The Secret Admirer Romance Collection

by Barratt, Amanda; Beatty, Lorraine; Bull, Molly Noble

  “Then it’s settled. I’ll draw up the papers, and we’ll have this handled on our way out of town.”

  “With all due respect, Grandfather, I’m a grown man, and I will handle this in the way that I intend.”

  “And what might that be?” he demanded.

  “I had planned to leave in a few days, but I’m happy to accompany you in the railcar today. Until I decide how to proceed—and I have not ruled out an annulment, but I must be sure my family and the ranch are safe—Pearl will stay here at the ranch. Should she disagree with this arrangement, then her alternative is the one you’ve suggested.”

  Grandfather looked skeptical. “I assume you and she have not discussed this.”

  “We have not. This is my decision, not hers.”

  “And when she sees you gathering your things to leave and decides to join you?”

  “She won’t. I will arrange for Eli to take her for a ride. She always loved to ride the ranch horses. Once she’s gone, we can take the wagon.”

  His grandfather rose and walked around the desk to clasp his hand on Deke’s shoulder. “You make me proud.”

  For once, the statement did not make him happy.

  Chapter 6

  Pearl stepped away from the study door, her temper rising. More than anything else, she was hurt that Deke would plan to deceive her in such a way.

  Keeping her silence though she wanted to scream, Pearl hurried outside and headed toward the barn, where she hoped she would find Eli. He was there as she expected, grooming a beautiful roan mare.

  “Something wrong, Miss Barrett?” He shook his head. “I mean Mrs. Wyatt, I guess.”

  “Just call me Pearl like you used to,” she said. “I know you love your brother, but I need a big favor, and what I’m going to ask might make him mad at you.”

  “Then I don’t think I ought to do it,” he said.

  “Well,” she said slowly, “what if it was the right thing to do?”

  He dropped the brush and turned to face her. “Pearl, you’re going to have to explain yourself, because I’m lost.”

  So she told him what Deke intended and her own plan, a plan that had been concocted on her trip over from the house. When she was done, Pearl added a silent prayer that Eli would become her ally in saving her very brief marriage.

  Deke’s younger brother nodded. “You’re right that a husband and wife ought not be apart, especially when they’re just freshly hitched.” He gave the matter another moment’s consideration. “You’re also right that Deke won’t be happy about it, but I’ll do it.”

  “Remember, we will need to play our parts well once we are in town. The object is to get me on that train no matter what. If Deke sees us, you’ll need to be prepared.”

  “Don’t you worry, Pearl. You’re going to get on that train, no matter what. Now go get ready to leave, and I’ll do my part here with the horses.”

  “Thank you,” she said as she touched his sleeve. “You’re a good man, Eli. I hope God brings you a good woman someday.”

  He grinned. “I’ll let you pray that one for me. I’m too busy taking care of the ranch to worry about wooing a woman.”

  “I will do that.” She reached into her pocket as a thought occurred. “Oh, do you mind posting these letters to my dear friend after you’ve left me off at the train station?”

  “Course.” He accepted the stack of correspondence then lifted a dark brow before returning his attention to her. “These are addressed to someone named Frank. You sure you want to send them, what with you being a married woman and all?”

  Pearl laughed. “Of course, I do. Frank has been my closest friend since college. I wrote Deke several letters during my college years that mention our escapades. He is fully aware that we correspond.”

  Eli looked doubtful but shoved the letters into his pocket anyway. “If you say so.”

  “If it makes you feel any better, the last letter is a brief scribble letting Frank know my husband and I are returning to Washington and would love to arrange a visit. I managed it on the way out the door, but I think the message will be clear.”

  The rest of the details, including the story of the great escape she was about to make against her husband’s will, would be the subject of the next letter. Or perhaps that was a tale better told in person.

  “Off with you, then,” Eli said as he disappeared into the tack room.

  Pearl offered a smile as she left to return to the ranch house to prepare. As she neared the house, she recognized a familiar buggy parked in front. The trunks she had taken with her on the journey that should have ended in Denver were stacked on the porch.

  “Papa!” Pearl called as she stepped inside.

  Unfortunately, her voice was covered by the sounds of shouting down the hall. She moved swiftly toward the noise, halting in front of the closed door of the study.

  “You always wanted my land, and now you’ll have it, I suppose,” her father said. “Wasn’t it enough that you caused all that trouble between Zeb Wyatt and me?”

  “Me cause the trouble?” Deke’s grandfather said. “You were the one who made the choices you did in your business dealings. I merely pointed out to my daughter that her husband put blind faith in a man who neither earned it nor deserved it.”

  “I will have an apology for that lie,” Papa said. “Perhaps now is the time to tell your grandson just who got rich off the investments you encouraged that Zeb and I make.”

  There was a moment of silence, and then Deke said, “Grandfather?”

  “He’s talking nonsense,” the older man said.

  “Nonsense is your only defense?” Deke countered.

  “My defense is that I would never do anything to harm your mother or her sons, no matter what man sired them.”

