Accidental Courtship
Page 27
Maybe he felt this way as a result of his injuries, but it still hurt.
A wall. She pictured building a wall, brick by brick, around her heart as a barricade. She just needed his help on the claim. No emotional entanglements. Strictly business.
“I—my father and I—need help to get the harvest in. If you would do that, then you could pay off your debt, as you call it. I don’t think you owe me anything, but you’d be doing me a great favor if you did.”
“I will consider it,” he said slowly. “I am in your debt, without question. So long as you do not consider us engaged to marry.”
There was that flick of pain again, like a little knife stabbing at her heart. “As if the man I promised to marry were a different person from yourself.” No matter how much it hurt, she would not be weak. She would use the pain to build another layer in the wall around her heart.
“From my perspective, he is.”
Add another layer of bricks. “Except I told Granny Whitlow that you were my fiancé.”
“I’ll deal with the rest of the world later. Let’s get things straight between the two of us first.”
She wasn’t sure exactly what that meant. She wasn’t sure she wanted to ask, either.
Doc Graham arrived a little while later, his half-moon spectacles perched as usual at the tip of his nose, and his round face shining with perspiration, as if he’d been hurrying. Clearly, he had been primed with the latest gossip. His little blue eyes gleamed with curiosity as he escorted Matthew to the back room.
When the doctor came back out some minutes later, he smiled at Liza. “Don’t look so worried. His injuries are quite superficial, apart from the cut on his head, and that should heal soon enough. Injuries can cause temporary amnesia—inability to remember. It’s not that uncommon.”
Matthew had followed him out of the back room, shrugging on his coat. “Will my memories come back?”
“The mind’s a tricky thing. Memory could come back in dribs and drabs, or all at once. Given a bit of time, the injury should heal.” He clapped Matthew on the shoulder cheerfully.
Matthew hunched his shoulders. “So, I could do manual labor?”
“Thinking of getting a job at the lumber mills in Portland, are you, until your memory comes back? I don’t see any reason why not. Far as I can see, the fainting last night was caused by lack of food—for several days, judging by the state of you. Before this morning, when was the last time you ate?”
“I don’t remember,” Matthew said wryly.
“Ah. Yes. Of course. Well, regular meals, light work for the next day or so. You should be fine.”
“Thank you, Doctor.” Liza doled out some coins from her purse. She fought not to let her disappointment show. She had hoped the doctor could have given Matthew more help with regaining his memory. After she shut the door behind the doctor, she turned to face Matthew. “Have you made up your mind?”
“Yes.” He looked grimly determined. “I will make a deal with you. You give me a place to stay while I try to get my memories back. Maybe you can help me to jolt my memory. In return, I’ll work to get in your harvest. Do we have a bargain?”
He extended a hand. When she took it, he shook her hand with the brief, firm grip of a man sealing a business deal.
Time was, he would have kissed my hand.
“I accept,” Liza said.
Copyright © 2018 by Mary E.B. Carson
ISBN-13: 9781488087158
Accidental Courtship
Copyright © 2018 by Lisa Bingham
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