Weddings Under a Western Sky: The Hand-Me-Down BrideThe Bride Wore BritchesSomething Borrowed, Something True

by Elizabeth Lane

  “I know. You wanted to protect her but you did the opposite. Folks are adding two and two and coming up with five or six. Eastern mores are moving west. Wagging tongues aren’t going to be stilled easily. Maybe you should think about marrying her. Just last month you were grousing that the women coming in on the stage were either bound for the Garter or looking for a big ranch owner.”

  “I meant I’d be looking in a year or two and I didn’t like how things were going,” Dylan protested. “I’m not ready for marriage. I haven’t saved enough to buy a place.”

  “She wouldn’t be opposed to working by your side, building Adara into a fine horse ranch.”

  “Yes, she would. Rhia’s dead set on seeing her father’s dreams of a successful sheep ranch realized. And you know how I feel about sheep. I don’t want my kids teased and tortured the way I was.”

  “Well, my friend, I have to tell you, she won’t live this down alone.”

  His mother was going to skin him alive for putting Rhia in this position. He was ready to skin himself. Where had his penchant for careful planning gone last night? “Am I supposed to give up my dreams because of a few thoughtless decisions?”

  “Maybe it would just be a dream postponed. There’s some more land out by her place available. You could do there what you wanted to do at Belleza. And at least you care about her. From what I heard over at the Garter, there will be other offers coming but not good ones. If you don’t help get her out of this, she’s going to wind up ostracized or with someone who not only doesn’t care about her but who doesn’t respect her or her dreams.”

  Josh was right. This wasn’t about him, was it? He’d always wanted only good things for Rhia, even when he’d thought she was peculiar, because she was one of the kindest people he’d ever met. And now, through his carelessness, her chance to be courted properly by one of the respectable men who’d partnered her last night was ruined. She deserved better than people treating her poorly.

  Rhia’s fixation on raising sheep aside, last night he’d been sorry her emergence as an attractive woman hadn’t fit into his timing and plans. He’d even been annoyed with all the men partnering her. Because, dammit, even though he wasn’t ready to take on a wife, he’d wanted her. That waltz he’d insisted on had proven that to him.

  So timing aside, there was only one course of action. He’d have to offer to marry her. There didn’t seem to be any way around it. Feeling a bit like a condemned man and conversely like the luckiest yahoo in town, Dylan looked at Josh.

  And Josh grimaced. “Take a little advice. Give Miss Oliver a choice even though neither of you has one. But make no mistake, you’ve got to talk her around to seeing this as the only way it can be.”

  Dylan sighed. He knew Rhia. She was going to dig in her heels and dare anyone to criticize her. But he knew how cruel people could be. They would indeed condemn her. His thoughts somersaulted more than his stomach as he strode toward Abby’s store.

  How in hell was he was supposed to talk Rhia into marrying him when he was so ambivalent about marrying her? He wanted her. Sure. But he wouldn’t lie. It was attraction. Lust. He certainly didn’t love her nor did he want to. He’d seen the heartache his mother’s love for his father had caused her. All he could claim was that he cared about Rhia’s welfare and that he wanted her physically. If she rejected him, he didn’t know how he’d keep her safe from the circling vultures.

  He winced. If she said yes to his proposal, he would become a sheepherder after all. Madre de dios! He glanced up and wondered if the One the priests called Lamb of God was up there laughing at him.

  Probably.

  Chapter Seven

  “Farrah, try to understand. I have to go home.” Rhia put down the now empty teacup. Abby had promised tea would make her feel better. It hadn’t. Because there she sat in Abby’s back room, wondering how many times she’d have to repeat the same thing. This time she added what they both knew to be true but had never acknowledged. “Your father doesn’t want me at Belleza. You know he doesn’t. And he never has. He thinks I’m beneath him and therefore beneath you. Now he’ll hear all this talk and be sure of it. He’ll say my being there will sully your reputation by association.”

  “Since when do you care what my father thinks?”