  “See there?” her father said. “Am I the only one who noticed he did not directly answer your question? Of course, he would do what’s best for Emma and her boys. And what was best was for him to use me and my company to take everything your father had in the bank plus just about all I had. Did you ever wonder where that money came from that got your father’s ranch out of hock?”

  There was a pause. Pearl pressed her ear to the door in order not to miss the answer to that very important question.

  “Grandfather?” Deke said again. “Defend yourself against this man and his charges.”

  “I will not,” Deke’s grandfather said. “Either you believe me or John Barrett, a man who has proven to be a poor businessman and apparently a poor father as he has allowed such things to happen to his daughter as have recently transpired. And perhaps, if you consider how it all turned out, he just may have orchestrated the whole thing. Rather convenient he regains access to the Wyatt monies through his daughter, don’t you think?”

  “I could make the same charge,” Papa said. “Rather convenient that the Wyatts get the rest of my holdings through my daughter.”

  Once again the room fell into silence. Pearl reached for the doorknob but stalled just shy of opening the door and going in.

  “Both of you have made serious accusations of the other,” Deke said. “How am I supposed to know who is telling the truth and who is lying?”

  “You know because I am family, Deke Wyatt. You are my namesake, my blood and my kin. How could I do such things against you?”

  “That’s just it, Grandfather. Mr. Barrett hasn’t said you’ve done things against me. He’s claiming you’ve used deception to do things against him that benefits us. I would feel much better about this situation if you would refute the charges in a concrete manner.”

  The older man laughed and Pearl took a step backward. What kind of man laughed in the face of this sort of charge?

  “Think, Deke. You are party to all my confidential files at the firm. Have I once done anything that seemed improper or was illegal? You know as well as I do that I run a tight ship and release any employee who does not do the same. You were warned when you came aboard that the same rules applied to you.” He pau
sed. “If you can reconcile the person you know I am to the man Barrett claims me to be, then so be it. But if you cannot, then you must determine that Barrett is lying.”

  Someone started clapping. Pearl returned her ear to the door so as not to miss a word.

  “I know you to be an honest man in your business dealings, Grandfather,” Deke said. “What you don’t know is that I have been looking into the last deal that my father and John Barrett did together.”

  “And you have not found any improprieties yet, have you?” Papa said.

  “Not yet,” Deke admitted, “but my investigation is ongoing.”

  Pearl’s heart sank. So her husband had been trying to prove her father had done something improper in his business dealings that had harmed the Wyatt family? Her eyes narrowed as she tried to reason this through.

  Why would Papa hurt his dear friend? Or rather, his former dear friend. Papa and Mama never would discuss what led to the falling out between the families, but as she thought on the timing, the break between the families had come at the same time rumors flew about the financial stability of the Polecat Creek Ranch.

  Had Papa arranged the trouble, or were he and Mr. Wyatt caught in a trap set by Deke’s grandfather? It was all too much to consider.

  “So you are unwilling to admit your grandfather stole not only your father’s profits but mine, Deke?”

  “Yes, sir, I am at this time, although I will be the first one to say so should I learn that this accusation is true.”

  “You’re a Wyatt, boy, so, of course, you will stick with what the family tells you to do,” her father said. “You’re just like him, only he just took my financial stability. I can earn that back, and I will. But you?” Papa paused. “You stole my daughter, too.”

  “Your daughter was thrust on me, Mr. Barrett. I did not want to marry her, and I am not certain how long I will remain—”

  “Deacon Wyatt, cease your talking,” his grandfather shouted.

  There was a long pause, and then Papa said, “So the schemes continue. I should not be surprised. I will see my daughter now. She has a choice to make.”

  Pearl shoved open the door and stepped inside. She found Deke’s grandfather seated behind Mr. Wyatt’s desk and Deke standing near the window that faced the creek. Papa was nearest the door, though he made no move toward her.

  “Of course, she’d be skulking about in the hallway,” the older man said. “You taught her well, Barrett.”

  Pearl was about to object when her father stepped between them. “You’ve a choice to make, Pearl.” He glanced over his shoulder at Deke’s grandfather and then looked back at her. “This man and his kin have waged war against our family for some time now. He cloaks it as honest business and makes me out to look like the man who is of ill reputation, but he’s very clever in how he goes about this. Your husband there will never find a trail of deceit because his grandfather has covered that trail so well. But they are vile as snakes, the whole lot of them.”

  “Mr. Barrett,” Deke said. “You will not insult me and my family in my own home. I’ll have an apology or you will leave and never come back.”

  “You’ll never have the former, and I will be happy to do the latter. The only question is whether my daughter goes with me.” He turned his back on Pearl to face Deke. “She has a much better offer than yours, son. Didn’t she tell you that? She was already affianced to a gentleman of much greater means and influence than you when her trip was so rudely interrupted by those ruffians you call brothers.”

  Deke looked past her father to set his attention squarely on her. “No, she did not tell me she has promised to wed another.”

  “I did not make that promise,” Pearl said. “My father did. As for me, I prefer—”

  “Dear,” Deke’s grandfather interrupted, “no one here cares to hear what you prefer. It is far too late for that now.” He cleared his throat and turned toward Papa. “We are men of business and commerce, and as such, we seek the best answer to whatever trouble besets us. Wouldn’t you agree, Barrett?”

