by Jillian Hart
“Are you gonna ask her now, Papa?” Katie asked.
“Not now.” He wasn’t ready. Would he ever be ready? But he was a man of his word. And he’d made a promise to his daughter.
“Katie.” Anna’s hand brushed the curve of the child’s face. “Your eyes are black and blue. Are you feeling better?”
“Gotta headache. But not as bad. The doc said I can’t ride Bob for a while. Until my head stops hurtin’. I don’t think that’s fair.”
“He’s just watching out for you. Just the way your father does.” Anna looked up. Her eyes laughed at him. “Did you chain Bob inside the stable?”
“Handcuffed her, too.” He winked.
“Papa, you mean hoofcuff.” Maisie rolled her eyes. “Pony’s don’t got hands.”
The minister touched his sleeve. Cooper wanted to stay, wanted to watch the mirth sparkle in Anna’s eyes, hear more adorable things his daughters might say. But Laura was waiting. It was time.
“I’ll keep the girls with me,” Anna said without asking. Maybe Laura had spoken to her.
“The front row, on the bride’s side.” The minister warmly took Anna’s hand and led her away. The three girls followed. “I don’t see much of the Braddock girls in my church on Sundays. I trust that will change.”
Laura was waiting for him. She looked nervous.
“Do I look all right?” Laura fretted. “I think my hair looks wrong. I should have worn it up.”
“It’s perfect.” He gave his sister a hug. “You look perfect.”
Tears filled Laura’s eyes. “Don’t tease me. I feel so nervous I’m about to explode.”
“You’ll be fine. Larry will take one look at you and know he’s marrying the finest woman in Montana Territory.”
Tears slipped down Laura’s face. “I’m so happy. I can’t tell you how relieved I am to know the girls will be taken care of. Thank you for having the courage to find a wife, Cooper. To write those letters. To ask Anna to come to our town. I can truly get married without any regrets.”
It was time. Cooper escorted his sister down the aisle and handed her over to Larry, the bookish banker who looked just as nervous as Laura did.
Two lives joined with a single love.
“It was good of you to have a reception here in the hotel,” Anna told Janet as she added fresh potatoes to the buffet trays.
“It was the least I could do since she had to cancel earlier.” Janet glanced over the food. “We need more rolls. I’ll go get them. Make sure Mr. Briggs keeps cutting that prime rib nice and thick.”
Anna laughed. She settled a stack of clean plates on the table.
“Anna.” Sheila Muldune took a plate from the stack. “I want you to know I made Davy swear he wouldn’t tempt Katie to go riding. They can go on their gold-hunting adventures on foot, like the real prospectors do.”
“I’m sure Cooper will be glad to hear that.” Anna laughed. Sheila held the same views on ponies as Cooper did.
“Anna. How can I ever thank you?” Laura wrapped her in a hug. Her face was flushed with pleasure. She radiated happiness. “You made this possible.” Laura pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Just think, the next wedding in this town will be yours.”
“Is a date set yet?” Carol Fykerud asked.
“There is no date.” Really. Anna felt a tug on her sleeve.
Katie stood behind her, a plate in her hand. “You gotta go talk to Papa, Anna. He’s got something to ask you.”
She spotted Cooper talking to Tucker over in the corner. They both sat at a small table, hunched over empty plates. Cooper sat with his elbow on the table, his fist propped against his cheek. He looked so handsome in his black suit. The dark fabric stretched across rock-hard shoulders, outlined his powerful form. Her fingers ached to run along the widths of those shoulders and across the breadth of his chest.
“I’m working tonight, Katie.”
“But you work for us.” Distress rose in her voice.
“I help Janet out now and then for the extra money.”
“You don’t need money. You got us.” Katie took her hand. “You gotta talk to Papa.”
“I will. I promise.” She could see how important it was. Katie could be dramatic, but her feelings went heart deep. “Let’s wait until the rest of the people have filled their plates, then I promise I’ll go talk to your papa.”