  “Normally I might go back to Belleza just to watch him stiffen up when I get too close. But I’m not that strong right now.”

  “Why don’t you stay with us?” Abby offered as she walked in from the front of the store where she’d been taking care of a customer.

  Embarrassed that she appeared to be so needy, Rhia shook her head. “Thanks, Abby, but I promised my father I’d take care of the ranch. Town is too far from Adara. Besides, I’ve had all I can take of town people for a while.”

  “Then you have to stay with us at Belleza, at least until you can hire replacements. You can’t be out there alone,” Farrah said again.

  “That could take weeks,” Rhia argued. “After word of Angus’s death gets around, I doubt anyone from these parts will hire on with me. That means sending a letter or a wire to San Antonio to advertise in the Express. In the meantime, I can’t leave my mother’s home all torn up and open to varmints—the four- or two-legged kind.”

  The bell over the front door jingled another arrival. Abby sighed. “Why did everyone in town have to pick today to need something?”

  “They’re probably coming in the hope of getting a glimpse of the fallen woman,” Rhia sneered.

  “Where is everyone?” Dylan called out.

  Abby stood and pointed at Rhia. “You stay put,” she ordered and rushed out to the shop. “We’re back here having a bit of tea.”

  “We? Please tell me that includes Farrah and Rhia,” he said, worry rife in his tone.

  Farrah frowned and said, “He sounds upset, doesn’t he? I’d better go see what’s wrong.”

  “Maybe he heard his name linked with mine,” Rhia grumbled. Before they’d found Adara raided, he’d seemed to regret everything he’d said to her all evening. After, he’d started talking to her like a big brother.

  Farrah rolled her eyes and went into the store.

  Which left Rhia to ponder her options. Was her name really so ruined that life would become more difficult for her or was it just a few—well, all right, several—small-minded citizens without enough to occupy themselves? And as far as going home, at least there she wouldn’t have to deal with unearned scorn. Besides, would she really be in that much danger at Adara? Was there any reason to think they’d be back?

  She should just go ask Dylan what he thought. She needn’t mention the talk in town today. She doubted anyone would really repeat any of those things to him. They’d all be too cowardly. So he’d never know.

  Unfortunately she didn’t have the energy to even stand much less walk out to the other room. Instead she propped her chin on the heel of her hand and closed her eyes. What was wrong with her? She couldn’t let any of this defeat her. Her problem was that both of these trials had come upon her within hours of each other.

  No, she wouldn’t let it get to her this way. Rhia started to push herself to her feet to go ask Dylan’s opinion but he stepped into the room. Rhia settled back into the chair.

  He seemed to fill the room with his essence. Shrink it. “Rough morning?” he asked, tilting his head just a little. His every gesture was so familiar. So dear.

  “There weren’t any postings up in the square for shepherd work or really anyone looking for a job. Farrah tells me you buried Angus. Thank you. I’ll visit his grave as soon as I get home.”

  His eyes locked with hers. “Thanks aren’t necessary. I’ll show you the grave. You’ll miss him even though he was…”

  She managed to chuckle. “Grumpy. Cantankerous. Difficult.”

  “Well, yeah. But he was a constant in your life and the last
one left who started the place with your father.”

  She swallowed. “I know, which is why I—”

  “I need you to listen to me,” he interrupted, settling in the chair across from her at the small table. Then oddly he fell silent which seemed strange, as he’d wanted her to listen. Had he heard what they were all saying? God, she prayed not. Dylan leaned his elbows on the table and clasped his hands lightly. “You’re in a bad position right now. I wanted to help. I never meant to make it worse but apparently I have.”

  “Then you’ve heard.”

  “What? You thought I wouldn’t? It’s about me, too, you know.”

  “But it isn’t really your problem.”

  “You think I can let my thoughtlessness ruin your life and do nothing?”

