The Hired Husband

by Judith Stacy

  “Please come into the sitting room,” Rachel said, motioning him away from the door.

  “No, ma’am.” Leo gestured to the kitchen. “I’ll wait here—if that meets with your approval.”

  “Mitch left earlier for a meeting but he should be back any minute.” She glanced around and, still not seeing any of the kitchen staff, said, “I’ll check the study, see if he’s home yet. He’s anxious to see you.”

  Leo’s general air of amusement turned to surprise. “Mitch told you about me?”

  “Yes, he did,” Rachel said. She introduced Leo to Claudia and left the kitchen. She didn’t find Mitch in his study but located Hayden and explained the situation. When she returned to the kitchen, she found Leo and Claudia seated on stools at the worktable, sipping lemonade and laughing.

  Rachel paused in the doorway, stunned by the scene. Leo spoke and Claudia leaned in, laughing and giggling. Rachel couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen her look so happy.

  “I’d better go,” Claudia said when she saw Rachel. She held up the cookbook. “I’ll bring this back later.”

  “Pleasure to meet you, Miss Everhart,” Leo said, rising from the stool.

  Claudia gave him a smile and hurried away.

  “Mitch isn’t back yet, but as I said, he should return soon,” Rachel said. “Please come into the sitting room. We can visit until he returns.”

  Leo hesitated a moment, then said, “Thank you for your hospitality, ma’am. I’ll wait for a while, if you’re sure it’s all right.”

  “Mitch is anxious to see you,” Rachel said, leading the way out of the kitchen. “He looked for you a few weeks ago.”

  “He did?” Leo’s tone suggested that was unusual.

  In the sitting room, Rachel took a seat on the settee and Leo the nearby chair.

  “You looked a little surprised when I told you Mitch and I had married,” Rachel said.

  “Not that I blame him for marrying you, ma’am. You’re a beautiful woman, if I can be so bold to say so, and I can tell you’ve got a good heart.” Leo shook his head. “But so did all the others.”

  “The others?”

  Leo uttered a quick laugh. “Your papa must be one whale of a negotiator—which I mean as a compliment, of course.”

  “What others?”

  “The other marriage offers Mitch had. One for nearly every client he took on. All of them trying to push their daughters on him, desperate to get him into their family. Him being so smart, you know, they all wanted him.” Leo shook his head in wonder, looking more serious now. “Mitch let himself get picked? Never thought I’d see that happen.”

  The words jogged Rachel’s memory. “Getting picked? That happened at the orphanage on Sundays when families came, looking for a child to adopt.”

  Leo frowned. “Mitch told you about that? I never knew him to tell a living soul about the orphanage, let alone the story about Billy Stillman.”

  Rachel didn’t answer but Leo seemed not to notice.

  “Nobody was too anxious to get picked after what happened to Billy,” Leo said, his gaze taking on a distant look, as if he were seeing into the past. “Billy cried every night after his mother left him there. She couldn’t afford to take care of him. That happened a lot. When he finally got picked he was so happy. All he wanted was to be part of a family again. But then, after a couple of weeks, they brought him back.”

  “The family who adopted him returned him to the orphanage?” Rachel’s heart broke at the thought. “He must have been devastated.”

  “Hanged himself,” Leo said. “In the stairwell. We all saw him there, twisted up in a bedsheet. Mitch, being the biggest, climbed up and—well, none of us boys were too keen about getting picked after that. Especially Mitch, though. He made sure nobody ever took him. That way—”

  “—nobody could bring him back.” Rachel’s head and heart ached at the knowledge of what Mitch, and all the other boys, had gone through.

  “That’s why I’m saying that something else must be going on with Mitch,” Leo said. “He wouldn’t have let your papa pick him to marry you. He just wouldn’t have done that.”

  “Actually, our marriage was Mitch’s idea.”

  A big smile bloomed on Leo’s face. “Well then, that could only mean one thing. Mitch finally fell in love.”