“Promise?”
“Don’t you worry. I’ll always keep my promises to you.”
“I love you, Anna.” Katie gave her a quick hug and dashed off to join Davy Muldune.
Tears burned in her eyes. Anna turned back to her work, but her gaze kept straying to Cooper. And to the little girls, all three of them, she loved so much.
“Papa, Katie wants to know if you’re gonna ask her now.” Maisie propped both elbows on the table. “So, are ya?”
“I never should have said anything.” Cooper took a stout drink.
“Whiskey?” Amusement tugged at Tucker’s mouth. “You never drink. I’d love to know what you’re going to ask Anna.”
“Katie won’t tell me cuz I can’t keep no secrets. So, are you gonna ask, Papa?”
Cooper drained the glass. Katie sent Maisie to prod him because no one could resist Maisie. “Fine. Go tell Katie. I want you girls to stay here.”
“I’ll keep an eye on them.” Tucker winked at him. “I hear you two have yet to set a date. Pick a good one.”
Nerves churned in his stomach. Cooper crossed the hotel dining room. Voices and laughter, sounds of celebration and friendship filled the air.
“Your wedding’s next, huh, Sheriff?” the mayor called out to him.
“Look, he’s blushing.” The livery owner sounded pleased. “I guess that means he’ll be a groom before the Fourth of July.”
Anna stepped around the buffet table. Her gaze latched on his. She looked embarrassed. “I’ve never known a single rumor to have such a long life.”
“Come outside with me.” He held out his hand.
Her gaze searched his before she laid her palm against his. Her skin felt warm and sweet. So different from his. She was soft and silken. Her rose scent filled him, made his heart beat faster.
A strong wind had come up, and it tore the door open. They stepped out into the night together. Her fingers felt so tentative in his, as if he loosened his hold she would slip away from his touch.
“I’m glad Katie has accepted Laura’s leaving her.” Anna sounded sincere, as concerned as always about the girls she had traveled so far to love.
He held that thought close to his heart. He’d seen how Anna sat by Katie’s side, refusing to leave until she woke up, until she knew the girl would be all right. How she’d read to her, the same way she’d read to her own daughter. How fairly she treated his girls, not favoring them above her own in any way.
“I made a pact with Katie,” he confessed.
“A pact? What did you promise Katie?”
“Something important to her. To all of us.” This could work, Cooper realized. If he could gather his courage and just ask the question. If Anna said yes.
Lamplight from nearby windows cast enough glow to see her by, to glint in the dark-gold locks of her braids, unraveling in the hard wind, fanning around her shoulders. She looked as magical as a sea nymph beckoning lonely sailors. Or sheriffs. Cooper tried not to imagine how her luxurious curls would feel against his naked skin.
He cleared his throat. If Anna said yes, then she would be his to touch.
“I promised Katie you.” He blurted out. “Be my wife, Anna. Be a mother to my girls.”
“You want me to marry you?” She stumbled.
He reached out to steady her. Her elbow was so fine, so delicate. He ached to hold her against him again, taste her kisses and more.
“Is it because everybody thinks—”
“No, Anna.” He pulled her against him. How many lonely nights had he spent alone in his bed, convincing himself loneliness was better than the alternative. He’d been
wrong.
If Anna said yes, then she would be his to touch. To hold close at night. To make love to until sleep claimed them both.
“I’m asking you because I want you.”
“You want me? But you don’t want a wife. Isn’t that what you told me?” The truth was there, shadowed in his eyes, and they both knew it.
“Yes, but I’ve changed my mind. I want you for my girls. Face it, I’m outnumbered. Two small females are just too many for me to handle. I need help. Take pity on me. Say yes.”
“Oh, Cooper.” Her heart felt ready to crack in two. She never imagined he would propose. Never thought he would want her.
“I won’t lie to you. I don’t believe in romantic fantasies and happy endings. But I do believe in duty and commitment. And that’s what I have to offer you.”
