Jason removed his hand from hers. “Our marriage would be in name only. As long as it’s not consummated, it can be dissolved when you’re ready to return to Iowa.”
So there it was. Jason had no desire for her, only a duty-bound need to protect the widow and fatherless child of his marshal. And she felt like pounding her fists against his chest and demanding to know why she didn’t attract him that way, why he’d have no wish to fulfill his rights as a husband should they wed.
But being married to Jason, even the paper marriage he proposed, held a different risk. He kindled feelings she didn’t want to acknowledge, longings a recent widow should not harbor. But her greatest fear was that she might ultimately want to consummate the marriage to tie him to her, even knowing that she didn’t belong with him, or in the town of Colby.
But returning to a rat-infested cabin was not an option.
Lily started cooing. Jason crouched by the crib box. “So you want to be included in this discussion, do you?” he said, stroking her cheek. When she let out a little squeal of glee, he lifted her out of the box and cuddled her in the crook of his arm.
“I don’t understand,” Jenny said, eyeing him with a kind of wary curiosity. “What is there for you in this marriage you’re proposing?”
His eyes on Lily, Jason replied, “Peace of mind knowing that you and Lily are safe.” His voice had a quiet, sincere resonance to it and she believed him, this private, solitary man who, for only the second time in his life, found unconditional love... love long ago from a dog, and now from an infant too young to know the impact she had on a grown man.
Jenny also knew that Jason's bond was with Lily, who had touched his heart in a way she never could. Yet, he was willing to let Lily go, send her away in fact, because it was best for her. “And when we go east what then?" she asked. "Will you hire a body guard to protect us there?”
Jason moved his finger slowly in front of Lily. “You’ll be free to marry. Your next husband can see to your needs." When Lily tracked his finger with her eyes, he smiled.
“You needn’t marry me to protect us,” Jenny said, both envious and troubled by the interaction between Lily and this man who was slowly making his way into her trusting little heart. “Lily and I can live in the hotel with the brides until I’m ready to leave.”
“The hotel won’t be finished when the brides arrive,” Jason said, his finger moving to Lily’s tiny palm, which promptly closed around it. “They’ll be staying here.”
“Here?” Jenny's heart started racing as if she’d run for her life. The idea of eleven sturdy, courageous, frontier women—unlike the frightened, city-bred widow Jason had taken under his wing—all looking for husbands, all prepared to face hardship and danger with them, all living under Jason’s roof, airing their personal garments on his clothesline, laughing and flirting and enticing him with every womanly wile they could muster, brought a sick feeling to Jenny's stomach. “What about the cohabitation ordinance?" she asked. "Won’t it apply to them as well?”
“They’ll have a chaperone with them. But they won’t be here for three weeks," Jason said, "so we have no choice but to either marry, or send you back to the rats.”
Jenny considered the rats, but what troubled her more was the disturbing image of eleven women fawning over Jason. But if he were spoken for, the women would direct their attentions to the eligible men in town and leave Colby’s prize catch to... Mrs. Jason Colby. And their marriage would be in name only, unconsummated, dissolvable. “If we were to marry,” she said hesitantly, “when do you propose we do it?”
Jason gave Lily a little peck on the cheek. “The preacher’s coming in three days to marry all those living together who want to stay that way,” he said. “We could do it then.”
“And the marriage license?”
“The preacher will have licenses with him, and a circuit judge to approve them,” he said. He nibbled on Lily’s finger, eliciting from her a little chortle.
“What about rings?” Jenny asked, wishing he’d acknowledge her when she spoke. They were talking about marriage. But they might as well be discussing the weather.
“I’ll take care of the rings.”
“I see. And I suppose we’d be married at the Golden Fleece?”
“No. The new church is finished. We’d be married there.”
Jenny shoved her plate away and said with a sigh, “Alright then, I’ll marry you."
“Good. I’ll make the arrangements.”
Jenny bit her bottom lip to hide the disappointment she felt that Jason hadn’t acted a little bit pleased that she’d accepted his proposal, even if it was only a paper marriage.