  “No, it’s not like that,” she said, as much as she’d like to believe it. “Our marriage is a business arrangement. Mitch doesn’t love me.”

  “But you love him?”

  “Yes,” Rachel said, and it felt good to tell someone what was in her heart. “I do love Mitch. But he doesn’t feel that way about me.”

  “Yes, he does. Believe me, Mitch wouldn’t be here, he wouldn’t have married you if he didn’t love you.”

  “Then why won’t he say so?”

  “He’s not likely to do that,” Leo said. “Not after the way he was raised. You can see that, can’t you? Have you told Mitch that you love him?”

  “Well, no,” Rachel admitted. “Mitch said right from the beginning that he didn’t care about me. He and my uncle drew up a contract stating—”

  “A contract?” Leo’s smile returned. “Figures. Probably had a clause about him leaving, didn’t it? A date when he’d go—a date he picked himself, right?”

  “Well, yes.”

  “What better way for him to safeguard his feelings?” Leo said. “He must love you a lot if he went to all that trouble.”

  “Do you really think so?”

  Leo nodded. “But if you want to find out for sure, you’ll have to be the one to say the words first. Mitch will never do it. I promise you that.”

  “Then I guess it’s up to me.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Since Leo Sinclair’s visit yesterday, Rachel had done nothing but think. About her life, her future…and about Mitch, of course.

  She found those same thoughts running through her head this morning as she sat in the sitting room looking over the list of needed grocery items Mrs. Callihan had compiled. The house was quiet. Noah was in the library with his tutor and Mitch had gone to another meeting with Albert Taft. Yet Rachel couldn’t concentrate on her chore.

  When Mitch had finally returned yesterday, he’d been stunned to find Leo in the sitting room with her. He’d looked worried, at first, but glad to see his old friend. The two of them had holed up in the study for hours. Rachel didn’t know what they discussed but she heard deep male laughter. It made her realize that she seldom heard Mitch laugh and it had pained her conscience a little. She, along with most everyone else in his life, had given him little reason to do so.

  Since Georgie’s visit, Rachel hadn’t known what to do about the question her brother had put before her. She knew she loved Mitch, though. She’d thought she’d tell George not to come back…if only she knew whether Mitch felt the same about her.

  She’d been safeguarding her feelings for Mitch, she realized. She’d done the same as he’d been doing about her.

  Yet she had less reason to hold back than he did. So why was she doing it?

  Those same thoughts had rambled around in her head all of yesterday afternoon, during a sleepless night and continued to plague her this morning.

  She couldn’t shake the notion that telling Mitch she loved him, wanted him to stay, wanted a real marriage, might be a terrible mistake. Would he say he loved her in return so she would send Georgie away and he could stay for the coming year, as their contract dictated? She didn’t think Mitch a deceptive person, but wealth, power and social position were the things Mitch had worked toward all his life and he had them now. He wouldn’t give them up easily, and understandably so.

  Mitch had done so much to help her and her family. He’d helped her make the decision to send her father to the convalescent hospital, and by all accounts, he was improving daily. He’d convinced her to let Chelsey attend school again, a decision that had been good for all of them. He’d connected with Noah as Georgie never had. Georgie ha
d been busy, of course. But Mitch had shouldered those same responsibilities and had still found time for Noah. And, of course, he’d saved them from public humiliation by putting the family business back on course.

  Rachel set aside the grocery list and drew a breath. She knew in her heart what she must do.

  She’d learned from a total stranger that her husband loved her. He hadn’t told her himself, yet why would he? She’d treated him like a hired husband much of the time.

  So it was up to her to help him work his way through the hard shell he’d built around his emotions. She didn’t want to be alone. Leo had said Mitch loved her. Maybe, just maybe, that was true. Maybe he would stay with her and they’d have the sort of life she’d always wanted. It was worth taking the chance on.

  But would Mitch believe she’d changed her mind? How would she convince him?

  She didn’t know. But it would certainly help if she knew for sure—other than through Leo’s opinion—that Mitch really loved her.

