent conversation. I had no idea where it was going until he started asking me to ask you to marry me,” he said. Then leaned over and whispered. “You should have ridden home with me.”

  It was the wrong thing to say. Eugenia bristled like a porcupine ready for battle.

  She stepped closer to him, her blue eyes flashing with enough heat to set the prairie afire. “I don’t need you, Wyatt. You have managed to finagle your way into my family. You have convinced my children that I would be better off with you by my side.” Her voice rose. “But I have no intentions on ever marrying again.”

  Wyatt reached out and pulled her to him. His lips covered hers, his mouth greedily drinking from her mouth. He held her until he felt her body relax, her mouth opening for him to plunder.

  His mouth effectively shut her up. He was tired of her protests. He was tired of her refusing him. He wanted her willing and wanting.

  She pushed away from him. “What in the hell do you think you’re doing? I’m trying to put a stop to this, and you’re kissing me.”

  He wanted to laugh, but she was riled up madder than a bantam rooster at a cockfight. He took a deep breath and released it slowly. The time was upon them to either make hay or go their separate ways.

  “If it’s over because your grandson is smart enough to see the attraction that you’re denying, then I wanted to end it properly. I wanted to give you a send-off that will hopefully keep you awake at night,” he said, his voice lowering. “I want you to miss me.”

  Her brows drew together in a frown, and she stared at him. “I like my life. I don’t need a husband.”

  He touched the rim of his hat with his fingers. “Okay, then like I said, I wanted to give you a proper send-off.”

  She crawled back up in her wagon.

  “I’ll see you Tuesday, Eugenia.”

  She gave him a quizzical glance. “At rehearsal?”

  “Yes, rehearsal.”

  She hesitated. Finally she turned the wagon around, and Wyatt watched it roll out of the gate.

  Damned woman refused to recognize the attraction between them. He didn’t want to give up, but what else could he do?

  If they were going any further, she had to come to him.

  #

  As Eugenia urged the horses through Wyatt’s gate, she took a deep breath and sighed. That had certainly gone well. Hadn’t it? He’d agreed with her, and she’d believed him right up until the moment he kissed her.

  Then the doubts overwhelmed her. Was she doing the right thing? Was her grandson right, and she should really consider Wyatt? Was he like her previous husband and had to control everything?

  Still, so far he’d remained in the background for the Christmas pageant.

  The man had so many good qualities about him that she liked, but she didn’t want to get married again. She didn’t want to be under the control of a man again.

  So, why was she leaving with her chest aching and her heart bruised and battered? Why was she suddenly doubting her decision?

  She needed Wyatt to be unavailable. She had to find him another woman. A lucky woman who wanted to marry. A woman who would make him happy. A woman who would put him out of reach for Eugenia.

  She slapped the reins against the horses back and headed the wagon into town to Myrtle’s house. Now there was a woman looking to find a man.

  #

  The next day, Wyatt heard a timid knocking, and for a moment he hoped it was Eugenia returning, though he doubted she’d be out again.

  He opened the door and there stood Myrtle Sanders, her hands shaking, holding a covered dish. He took a deep breath, exhaled slowly. Damn Eugenia was up to it again.

  “Good morning, Myrtle. How are you today?”

  She bit her lip nervously and handed him the casserole dish. “Here. I don’t think for a moment that you’re interested in me, but Eugenia told me to bring you this dish. She said you’d know what it meant.”

  He took the ceramic pan from her. “Thank you, Myrtle. Can I invite you in for a cup of tea or coffee?”

  “Oh no. I just wanted to do what Eugenia asked me and bring you the casserole.”

  Myrtle delivering a casserole dish meant Eugenia was back to finding him a woman. Someone she could handpick and make him unavailable. What if he gave her what she wanted? What if he asked Myrtle to help him?

  “Myrtle, I know the men and I will enjoy this very much. Thank you. But when Eugenia asks you how the meeting went, would you do me a favor? Would you tell her that you and I are having lunch Sunday after church? Don’t misunderstand me, you’re a lovely woman, but I think it’s time Eugenia needs to realize that what she’s doing could be hurtful to those of us who care about other people.”

  For a moment he thought he’d gone too far. She considered his words, and then she smiled.

  “Wyatt, you care about Eugenia, don’t you?”

  “Yes, and she refuses to admit she cares about me. I think she does, but she won’t let me close enough to know,” he admitted. “You would be helping me out.”

  She laughed. “Eugenia deserves this. She’s sent me out here twice, and both times I told her you weren’t interested in me.”

  Wyatt held his breath, hoping she’d help him.

  “I’d love to have lunch with you tomorrow, Wyatt. It will be our one and only special date.”

  He breathed a sigh of relief and felt his muscles relax. He was back in the game. He was back in the hunt. He smiled at her. “Thank you, Myrtle.”

  “Well, I better get back. After church tomorrow, I’ll walk out with you, and then we can have lunch together.

  Wyatt laughed. “Thanks, Myrtle, and my men really enjoyed your dish the last time. I’ll bring back the pan tomorrow and hand it to you directly.”

  She smiled. “See you tomorrow, Wyatt.”

  #

  Gus looked at the casserole dish th
at Wyatt sat in front of him that evening in the house.

  “Oh no, another casserole,” Gus said, throwing his hands up in the air. “Is this Eugenia’s?”

  Wyatt sighed. “No.”

  “Good God almighty, she’s still sending you women, and you’re still pining like a lily-livered sapsucker for her,” his ranch foreman said, gazing at him like he was the biggest fool this side of the Red River. Maybe he was.

  “No, I’m not,” Wyatt said.

  “Then why such a face?”

  “I have a plan.”

  “Another one. It’s not like the last four or five have worked. How is this one going to be different?” Gus asked, leaning back in his chair to look at Wyatt.

  “Myrtle has agreed to be my pretend date at lunch this Sunday at the café,” Wyatt said, not knowing if what he was doing would work or just drive a further wedge between him and Eugenia. Any chance of the two of them being together was running out of time. This was their last opportunity.

  “And Myrtle knows you’re just using her to get even with Eugenia?”

  “She agreed.”

  Gus shook his head and laughed. “I think I’ll go to the café on Sunday just so I can witness this touching scene.”

  Wyatt shrugged. “Show up. I have nothing to hide.”

  “When are you going to give up on this woman? If she wanted you, don’t you think the two of you would be finding a preacher man?”

  They weren’t ready for a preacher man. Not until Eugenia made the decision to come to him willing. She had to agree to let him court her before they could ever marry.

  “Sometimes things are complicated, Gus. I know she wants me. I’m certain she will come to love me.”

  But he wasn’t quite as certain as before. There was still this deep, burning passion that seemed to cloak and envelop them, but this was his last attempt. If this didn’t work, he was done.

  Gus shook his head. “What makes you so certain?”

  “Because when we kissed—”

  “You kissed Eugenia Burnett?”

  Wyatt smiled. “It’s usually what you do with a woman you’re attracted to. You start off kissing, and then later, much later, it builds to something more.”