Their Tempting Bride (Bridgewater Brides)

by Lacey Davis

  Martin’s heart beat a little faster. He could hardly wait to share her, for them to both claim her at once. “Do you think she’s ready?”

  Daniel shrugged. “I think so. If not, we’ll get bigger plugs.”

  “Did you think when we built this house that we would soon be filling it with a wife, children? Laughter?”

  As they walked through the door, Daniel smiled at him. “Not this quickly. But she’s the best decision we’ve made.”

  Suddenly there was a scream from the kitchen and they both hurried through the door. It took Martin a little longer to arrive, but the sight he saw had him laughing. “What happened?”

  Tears welled in their woman’s eyes. “The pancake bowl slipped out of my hands, flew up in the air, and landed on me.”

  Pancake batter dripped from her face, her dress, and was in a puddle on the floor. Martin rushed over and took her in his arms and held her. So did Daniel.

  “Who needs breakfast,” Daniel said. “I think we should take you upstairs and clean you up.”

  “That’s an excellent idea,” Martin said. “We have the house to ourselves. We can make as much noise as we want.”

  Georgia wiped the pancake batter from her face. “But don’t you need to go into town?”

  “That can wait,” Daniel said. “I’d much rather spend time with my wife.”

  “Me too,” Martin said. “Let’s play hooky.”

  18

  Late the next morning, Georgia was busy cleaning the kitchen when she heard a knock on the door. Hoping it was the ladies from Bridgewater coming for a visit, she ran to the door. Martin was out working the cattle and Daniel had gone into Butte to his office.

  She was alone, but she wasn’t afraid because all she had to do was sound the signal and the men from town would come running.

  As she opened, the door, shock ricocheted through her. Her father stood there with his hat in his hand.

  “Papa, what are you doing?”

  “I had to come check on you. May I come in?”

  “Are you alone,” she asked, wondering where her mother was.

  “Yes, I didn’t tell your mother I was coming out here.”

  What could it hurt to let her father in? “Of course.”

  As he walked through the door, he looked around at the house. “This is really nice. And you have land as well?”

  “Yes, in fact, Martin is working the cattle this morning,” she said. “Have a seat,” she said with a nod.

  Her father sank down on the horsehair couch, twirling his hat in his hands nervously. She could see he didn’t know what to say.

  “Are you all right,” he finally asked.

  “Yes, Papa, I’m happy,” she said.

  “But this isn’t a good way to live. You should not be married to more than one man. And sleeping with the two of them,” he said, his eyes flashing with anger.

  “Stop,” she said, holding up her hand. “I refuse to listen to anyone who doesn’t understand our life say anything negative. My husbands take good care of me.”

  The man frowned and bit his lip. “It’s not natural.”

  “And trying to marry me off to Mr. Bartlett was? That man is disgusting and why would he want to marry a young woman like myself?”

  Her father looked away. “You don’t understand. I had no choice. He’s my boss and now he’s threatening to fire me. Your mother has made our life nonviable. Never before have we ever separated, but I’m thinking of leaving.”

  “Why? Because of Mr. Bartlett?”

  “No, because she lied to you and led you away from the man who I thought would take care of you. And now, here you are living in this depraved, sinful place. Mr. Bartlett is willing to overlook everything and take you back.”

  How in the world did he not understand that she was never going to live or be with Mr. Bartlett? “I’m happy. I’m falling in love with my husbands. Why would you ever want me to be with Mr. Bartlett?”

  “Did you know that your mother convinced Daniel, your legal husband, to pay my gambling debts?”

  Stunned, Georgia tried to hide her shock. They had agreed to no secrets between them, and yet Daniel had done this?

  “You gambled? I don’t believe you,” she said.

  “Then come home and speak to your mother. She can tell you the truth.”

  “Why did you have gambling debts? And why would he pay them for you?”

  “To purchase you,” her father said, gazing at her in a way that made her skin suddenly start to crawl. Could this be true? Would Daniel buy her?

  A part of her kept repeating it wasn’t true. No, Daniel would not do that. Yet, his father was about to arrive in town and he needed a wife to end his father's pressure to return to Philadelphia.

  They had revealed their secrets the other night and he never mentioned that he paid her father’s gambling debts as a trade-off for marrying her.

  “Was Mr. Bartlett going to pay your debts?”

  Her father ran his hand through his hair. “Yes.”

  “Is that why you wanted me to marry him?”

  The man licked his lips. “I had no choice. He would not give me a loan and said all he wanted was you. To have my lovely daughter as his wife.”

  A sickening feeling rose in her throat. Her father had basically sold her to Mr. Bartlett in order to get the debts paid until Daniel swooped in.

  “Why did Daniel pay the debts?”

  “Because your mother convinced him too. I think she wants me dead. Bartlett is not happy that he didn’t get you.”

  Daniel had a lot to answer for. Anger charged through her at his deception. It wasn’t that she was angry that he paid the debts, though that didn’t make her happy, it was that he had a chance to tell her the truth and he hadn’t.

  “Is Bartlett threatening to fire you?”

  An unsettling look crossed his face and she knew he was going to lie to her. “No, he just wants you back.”

  “He never had me. But he did come out here and threaten Daniel and Martin. The entire town is now on watch for him. They will not let him take me.”

  Her father licked his lips nervously. “The three of us need to sit down as a family and work this out. You and your mother need to tell me why you did this. Why you went behind my back.”

  This didn’t make any sense.

  He continued. “It’s the only way we can ever be a family again. The only way my marriage to your mother will be saved is if you come home and we all talked this out. Because of you, our family is destroyed and we need to piece it back together.”

  Because of her? Didn’t he have some responsibility because of his gambling and his arranging a marriage she had no intention of ever going through with?