  By the time Rachel worked her way through the entire grocery list, she heard the door chimes and headed toward the foyer. As she expected, Claudia stepped into the vestibule carrying the cookbook she’d borrowed. She looked upset. Rachel cringed inwardly. Good gracious, what had Graham Bixby done now?

  Claudia gave her no chance to ask because she blurted out, “I think I’m in love with Leo Sinclair.”

  Rachel’s gaze flew to Hayden, still lingering at the door. He quirked his brows in their direction so she was sure he’d overheard. Rachel hooked her arm through Claudia’s and hustled her into the nearest room, Mitch’s study.

  “What on earth are you talking about?”

  Claudia clasped the cookbook to her breasts and smiled dreamily. “Leo Sinclair. He’s positively enchanting. Funny and interesting. And he was so nice. He said the sweetest things to me—nothing out of line, of course. But he made me feel so—so—happy.”

  Rachel hadn’t missed Leo’s charm yesterday, either. Even dressed in his work clothes and needing a shave there was something alluring about him. Yet she suspected there was something more at work here.

  “Maybe Leo seems so wonderful because Graham is so…well, not-so-wonderful?” Rachel suggested.

  Claudia’s expression soured. “Graham…”

  “You’ve seen a different side of him since your engagement,” Rachel pointed out. “Do you like it?”

  “He’s been pushy about the wedding arrangements, always wanting his own way,” Claudia said. Then she exhaled heavily and her shoulders sagged. “And he’s so boring. All he talks about is business. I don’t know if I can bear to hear about who’s-selling-this and who’s mismanaging-that for the rest of my life. Oh, and his mother…”

  “You don’t have to marry him,” Rachel told her. “You don’t have to marry anyone.”

  “Not marry? But what would I do with my life?”

  “Whatever you want,” Rachel declared. “Actually, I’m thinking of opening a business of my own in a few months.”

  Her eyes widened. “Rachel, you’re not.”

  “I’m thinking of buying a ceramic factory and designing china,” she explained. It felt good to say it aloud to someone other than Mitch.

  “See, that’s exactly what I mean,” Claudia said, shaking her head. “Graham was talking about a ceramic factory being sold just last night. He went on and on. And it was all I could do to keep from nodding off.”

  “Whose factory?” Rachel asked, her pulse quickening. “Was it the City Ceramic Works?”

  Claudia waved her hand. “I don’t recall. It belonged to dreary old Mr. Taft. No, wait, that isn’t right. Mr. Taft offered to sell something to Graham. Rocks, was it? But there was mention of ceramics. I think. I don’t know. You see how dull Graham’s stories are?”

  Actually, Rachel found talk of local business interesting and she always enjoyed when she and Mitch discussed things. She’d ask him when he got home about the Taft quarry purchase and Mr. Prescott’s ceramic factory.

  “So what do you find interesting?” Rachel asked. “Surely you have some dream, something you’d like to accomplish on your own?”

  Claudia’s gaze drifted around the room for a moment. “Well, there are a few things,” she said softly.

  “Write them down.” Rachel went through the desk drawers until she found a tablet. “Make a list of everything you’d ever thought about doing with your life and then—”

  She stopped as she held out the tablet. The top page was already written on, the words surrounded by simple drawings of hearts. She saw her own name. Tears welled in her eyes.

  Rachel paused in the study doorway, gazing inside at Mitch seated at the desk. Beyond him, the early evening shadows darkened the view of the driveway and street through the windows.

  A little smile played on her lips. She’d decided earlier today after Claudia’s visit that she would never come into this study again not expecting to find Mitch here. Not just in the coming year, but for always. She’d made up her mind what to do. And tonight she would do it, hoping with all her heart that it was the right thing.

  “There’re some rumors going around town,” Rachel said, stopping in front of the desk.

  Mitch looked up at her and closed the ledger he’d been studying. Rachel’s heart warmed at the sight of him. It didn’t escape her that Mitch always stopped what he was doing when she walked in, always listened.