Tears prickled behind her eyes and she willed herself to be the kind of woman Jason would marry for love—strong, self-reliant, prepared to face hardship and danger. But a single tear betrayed her and slipped down her cheek. Jason looked up as she swiped it away. He reached out and covered her hand with his. “Jenny you’ve got to understand that—“
“I understand perfectly.” Jenny pulled her hand from his and stood. “I don’t expect we’ll be married long," she said, "but thank you for making it possible for Lily and me to stay here. We’ll try not to be too much of a bother." She took Lily from him, turned and left the room.
***
Jason left town that afternoon, and by the morning of the wedding still hadn’t returned. After Seth fetched Jenny’s things from her cabin, she’d spent the interim days settling into the two rooms prepared for her and Lily, rooms joined by a new door. Although eight couples were to be married the same day, the women from the Golden Fleece were especially excited that Jason and Jenny would be among them. Evidently, Jason had led them to believe theirs was a marriage in the true sense, and pride kept her from saying otherwise. She’d given no thought to her wedding dress, but a box containing a gown of fine muslin, with a touch of lace at the neck, was delivered by a miner, who packed it in from Central City.
Two hours before the ceremony, Wilma and two women from the Golden Fleece arrived to help Jenny dress, though Jenny wasn’t at all sure she’d find a groom at the altar. There had been no sign of Jason in town. But when she entered the church two hours later, Jason was standing at the altar, looking very much a groom. From the crown of his top hat to the tips of his polished black shoes he was perfectly dressed. His black tailcoat accentuated the breadth of his shoulders, and his close-cut trousers emphasized his narrow hips. She eyed his white cravat and crisp white shirt and felt saddened that he’d gone to so much bother for their loveless sham of a marriage.
The preacher called for quiet. The organ that Jason had ordered from Boston had not yet arrived, so an old miner played a harmonica, signaling for Jenny to start down the aisle. Jason watched her walking toward him. With her slender figure and pale skin, she looked delicate, almost fragile in her fitted white gown. But what struck him most was that her face held not a trace of happiness as she looked at him. He offered a smile to coax one from her, but the curve in her lips was feigned. The sight of her looking so melancholy cut to his heart.
She took her place beside him and he captured her hand in his and held it as they recited the words that bound them legally as man and wife. When the preacher asked for rings, he gave her the one he’d purchased for himself, which she placed on his hand, then he slipped onto her finger the ring he hoped would cheer her up. Her gaze dropped to it and rested there, but when she raised her eyes, they were filled with tears, but not tears of joy.
The preacher pronounced them man and wife, but instead of kissing her, Jason took her in his arms and held her while she dabbed at the tears. Then he ushered her down the aisle and past the next bride, and out of the church to where his buggy was waiting. Wilma came out of the church with Lily in her arms, handed Lily up to Jenny, and stepped back. Jason gave the command, and the Colby family started up the hill toward Jason’s house.
As they rode, Jenny looked at the gold band on Jason’s finger and felt an odd sense of possessiveness. The
n she reminded herself that Jason was not now, and never would be, her husband in anything but name. He’d made that clear. And before winter set in, she would return to Iowa and the life she’d once enjoyed. A life where soap and lip balm and face creams weren't luxuries. She glanced down at the ring on her own finger—a magnificent emerald encircled by brilliant cut diamonds—and wondered at Jason's reason for buying it. Stretching her hand so the sun glinted off the finely-cut stones, she said, wistfully, “You shouldn’t have bought such an expensive ring. I’ll return it when we end our marriage.”
“It's yours," Jason said. "I don’t want it back.”
“Well, I refuse to keep it," Jenny replied. "There’s no reason.”
“I'm your husband and I gave it to you. That’s reason enough.”
“Then you must be expecting something in return,” Jenny said.
Muscles rippled in Jason's jaws. “The ring comes without ties. You can sell it when you return to Iowa and buy the house you want.”
