by Kristi Rose
Sabrina crossed her arms and raised one brow, her hip jutting out to the side.
“I thought it would be awkward coming up to you all like that. ‘Hey, I’m Jace. Guess we’re getting married today.’” He met her gaze for gaze.
“You just wanted to check her out without her knowing. You forget that I know you, Jace McAdams Shepard.”
Jace had the good sense to duck his head.
“And where are your parents? Why aren’t they here? I know Willow is in school, but shouldn’t your parents see you get married? Your momma is going to be livid as it is.” There was no change in her posture.
“What do I say Rina? Hey you all, I just met this here girl, and we’re getting married. Care to come witness?” Jace stuffed his hands in his pant pockets where his right hand toyed with the ring box.
“Okay, you have a point there. But they should be here. Tell them what you want. I suggest the truth, but it’s your life. Regardless, Pops will be brokenhearted to miss this.”
Jace knew she was right. He nodded, met her gaze, and then shrugged. “What do I do?”
“For a man so good at business and cattle, you sure are lousy with people.”
“Forgive me for not knowing how to handle my mail-order bride situation,” he said.
“Touché. Come in and meet Meredith and then go get your folks. How’s that for a plan?” She uncrossed her arms and held them wide for a hug.
He stepped into them and pulled her close. “Thanks for being such a good friend.”
“Thank me when you’re celebrating your anniversary and wondering how you ever lived without Meredith. Name a child after me.”
“What if I have all boys?” He liked the idea of sons, something he hadn’t really allowed himself to imagine.
“I’ll accept Sebastian or Sabine or—”
“Never gonna happen.” They stepped apart and headed for the church. He put the Stetson on and adjusted the sightline. When they reached the door that opened into the church classrooms, he grabbed for it before Sabrina could and paused as he grasped the knob, his palms suddenly moist, his mouth dry.
“Wait, let me go in alone.” This would be the time he’d need to bargain with her. He couldn’t do that with Sabrina around.
She tilted her head, studying him. “Are you sure about that?”
“One hundred percent.” Twenty-five was more the truth.
“Okay, I’ll just go….” She looked around.
“To the diner for some coffee. Maybe stop by the clinic and tell my folks you’re here for a surprise. They’ll know soon enough.”
Sabrina nodded. “Okay.” She patted his chest. “Good luck.” Then brushed passed him on the stairs as she left.
Jace blew out a breath then swung the back door open. When he stepped inside, Meredith jerked to a stand, her hands behind her back. Her suitcase on the floor was open, clothes spilling out. They made brief eye contact, and in that second, he read her disappointment.
“You,” she whispered. Though the look was quickly gone, he didn’t need to see it again to know she was more enchanted with the view than him.
“You going somewhere?” From where he stood, this appeared to be the case. When he'd come in, she'd looked to be stuffing clothes into a small bag. Still wearing her long white coat and her purse on her shoulder, it was clear to him she was attempting to make a quick escape.
Her eyes were wide, and the bluest he’d ever seen. Her pretty mouth hung open, nothing coming out.
Jace whipped off his hat and slapped it against his knees. Shit. This would be the record. She hadn’t even met him and was trying to bail. “What’s the plan? Slip out the other door? Grab a cab?” Jace ran a hand through his hair and sighed.
She slammed her mouth closed and nodded.
“Well, you’re out of luck. We don’t have cabs here. Just a bus stop, and the one bus that comes through already left for the day.”
Meredith dropped what she’d been holding behind her back, a small backpack, and stepped toward him. “I’m sorry. I know I’m awful, but the gravity of this...this... Don’t you think this is insane?” Was that a tremble in her lip among the controlled tightness of her expression?
“Yeah, it’s insane. But that's not a new revelation. The idea was insane from the onset.” He sighed, putting one hand on his hip. “Was this your plan all along? To get this far and bail?” He needed to know. How had Sabrina called this one wrong?
“I’m sorry,” she said before promptly bursting into tears, covering her face with her hands. She mumbled her apologies again.
Well, shit.
“Here Meredith, why don’t you sit down?” When he touched her elbow, he expected her to pull away, or at the very least jump, but instead she let him guide her to a chair. She sank into it, her face still buried in her hands. Though her sobs were quiet, they seemed to be coming from a well deep within, for her body shook each time she let one free.
Jace sat on his haunches before her; he placed his hat next to him. Pulling an old handkerchief, one that used to belong to his granddaddy, from his breast pocket, he placed it on her knee. “Here you go,” he said while patting her knee.
Removing her hands from her face, he watched her gaze dart from him to the hankie before she lifted it to her tear-ravaged face. “I’m so sorry.”
“Because….”
She covered her face with the off-white linen and shook her head.
“If you don’t want to be here, you don’t have to be. This’ll be hard enough, I imagine, if you’d rather be somewhere else. I won’t keep you against your will.” Disappointment was present, not that he hadn't expected it, and Jace was ready to move on. Get back to the ranch.
She shook her head. “That’s not why I’m crying. I mean, yes, I'm scared to be here.” When she pulled in a deep, ragged breath, her delicate little shoulders shook.