“But I had hoped...” She hesitated, struggling to speak past the emotion tight in her throat. “You want a marriage of convenience.”
“Yes.” His grip on her hands tightened. “Isn’t that what you wanted when you accepted Katie’s proposal? You have everything my girls need—a mother’s love. I have a secure home and future for yours.”
Promises knelled in his voice, as bright and hopeful as church bells on Sunday. How could she refuse? How could she accept? She loved him. But he did not share her affections. What kind of marriage would they have, his duty and her yearning heart?
“Say yes, Anna.” Maisie’s whisper came from nowhere.
Cooper turned around, searching the shadows. “There you are. What are you doing out here? Tucker’s supposed to be keeping a watch on you.”
“He’s here too, Papa.”
“What?” Cooper had been so nervous speaking with Anna he fiadn’t even noticed the noises on the street. Or the ones in the shadows next to the hotel.
“We’ve been listening, big brother.” Tucker strode out into the lamp-lit street.
And Laura, too. “Sorry, Cooper. We just couldn’t stand to wait any longer. You were taking so darn long. I can’t believe you didn’t propose properly before this.”
“Say yes, Anna.” Katie took her by one hand.
Maisie by the other. “You gotta be my mama, Anna. Don’t nobody have outlaws in their kitchen but you.”
Mandy came up and leaned against her knee.
Anna gazed up at him with helplessness in her eyes. And a slight look of panic.
Something was wrong. He’d thought they got along well together. They laughed at the same things, loved their daughters in the same way. Why couldn’t they have a logical practical agreement,to raise their children together?
“I’m outnumbered,” she said. “How can I say no?”
“Now you know how I feel every day of my life.” The knot in his guts eased when she smiled, then she started to laugh.
The door to the hotel popped open. He heard Laura say in a victorious voice, “She said yes!”
Cheers rose in the distance, but the sound of his pounding heart drowned them out.
Anna was truly going to be his wife.
She waited until the last plate was dried before she asked Janet to do her a favor. The motherly woman was more than happy to keep an eye on Mandy while she slept. She understood Anna might want to speak with her groom.
Rain scented the air, but hadn’t fallen yet. The night felt charged, as if a lightning storm were building. She saw the deputy shadowing her. Because of Cooper, keeping an eye on her, keeping her safe. He was a man of honor, a man who kept his vows. She knew she could trust him with her life. He’d already proven his worth.
Then why was she disappointed in his proposal? Every step she took brought her closer to his house. She didn’t even know if he would be awake. Maybe she should go home. Maybe it would be better—
A light glowed on the Braddocks’ front porch. The strike of a match, then the butt of a cigarette. No, maybe a cigar.
“Anna?” He’d spied her in the dark, started walking toward her, a slow amble that left her heart beating.
If she married him, she would share a bed with him. Her stomach flipped. The thought of his hands on her skin, touching and caressing, made her hot, made her want.
“I needed to talk with you.” She took a deep, steadying breath. “With our audience tonight, there was a lot I couldn’t say.”
“Come sit down. Did you want anything?”
“No.” He sounded so warm, so friendly. But his voice sounded thin, as if he were uncertain, too. His hands caught hers. Crackling heat telegraphed up her arms at his touch.
She settled down beside him on the top porch step. She could feel his strength and his honor even in the dark, even without looking at him. His presence affected her, made her blood pump with need for him. The need to curl up in his arms and hold him until her fears and loneliness faded.
She didn’t want to be a woman married for her usefulness. She’d fallen in love with the Braddock girls and their father.
But he didn’t love her.
“There are a few things I wanted to speak with you about. I didn’t want the entire town to hear.” She kept her voice low so her words would not carry. “You’ve gone a long time without even considering marrying again. I know you must have some reservations now.”
“This is a marriage of convenience, Anna. Not a love match. My reservations are few.”
“But you have reservations.”
“Yes. I’m not ready for this. In all honesty, it isn’t easy for me to think about handing over my life to a woman, to trust her with my future and my daughters’ hearts.”