  “Dylan, I come into town once a month. Stop at Abby’s for supplies and leave. I’ll just come to the back door for a while—”

  “No back doors. You did nothing to be ashamed of. I’m the one who has to fix this and there’s only one way I can.” He took a deep breath, reached a hand toward her, only to let it fall back to the table. “I want you to marry me.”

  She could hardly catch her breath for the pain. How could the six words she’d longed to hear falling from his lips hurt so badly? All because he didn’t love her. He couldn’t even look at her.

  He was being forced by circumstance.

  By gossip.

  By his own chivalrous nature.

  Rhia started to shake her head but he stopped her by raising a staying hand. “Wait,” he ordered, “hear me out. Adara would remain yours to run as you see fit. I’d never take that from you. I just want to protect you and your reputation. You can’t hide what everyone saw last night. That horse has left the barn.”

  Her response, full of resentment, burst from her lips unbidden. “You never even saw me before last night.” And, as it was too late to take back the accusation, she went further. What the heck! In for a penny, in for a pound, Daddy always said. “Don’t pretend you’d be sitting there if I hadn’t looked so different last night.”

  He blinked. “You’re mad that I didn’t see through your disguise? Not my fault you did such a good job all these years. But you showed up looking like you do with your hair done up all pretty. It changed everything. They all see you as a woman. A lady.”

  “A lady who spent the last two years running her own place. Alone.”

  “Dressed as a no-account squatter. Then everyone saw you all prettied up and we all realized how many years had gone by. And then came the raid and you were so fragile all of a sudden. It scared me witless. I was so worried about you I didn’t think to take you to Belleza before going to town.”

  She was so busy trying to work out exactly what he’d said and if there was a compliment buried in there somewhere, she nearly missed what he meant. “So you want to marry me to do penance for not thinking like a few mean-spirited people around these parts?”

  “You are the stubbornest! There’s plenty of talk. Not just a few gum-flapping idiots. Josh was in the Garter and heard your name bandied about. In a saloon, Rhia. You won’t stay a lady in anyone else’s eyes with you living out there alone with no husband. Especially not after all that happened last night.”

  She clenched her hands into fists. “This isn’t fair.”

  “No. It’s not. But like Josh says, the town’s changing. Growing up. Getting civilized. With that comes rules. And gossip. A woman can’t break rules, Rhia.”

  “And because of some Eastern idea of propriety with nothing to do with living in Texas, you think you should marry me?” Stunned, bleeding inside, she managed to add, “You’re from nobility. In your father’s eyes, I’m the child of a guttersnipe from London’s Seven Dials section and an Irish housemaid from Five Points in New York City. The don would pitch a fit.”

  Dylan grinned, his golden eyes sparkling. “Now you’re just trying to seduce me with a chance to get the don’s goat even more than I already do. See, you’re the perfect wife for me.” Then he grew serious again. “Women coming west by train don’t understand this place. You know what hard work it takes to make a dream rise out of a scrap of land. You’re what I want in a wife and in the mother of my children.”

  “I know I’m not the perfect wife for anyone. You just feel obligated.”

  That turned him serious again. “Look, I’m not going to pretend what I don’t feel. I respect you too much for that. But I’d like to think I measure up in the husband department a little better than the early-morning bunch over at the Garter. And a hell of a lot better than that drifter in there who hasn’t taken a bath in a month of Sundays.”

  He did. And he knew he did. “This isn’t fair to you.” It was she who didn’t measure up to what he really wanted. Was there ever anything worse than being only an obligation to the man you love? Of course it wasn’t unfair to her. He’d always been her dream lover. She’d lain in bed and hugged her pillow, pretending it was him for so many years, she no longer found it odd to wake still holding on for dear life to a sack of goose feathers.

  “Querida, life doesn’t have to be fair,” he whispered, his brown eyes clearly assessing her. “Just good. We can be good together. We respect each other. I’d like to think we like each other. Lots of folks don’t have that starting out.”

  “By not fair I meant what if you meet someone you love someday but you’re already stuck with me?”