“Are you willing to share why you’re crying?” He kept his voice low and easy, not urgent, but the truth was he wanted to snap at her, at Sabrina, or anyone.
“There’s too much. I feel….” She covered her chest with her hands. “I can’t even figure it out.”
“Let’s try it a different way. If you were to get married today, what would make you happy?”
She looked up at him, then brought the hankie to her nose, and for a moment, he wondered if she’d stopped breathing.
“I always pictured my mother being with me when I married. She would hand me my bouquet and give me last-minute advice, and maybe I wouldn’t feel so alone,” she whispered. One hand played with the hem of her skirt, folding it over her knee repeatedly.
Jace took that hand between his. “I’m very sorry. Rina told me she passed. I can’t imagine what that must feel like.” His gaze met hers, and Jace knew she needed their first common thread. “Pops, my father, is sick. ALS. You know what that is?” His voice cracked, emotion changing his normal baritone into a hoarse whisper.
She nodded. “I did a fundraiser for it once.”
“Watching him deteriorate eats me alive.” It was something he hadn’t dared speak of since he knew there would be no way to keep his voice from showing the depths of his sorrow, and he’d been right.
She snaked her fingers between his and squeezed. “I'm sorry.”
“He wants me settled before he dies.” He let the words hang between them. "Threatened to cut me out of my inheritance over this.”
“That’s why I’m here?” It was part question and part realization. “I wondered what could be so wrong with a man that he’d need to marry a stranger.”
Jace didn’t know whether to be insulted or not.
“I have a proposal.” Jace laughed. “No pun intended.”
Meredith's wobbly smile encouraged him to continue.
“I need a wife and you need what? To get on your feet? To hide?”
“An opportunity to start over.”
Jace wasn't precisely sure what that meant, but he could work with it. “How about we help each othe
r out. You help me make a dying man happy, and I help you with that opportunity.”
She bit her lip before saying, “Continue.”
“Let's go through with this. At my place, you'll have the time and freedom to figure out whatever it is you need to figure out."
Something he'd said stirred a change in her. She sat up straighter, became more self-possessed.
“You would marry me to make your dad happy and then let me go when...?”
“Yeah, I would.” He didn't like fooling Pops, or Mom for that matter, but he wanted these last days with Pops to count. Hell, he'd marry a bear if it was what Pops wanted.
“Listen, I’ve known Rina for years. We went to college together, and she’s one of my closest friends. I don’t want to disappoint her, and I know she talks about forever and all that, but I want you to know if you aren’t happy here, you can leave. My only request is if you decide to stay, it’s for as long as my father is alive.”
“I have nowhere else I can go,” she said and started up again with the hiccups and sobs.
“No family?”
Following a slight shake of the head, she said, “None to speak of.”
Her response filled him with a thousand questions. Maybe it was because he was a man, and protection was an inherent trait, or maybe because he was a big brother. Not that he was thinking of Meredith as a little sister. He was ashamed to admit that even as she sat before him, he had to continue to avert his eyes from her legs. Her long slender calves begged to be stroked. Shoot, everything about her seemed to cry out for touch. But more than anything, he wanted to put his arm around her, tell her everything was going to be okay, and then make it so.
“You have here. I have a ranch with cattle, and that can be your home for as long as you need it.”
Fresh tears streamed down her face, but the shoulder-wracking sobs were gone. “Would you really let me leave? After all this has been set up?”
She really was very pretty. Beautiful, actually. There was nothing flashy about her, not one attribute that was remarkable, but the combination of smooth, untanned skin and large blue eyes mixed with a gentleness in her demeanor stoked a long-banked fire that resided deep within him.
Who would hurt such a gentle creature that she’d enter into a lifetime union with a perfect stranger simply to get away? The thought of it was astounding. He tried to imagine Willow doing the same thing, and the thought made him want to call her to make sure she was happy.
“It can be isolating on the ranch. Lots of time to yourself. I’m willing to give you my home if you are willing to give me your word you’ll stay for my father.”
Her brows winged closer. “Isolating how?”
“You’ll have to experience it. Maybe you won’t find it to be true.” Jace shrugged, but he knew he didn’t believe that, nor was he able to make it sound like he did. “There’s poor Internet. The days are long with chores, idle time is limited. Everyone plays a role that matters, though, and you would be no different.”
Watching Meredith, he wondered if the people she had left behind cared she was gone. But that no longer mattered because he cared. She was here now, and soon, if she were willing, she would be a part of his family. He took that responsibility seriously, even if it was only for the duration of Pop’s life.
“I want you to know that I’d like to go through with this, but only if you want to.” Jace studied her. No truer words were spoken, and the worry that she might say no surprised Jace. His gut told him this mutual arrangement could work. He might actually pull off getting a dying man to believe he'd found happiness. It sounded awful, the trickery, but living with Pops being sad because Jace wasn't married would be far harder. Crazy old man and his wishes.
She needed a place to belong and, if he was honest with himself, and today would be a perfect day for that, there was plenty of room for her here. “Do you think you might be interested in this offer?” He held firm to her hands. “We're looking at a year, maybe more if we're lucky to have Pops that long.”