“I see.” She bowed her head. “I had hoped there was some affection on your part.”
“I want a practical arrangement.” Shrouded in the dark, his shoulders braced, he looked like a warrior of old, an undefeatable knight who stood for all that was right. “You take good care of my girls, that’s what matters.”
“I am more than that, whether you see it or not. If I marry you, if I pledge to honor you, then I will. I will always do the best by you, because I know you are the kind of man who can be both strong and tender, a man I can believe in. It’s important to me that you know that, that you have faith in me.”
“Anna.” He felt... He didn’t know how he felt. She muddled him, made the clear light of day hard to see. She made the wall around his heart crack. She talked of honor when a woman ought to speak of needlework, cooking and gossip. As if a woman’s word could be as strong as a man’s.
And yet maybe it was, he thought looking at her, at the fury tight in her shoulders, clenched in her jaw. She looked like a cougar tensed for attack, ready to defend what she believed in, who she was.
His heart tugged. He needed her. Far too much. She made it too easy to care, to feel, to want. He reached out and pulled her to him. Somehow his mouth found hers. She was heated velvet and passion. She did not satisfy his need, but made him want more. He wanted her naked beneath him, all fire and passion.
Cooper closed his eyes. She made him care. He had to guard against caring too much.
As if in answer, giant raindrops pelted from the sky, falling like hail. Lightning flashed, thunder shook the windowpanes.
“Summer storms are amazing.” Transformed, Anna stood. She held out her arms, leaned back and swirled around in the rain. In moments, she was drenched, but her happiness was contagious.
He wanted to hold her in his arms. He wanted to take her upstairs and lay her across that bed and love her until dawn broke.
“I’m about to break my promise to you.” He took her hand and folded her against his chest.
“Again?” Laughing, she tipped back her head. Rain drenched him, too, but he was not cold. Because he had her in his arms. “I suppose this time I’ll allow it.”
His lips found hers before he could change his mind. A playful kiss, one based on physical desire, that was fine. But this, it came from a deeper place, the part of his heart tucked safely away. Anna could touch him there with the brush of her gentleness and fire, with her goodness
as pure as rain.
He moved away before he lost more of his control. Before he began to believe in the fairy tales she’d been reading to his girls, of castles and princes and happily-ever-afters.
Romantic love was a dreamer’s invention. He wasn’t foolish enough to believe in a fantasy a second time. He needed to remember that. Duty was one thing. Need was another. He would never again fall into the trap of believing in something that didn’t exist.
Chapter Sixteen
Anna set down her hammer. “Why, it’s the new bride. How’s married life treating you?”
“Very well.”
“I heard the good news from Leslie when I went to pick up the mail.” Laura breezed up to the outlaw tree.
“What good news?”
“That you were out with my brother awfully late.”
“What?”
“Deputy Barstow confirmed it. Tucker rushed over from work to tell me.” Laura’s eyes twinkled.
Mortified, Anna felt the heat creep up her neck. Images of last night flashed through her mind—leaning against his solid chest, letting him kiss her in that mesmerizing way. Her blood bubbled just thinking of it
“Laura! Laura!” Maisie hung from a sturdy bough. “Come see our hideout.”
Mandy readjusted her play veil. Now that her splint was off, she reached out and hung beside Mandy. Anna moved the sack of nails aside and helped Laura up the ladder and onto the floor of the tree house.
“This is impressive.” Her eyes sparkled. “What does my brother say?”
“He still can’t believe I’m teaching his girls how to hammer.” Anna tucked the nails in her pocket and the hammers in the waistband of her apron. “Thirsty?”
“Yes. It’s hot today. Summer is almost here. The perfect weather for a June wedding.” Laura descended the ladder. “Tell me. You two must have set a date.”
“We haven’t even discussed it.” Anna climbed down the ladder. Her feet touched the ground. “Come into the kitchen. Katie is still hurting. She’s taking a nap.”