  “I would, in general.”

  “Fair enough.” The older man smiled in the direction of his grandson. “Then perhaps the men could hold a more rational discussion about how to reach a reasonable conclusion to this whole fiasco.”

  “If you’re going to discuss an annulment, I won’t have it.” Pearl’s voice was far too high and full of emotion to sound reasonable, but it was the best protest she could manage under the circumstances.

  Her eyes found Deke, his image swirling through the tears. “I won’t have it,” she repeated, making sure her husband saw her as she said the words.

  “Go” was the only word Deke spared for her.

  “Go?” she managed.

  Deke crossed the room to take her arm. “Leave this discussion to the men, Pearl. We can make a rational decision that will be best for all of us.”

  “That will be best for you,” she said as she swiped at her eyes so she could better see him.

  “No,” he said when he’d led her around the corner and out of sight of Papa and his grandfather. “I do consider you in this. If I didn’t care what happened to you, would I be married to you?”

  She reached up and touched his cheek and then lifted up on tiptoe to attempt another kiss. Deke turned his head just before she reached his lips, causing her to kiss his cheek.

  “So that’s how we are leaving it?” she said.

  He looked back down at her. “I must make my decision with a rational mind.”

  “No,” she said softly. “You must make your decision knowing what you will miss if you cast me off and send me to that man in Denver.”

  Deke released her to take two steps back toward the study. Then he stopped short and turned around. Before she could blink, he had returned to her side to sweep her into his arms to carry her into the parlor.

  He set her on her feet long enough to shut the door and then closed the distance between them again. “Give me one reason why I should remain married to you when all good sense and the facts tell me I should go through with an annulment.”

  Pearl placed her palm against his cheek. “Because you know as well as I do that we were meant to be wed. Didn’t you think of me while you were away all those years?”

  The question was as unfair as the current situation. Of course, he’d thought of her. She’d been the girl who’d shadowed him as a child, but she had somehow grown to be a beautiful woman over the years. Now that she was back in his life, he knew for certain he would miss her when she was gone again.

  But she didn’t have to go. He could remain married to her.

  The question was should he?

  Grandfather’s story was arguably the stronger of the two, and his mother, who was an excellent judge of character, had never liked John Barrett. Or so she claimed.

  Being a man of facts had helped him in his law career. However, being a man of action caused him to reach for his wife and hold her close. He did need to know what he would be missing should he end this marriage through annulment.

  Looking down at his bride, Deke felt his heart thud against his chest. The trusting way Pearl looked up at him, though her eyes were misting with tears and her feelings were likely trampled, undid him.

  “Pearl,” he said in a gruff whisper, “your attempts at kissing were appreciated, but you have obviously not had the proper attention to your studies in that area.”

  “Then teach me, husband,” she responded softly as her eyes slid shut.

  So he did.

  They were still kissing when a knock at the door ended the moment. “What?” Deke growled as he held Pearl close to him.

  “I will have my daughter now,” John Barrett said from the other side of the door. “She and I must have a conversation, and you will not prevent it.”

  Deke looked down at Pearl, her lips now slightly swollen from their most pleasant encounter. “You should speak to him.”

  “I know,” she said, though she lifted up to kis
s him once more. “And I shall.”

  “He will want you to leave with him,” Deke said as he traced the line of her jaw.

  “What do you want me to do? It appears I have a choice.”

  He wanted to tell her to stay with him. The words were right there. However, he was a man of facts, and right now the facts did not point to a clear conclusion.

  “I want you to do what you think is best,” he said as he released her to walk over and open the door.

  Facing John Barrett caused him the odd urge to want to punch him. Not because of the things he said about the Wyatts and Grandfather, but because he was the man who could take Pearl away.

  His feelings were too little and too late, at least in his estimation. He should have realized what he had when Pearl first declared her feelings. Instead, he was reduced to standing aside and allowing Pearl to choose.

  He listened as her father effectively argued the point that the Barretts had been treated poorly and deceived by the Wyatt family. Had he chosen lawyering, John Barrett might have made a fine one.

  “I will have you choose,” Barrett finally told her. “Me or the Wyatts.”

  “Would you give us a moment, Deke?” Pearl asked.

  He nodded. “I am leaving with my grandfather in fifteen minutes. If you’re going with us, have Eli put your trunks in the wagon. If they’re not in the wagon, I’ll know you’ve left with your father.”

  “Oh, Deke,” she whispered against his ear. “All you have to do is ask me to stay and I will.”

  He wanted to ask her to stay, but logic clearly dictated he allow her to make this decision on her own. Then there was the slight possibility that foul play on her father’s part had led to this.

  Deke clamped his lips shut and left the room, all the while praying Pearl would choose him over her father.

  Papa hadn’t understood, but then she figured he wouldn’t. He would come to understand someday, just as she knew that somehow Deke would come to love her as she loved him. Their kisses conveyed promise enough that this would happen.

  Perhaps it already had.

  She gathered up the few things she’d had with her and tucked them into the reticule along with writing paper and pens. The next letter to Frank would likely be a long one, but she could write that on the train.