As long as you leave Colby, were his unspoken words. But Jenny had no intention of leaving until she either struck gold in the Dusty, or learned why Myles’ purchased a defunct mine. A trip to Black Hawk, where she could look over the mining records, would be a start. “May I use the wagon to go to Blackhawk tomorrow?” she asked, dismissing the issue of the ring. “I fancy doing a little shopping.”
“All you’ll find there are stamp mills,” Jason said. “I’ll drive you to Central City to shop.”
“I’m capable of driving myself,” Jenny snapped. “I'll go in my own buggy.”
Eyes fixed on the road ahead, Jason replied, “You won’t be driving to Black Hawk or Central City or anywhere else alone.”
Jenny looked at him, miffed. “I don’t believe I need your permission.”
“You do now.”
Jenny felt her temper simmering just below the surface. “I’m beginning to get the picture. As my husband, you intend to keep be barefoot and at home,”
“I intend to keep you safe," Jason said. "You’re a target for abduction now.”
“Oh that’s rich!”Jenny clipped. “And just how am I a target for abduction?” Lily began to fuss at her mother’s harsh tone and Jenny jostled her in her arms.
“Jack Bishop would jump at the chance to take you hostage and hold you for ransom, or for my hide,” Jason replied in that quiet, no-nonsense tone he used when he meant to get his point across. “And, keep your voice down. You’re upsetting Lily.”
Jenny looked at his firm profile and quietly fumed. So now he was an authority on her child. “Then it seems that by marrying me to keep me safe, you have put me in greater danger than if I were a widow alone, with no connection to you."
“As a widow alone you were never out of danger,” Jason said. “As my wife, I’ll see that you and Lily are safe. And you won’t be driving anywhere alone."
Taking a moment to check her temper, Jenny said in a carefully-controlled voice, “May I ask what I am permitted to do?”
Jason gave a weary sigh. “Soon you will have eleven women to keep you company. You can help with the matchmaking and see that they get good husbands.”
Unlike the one I have, Jenny felt like yelling. She’d managed to tie herself to a man who was every bit as arrogant and self-serving as the man she’d first thought him to be, before she’d fallen under the delusion that he had a tender heart that just needed to be touched by love. But at least she was free from hedonistic thoughts of finding herself eager and willing and ready to consummate their marriage for the sole purpose of making it binding. She felt nothing for Jason now, not the slightest flicker of passion. He was no more to her than a man she’d been fool enough to marry, for a short period of time, to get out of living in a rat-infested cabin.
***
During the two weeks following the wedding, it was all Jason could do to keep his hands off the woman he’d legally wed, who fired his passions like no woman ever had, and who slept in a bed so close to his—only a wall separating them—that he could hear her turning in the night. The sound of her restlessness stirred his memory of the image of Jenny in her night dress and the warmth of her near-naked body in his arms.
Maintaining his resolve to keep his hands off her, he made a point of leaving the house before she awakened in the morning. But to keep up the pretense of marriage for Su Ling and the new house boy he'd just hired, Jason dined with Jenny at night. Then they both disappeared behind the closed doors to their individual bedrooms.
But tonight was different. For the first time since they’d wed, they’d spent the day together. Jason looked at her sitting at the opposite end of the dinner table, where she had requested Su Ling place her. Poised, reserved, and nervous as a cat, she sat dabbing at her food and pushing it around her plate, a clear indication that she was agitated. “Is something wrong?” he ventured, attempting to keep his mind off how much he wanted to walk around the table, place a kiss on the graceful curve of her neck and watch the passion flare in her eyes. But that wouldn’t happen now. The desire he’d once seen died the day they married.
“I’m tired,” she replied. “It was a long day.”