  “Not going to happen. I don’t want love. It just makes for hurt feelings and broken dreams. I won’t pretend I don’t want a real marriage but that can wait till you’re more used to me as more… As more than a brother.”

  Brother. There, he’d said it and her heart sank a bit more. She’d never seen him as a brother. That was his feeling he was talking about. A blush heated her face and she looked away but nodded so he wouldn’t try to explain further. God, could this get worse? She was ready. She’d been ready for years. And he thought she was a lady? He clearly wanted one because this was all happening because he thought he needed to save her reputation. If he’d thought she wasn’t a lady, he’d never have offered marriage. He’d have laughed at the gossip.

  “I’ll send one of the don’s men for that piece of garbage he lent you. I’ll see the livery readies your buckboard. Farrah can ride with you and I’ll follow,” he said. “Maybe on the way, you could talk to her. Or maybe wait and talk to Mama.”

  Would this never stop getting worse?

  She found herself asking the very same thing of Farrah on the ride back to Belleza.

  “But it’s wonderful. We’d be sisters!” Farrah exclaimed.

  “How can you not understand? He. Doesn’t. Love. Me,” Rhia said between her teeth. Then she slapped the reins so hard against the horse’s hide they took off in a jerking dash. She had to saw back on the reins and use the brake to slow them down again.

  Farrah laughed. “He will soon then. How could he not?”

  “Before last night I hid who I was. Now he sees me as more than I am—as a lady—and he still doesn’t love me.”

  “More than you are? You are a lady. Being a lady is about more than pretty manners, lovely dresses and fancy hairdos. Or the right ancestors before you add that. It’s about purity and goodness and kindness—all qualities you have in abundance.”

  Rhia huffed out a breath. “But he doesn’t even want to love me. He said he doesn’t want love. Oh, and he can wait for a real marriage till I get used to him as more than a brother so forget him being attracted to me.”

  Farrah sighed. Took a breath then said, “That was nice of him, wasn’t it?”

  “I never thought of him as a brother. That’s his feelings for me so forget any passion on his part. I’d settle for a little passion, hoping love would follow no matter what he says he wants or doesn’t. But I may as well be his sister for all the desire he feels.”r />
  Farrah squeezed Rhia’s hand over the ribbon of leather threaded through her fingers. “He’d probably shoot me for saying this but he didn’t take his eyes off you all last night.”

  “Probably the same protective way he watched you.”

  “He didn’t even glance my way. He didn’t forget I was there, he practically forgot anyone else was. I may not want to attract a man but I know what it looks like.”

  “Oh…” Now that changed things a little. Maybe he truly had been talking about her feelings.

  “But what about your father? I can’t let Dylan make things worse on my account. He’ll never get back in your father’s good graces if we marry. I said as much to him but Dylan made a joke of it. Like he’s happy not in the don’s good graces.”

  “Don’t confuse my father with yours. They’re as far apart as the East is from the West. Dylan’s only concern at Belleza is Mama and me. You can’t live your life to suit anyone but you, Rhia. That isn’t what this is really about. I know you love my brother and have for years. Ask yourself this—how will you feel when he marries someone else and you’re all alone on Adara?”

  Rhia closed her eyes. “I already have thought of that. Angus would seem cheerful compared with the shrew I’d become. But it still hurts not to have love returned. And to hear it said so plainly as he did.”

  “I’ve seen every day of my life how much that hurts. Dylan feels as he does because of Mama. Our father swept Mama off her feet but what he loved was her dowry. What Dylan doesn’t understand is that he’s half in love with you already. He just doesn’t recognize it because he has no idea what love looks like. You know more about love than anyone I know. Opposites are supposed to be perfect for each other. You two are. You can teach him about love. So are you going to accept or not?”

  Rhia mentally asked herself again. Could she watch Dylan marry someone else, knowing he could have been hers? The answer was still the same. Defeated, she sighed. “I guess I only have one other question. Considering that your father already doesn’t talk to Dylan unless he’s forced, what do we do about arranging a wedding?”