  “Let me guess,” he said. “It’s rumored that Albert Taft has his quarry up for sale. Cheap.”

  “You’ve heard?” she asked, genuinely surprised. She knew how badly he wanted the quarry. He’d met with Albert Taft many times to work out the details.

  “Is this a ploy of his to stir up competition? Drive up the price so you’ll have to pay more for it?” she asked.

  Mitch shrugged. “I wouldn’t worry about that rumor. The quarry purchase is proceeding as I’d planned.”

  His confidence always impressed her.

  “I also heard that Mr. Prescott sold his ceramic factory,” Rachel said. “Please tell me that’s not true.”

  Mitch’s gaze dipped, then returned to her and Rachel’s heart fell.

  “It’s true, isn’t it,” she said, sure by the expression on his face that she already knew the answer.

  “Yes, it’s true, I’m afraid. I saw Mr. Prescott while I was out today. He sold the factory. Sorry. I know you’re disappointed.”

  Breath went out of Rachel in a heavy sigh. She’d had her heart set on designing china and, while actually running the factory herself would have taken a lot of work, she would have enjoyed it.

  “Maybe the new owner won’t like the ceramic business,” Rachel said. “Maybe he’ll want to sell in a few months.”

  “Maybe,” Mitch said. “Any more rumors?”

  “Claudia is in love with your friend Leo.”

  Mitch uttered a short laugh. “Leo’s not exactly the marrying kind. He just came by to let me know he was heading north again.”

  “He could have stayed here with us, you know.”

  “Leo prefers drifting around to wherever the wind takes him. Not exactly the sort of man Claudia is looking for.”

  “I think the thing she liked most about Leo is that he wasn’t Graham.”

  “Does this mean there’s trouble with the perfect couple and their perfect wedding?” Mitch asked.

  “I’ve decided perfection isn’t all that desirable.”

  Mitch’s brows rose. “Is that so?”

  “I’ve decided I don’t want perfection. I want you.”

  He froze.

  “It occurred to me that if you’re not perfect, then I don’t have to be perfect, either,” Rachel said. “It’s a terrible strain, trying to maintain perfection. Look how unhappy it made my mother and brother. I’m afraid it will cause Claudia to throw away her life in a marriage she doesn’t really want.”

  “But, Rachel,” he said softly. “What will people say…?”

  “I’m not concerned about tha
t, either,” she said. “But I’m very interested in another rumor I learned of. It seems that you love me.”

  He drew back in the chair, away from her.

  She stepped closer. “Seems there is a list of fourteen things you like about me.”

  He glanced down at the desk drawer where she’d found the tablet he’d written on. His face paled.

  “It would seem, also, that you loved me from the moment you walked into the house, that you’re mesmerized by the sway of my hips and grow very excited about some other things about me.”

  He didn’t say anything, but she didn’t expect him to. She was there to tell him what was in her heart.

  “I’ve fallen in love with you, Mitch. You’re a wonderful man and I’m lucky to have you as my husband. I want us to stay married forever,” she said. “I want us to be a real married couple.”

  His breath quickened then.

  “But I want you to say the words to me. Say that you love me.” Rachel felt color rise in her cheeks. She’d mentally rehearsed, but still didn’t know if she’d actually be able to say the words aloud. She continued, “If you can do that and, if you’re still interested, you can come upstairs and see what color underwear I have on.”

  She turned and left the room.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Dumbstruck, Mitch sat frozen in his desk chair for several moments before he processed what Rachel had just told him. Then he bolted from the room, took the steps two at a time and caught her at the top.

  She looked unsure of herself. Her cheeks were a little pink, and he guessed it was because of the highly charged invitation she’d issued.

  It was easier to interpret Rachel’s emotions than his own. Mitch didn’t know which shocked him more: that she said she loved him, or that she’d asked if he wanted to see her colored underwear.

  She glanced up and down the hallway, then headed toward her bedchamber. He followed her inside and closed the door. They faced each other in the dim light of the fading sunset.