A long stressful day, Jason silently amended. She’d had little to say during the ride to Central City, where he’d insisted she buy nursery furniture and new clothes for herself and for Lily. On the way home he could feel the tension building when she was forced to sit close to him, because her packages took up the better part of the seat, and her shoulder rubbed against his side with the motion of the wagon. It was especially stressful when she nursed Lily and the privacy cloth kept catching the wind and flipping to the side, exposing her breast. He’d responded in the way he always did, making it damned uncomfortable sitting in tight pants on a hard box in a bouncy wagon…
He looked down the length of the table and focused on her slender finger and the emerald that sparkled as she moved her hand. As illogical as it was, he wanted her to wear his ring forever, not sell it as he’d suggested. When he’d spotted it at the jewelers, he’d been struck by the emerald’s vivid color which matched the brilliance of Jenny’s eyes, and he knew at once it belonged on her finger, even though their marriage was a sham. Dismissing the ring, he pondered another subject, one which was sure to rankle her. Eyeing her across the flickering candles, he said, “I’m having a door put between our bedrooms.”
Jenny pinned him with a hostile glare. “So you do intend to exercise your rights as a husband.” She pressed her lips in disapproval.
He felt like kissing those tight lips into sweet submission. Instead, he returned her frigid gaze, and said, “With the brides coming, it would look damn peculiar if Mr. and Mrs. Jason Colby slept in separate bedrooms. You can close the door at night. It will look like we have a suite, and no one will be the wiser.”
Jenny ran her tongue over her mouth, drawing his attention to her lips. He could never look at her lips without remembering the sweet-salty taste of them when he’d kissed her at the mine, and the way they'd parted when he flicked his tongue over them, allowing him access. Her response had been eager, instinctive, and filled with a passion that matched his. Each time he imagined that scorching kiss it was like a hot brand on his lips and white-hot coals in his loins.
“I suppose that’s a good idea,” she said, with cool indifference. “I’ll leave the door open during the day for show." She set her napkin beside her plate, prepared to bid him an impersonal goodnight as she’d done each night before. But he was determined to put a stop to that behavior. Theirs might be a marriage of convenience, but he refused to let things continue as they were. He walked around the table, but instead of pulling out her chair for her to leave, he stroked her cheek and said, “It doesn’t have to be this way.”
She tipped her face from his touch, and replied, “I have to feed Lily,” then shoved her chair back and left the room.
Watching her walk away, Jason decided it was for the best. Soon a door would connect their bedrooms, and if she didn’t keep an emot
ional barrier between them, there would be nothing to stop him from walking through that door one night, crawling into her bed and being a husband to her in the true sense of the word, an irrevocable act that would bind her to a man who’s dark past would ultimately ruin her life.
CHAPTER FIVE
Two days later, three stagecoaches with eleven brides arrived. The women were welcomed to Colby in a great burst of excitement, men lining the streets and cheering as they passed. After making one stop in the center of town so the women could stretch their legs and greet the townsfolk, the coaches continued up the hill to Jason’s house, where the women promptly took over three entire floors with their trunks and bags and hat boxes and copious personal belongings. To Jason’s dismay, he learned that the chaperone he’d contracted had taken ill the day of their departure and stayed behind, so it was expected by all that Mrs. Jason Colby would assume that role.
After settling in, several of the women asked to meet Jenny, who’d remained behind the closed door to her bedroom. Jason went to fetch her, followed by four young women. Instead of knocking as had been their policy, he walked in unannounced and found Jenny on the bed with Lily. Jenny started to protest his intrusion, then seeing the women, smiled cordially.
Jason picked up Lily, saying, “I’ll look after Lily while you ladies get acquainted.”
Jenny dismissed Jason’s high-handed attitude, welcoming the chance to chat with women whose interests centered on something other than entertaining miners and rustling drinks. But when Jason left the room with Lily in his arms, all four women trailed after him, down the stairs and into the parlor, where the rest of the women had gathered.
While he stood in the circle of women who oooh’d and ahhh’d about how sweet his daughter was, Jenny stood on the stair landing, watching the scene below. Clearly the women were as entranced with Jason as they were with his child. Apparently the news had not yet spread that he’d married a widow with a baby, and he seemed to be enjoying his role as new father. He looked up and saw her watching.
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