“I think I could really like it here. It’s beautiful and peaceful.” She nodded. “I need peaceful.” If she loved the scenery in its current state, he couldn't wait to see her reaction to the full colors in late spring and early summer. Or the orange of autumn.
Jace sat back on his haunches, easing the tension from his calves. “I’m an honest and loyal man, Meredith. I’m not looking for a fast paced, exciting life. I like the slow pace here. Cattle’s about all the excitement I can handle. Maybe a bear or two.” He smiled. “You think that’s something that’ll work for you?” All things she needed to know so when she started getting squirrely about leaving before Pops was gone, he could point out he had warned her.
She looked in the direction of the window, and then nodded before turning her attention back to him. “I'll give you my word I'll stay for the time your father is alive. I keep my word, and it looks easy enough to be here. I think I could like it.”
It wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it would do. “Okay then. Try it is.” He bounced slightly on his heels, but stopped when she pulled her hands from his, tucking one under her leg.
“I’d give you this back.” She gently waved the handkerchief before him. “But I’d like to wash it first.”
“If you’re all right now, I’ll just step out and collect my folks.” He waited for a sign. When she nodded, he stood before her.
“Should I just wait here?”
He patted his pockets in mock exaggeration. “You didn’t lift my truck keys did you? Still hoping to make a getaway?” Perhaps not the best joke to make to a woman feeling apprehensive about starting a new life with a complete stranger, but to his surprise, she laughed. An easy, melodic sound that made him chuckle as well.
“Are most women really that desperate to get out of this town? Should I be forewarned?” The hint of a smile told him she was teasing.
“Well, it’s not for all people. Some folk who grow up here leave, and some come back, and on the occasion someone stumbles upon us, they might stay, too. We have the basics. No mass shopping chain.”
She pressed her lips together while looking up at him through her lashes. “So you’re saying you’re experiencing a population boom simply by me being here?”
Jace tossed back his head and laughed. “Yep, that about sums it up.” Their gazes stayed on each other briefly, both enjoying the easy moment they’d just experienced, until Meredith looked away.
“I should freshen up,” she said while looking around the room.
“It’s the door over to the left.” He indicated with his chin. “If it’s all right with you, I’ll go now.”
She nodded then stood. Her proximity was closer than he’d anticipated and normally, instinct would have him step back and out of her personal space, but neither of them moved. If he stepped half a foot closer, he’d be able to tuck her nicely in his arms, put his chin on her head. Maybe Rina was right. They were a good fit, at least physically.
“I have one request.”
Her eyes widened at the word “request.”
“I’d like to avoid the specifics with my parents. Just say we met while I was in Texas at auction, emailed a few times, and decided to do this. I’m aware that I’m asking you to lie, but it’s for a good reason.”
She blinked slowly. He wanted to point out that fudging how this all came about was likely the most insignificant of their issues, but it was only right that he be upfront with her.
“I don’t want my father, or mother either, worrying about why I did this.”
“I understand. Thanks for being honest with me, Jace.” She said his name with hesitation, as if she was trying it out. He liked the way it sounded coming from her.
“I’ll be back in fifteen.” He stepped back and nestled his hat on his head.
“Maybe you have a getaway car around the corner?”
Smiling, he shook his head. “I’ll be right back.” He stepped from the church and jogged to the flow
er store across the street.
Mrs. Williams, Tucker’s mom, was sitting behind the counter, her hands clasped before her as if she’d been waiting on him.
“Hey, Mrs. Williams, I need some help.” He leaned one hip against the counter. He had a suspicion she knew what was going down over at the church and might be miffed about not being invited.
She crossed her arms. “Go on.”
“What’s that saying women use when they’re getting married? About old things? Because I need you to help me put all that together. I’ll need a bouquet, and I’ll need to you be at the church in thirty minutes to see me get married.”
Chapter 9
It was him! The one she’d hoped not to be matched with, and he had busted her shoving clothes in her pack.
Left alone in the church classroom, Meredith had known it was time to beat feet. Freedom was calling. She would have preferred to strike out on her own in a big city, get lost in the masses, but it wouldn’t be the case here. Having driven through main street to get to the church, Meredith knew a stranger would stick out in the cute western town. She'd seen tie-ups for horses outside some of the stores. So charming. As soon as Sabrina had stepped from the room, Meredith had tossed what she could into her pack, setting out a change of clothes, knowing a woman in a wedding dress would be like a lighthouse beacon on a foggy night.
Being on her own had to be easier than living with a stranger, right? Even if the stranger had been the nerdy guy, she’d planned on leaving. When he, Jace, stepped into the room and caught her, she was struck with two things: panic and butterflies. Panic because her instincts told her she was right about him—he'd be a force to be reckoned with—and butterflies because his picture hadn't done him justice. He was breath-stealing gorgeous. There was no way she could stay. She didn't know how to be around someone who made her stomach quiver every time she looked at him.
When he told her there were no cabs or buses, Meredith briefly had considered hitchhiking. Until a second later, when it dawned on her that she was picking potential death over marriage. How many crime shows had she seen on TV where the hitchhiker lived? Mm, she couldn't recall one, and she was a crime show addict.