  Though, she did have some questions she would love to ask her mother. Why she thought Daniel and Martin would be good for her. But yet, she understood. The thought of her mother and father separating or even divorcing would be devastating. It would be hard for them to ever get over this if she didn’t help them.

  “When do you want to meet and talk?”

  “Right now,” he said. “You can ride with me back to town in the buggy. Afterward, I’ll bring you back.”

  She really wished Martin were here to discuss this with him. They would be angry if she left without telling them.

  “Why can’t this wait until tomorrow?”

  “Because by tomorrow, your mother and I will be separated.”

  “Can’t you wait one more day?”

  “No, it has to be today,” he said staring at her. “It’s just to talk and then I’ll bring you back to your sordid marriage.”

  “All right, on one condition. You will take me to Daniel when we’re done. He’s in town at his office. But I must leave a note for Martin.”

  Her father smiled. “Good girl. Now let’s go.”

  Quickly she wrote a message to Martin and then grabbed her reticule. A nervous tremor spiraled through her as she walked out the door. She hoped she was doing righ
t. She hoped she had not destroyed her family. She hoped her men would understand.

  19

  It was hard to work in town while Martin stayed home with Georgia. It was hard to leave each morning and return late every evening. Today, he’d decided that he was tired of working in the office and he felt compelled to return home. See his wife.

  Odd how he had grown accustomed to thinking of her as his wife, his woman, and that no one else appealed to him. Yes, she was Martin’s wife as well, but in his heart, she belonged to the two of them and he was beginning to fall in love with her.

  Just thinking of her, his heart beat a little faster as he nudged his horse to get them home. Every evening, she met him at the door and wrapped her arms around and kissed him. It was so welcoming at the end of a long day. So today, he was going to surprise her by coming home early.

  A buggy was headed straight toward him. A woman and an older man. The closer they came, his heart stopped and he stared.

  It was Georgia and her father sat beside her.

  What the hell was going on? Where was Martin? Why was Georgia with her useless father?

  He spurred his horse, turning to intercept the buggy.

  When he was close enough, he pulled up beside them. “Stop the buggy.”

  Her father only clicked the horses to speed them up.

  “I said stop the buggy. You have my wife,” he demanded.

  “No, she’s coming home with me,” her father shouted.

  Georgia’s eyes widened and she stared in shock at her father.

  “Papa, I said I would talk to Mama and you, but then I was going home.”

  Daniel had heard enough. He sped up his horse and reached over and grabbed the bridle, pulling the team to a gradual stop. They fought him, but he held on until the buggy came to a halt.

  “What the hell is going on?” he demanded to know.

  “Mama and Papa are separating and he asked me to talk to her and him about why I chose to marry you and not Mr. Bartlett. He told me you paid his gambling debts. Is that true?”

  Oh, no, she was not going to be happy, but he refused to lie to her. Last night, he should have told her, but he hadn’t wanted to ruin their time together.

  “Yes, I paid them. But that’s not why I married you.”

  A tear rolled down her cheeks. “Damn you, Daniel. You lied to me.”

  “I married you because I was so attracted to you, that I couldn’t bear to see you in so much trouble, and I wanted you as my wife.”

  She licked her lips.

  “Now, what I want to know is will Mr. Bartlett be at the house waiting on you and your father?”

  Georgia’s head whirled to face to her father and the man didn’t immediately reply. “Papa, answer Daniel.”

  “He’s just as much involved in this as the rest of us. So, yes, he was going to be waiting at the house so he could speak to you. He still wants you to be his wife.”

  Georgia stared at her father. “First you gamble away the money that takes care of the family and then you sell me to an old creepy man who will pay your debts. Then you come out to our home and you convince me that our family can only be saved by me coming home with you. I’m wondering if you really would have taken me home.” She stepped out of the buggy. “I’m not participating in your scheme. I’m married and I’m never coming home and I’m never going to marry Virgil Bartlett. Do you understand?”

  “Yes,” her father said softly, his face contorted in pain.

  “I'm going home. To my real home.”

  She started walking along the road that led back to Bridgewater. Her face was down and when Daniel rode up beside her, he could see she was crying.

  “You lied to me too. I gave you the opportunity to tell me the truth and you chose not to. Why?”

  “Because I didn’t want you to think the only reason I was paying his debts was to marry you. I would have married you that first day we met. I would have married you without your mother asking me too. All I knew was that I wanted you and I wasn’t going to let your father be blackmailed because he owed money.”

  She sniffed, but continued walking.

  “I was wrong not to tell you the truth. But, by then, I was starting to care for you and I didn’t want to upset you. Now I see by not telling you the truth, I’ve done more damage.”

  Daniel heard her father’s buggy continue down the road toward Butte.

  “I’m sorry,” he said.

  She stopped and glanced up at him, her eyes full of tears. “Please, don’t ever lie to me again. After the last month of being betrayed by my father, I can’t take any more.”

  He stopped his horse and slid off. Quickly, he took her in his arms. “Georgia, I was wrong, but I’m learning this thing called marriage as well. No excuse, I thought I was protecting you and all I did was hurt you more.”

  Wrapped in his arms, she broke down. “He was taking me back to Bartlett. I know he was. My own father intended to trade me off.”

  They stood in the middle of the road with Daniel comforting his wife as she cried. “I hope Mama is all right, but I’m not going to speak to my father for a long time. We’re done. Take me home. Poor Martin must be worried.”

  “Yes, let’s go home,” Daniel said as he kissed her eyelids, her cheeks, and finally her lips as she sagged against him.

  Daniel lifted her into his arms and placed her on his horse. Then he crawled up behind her. All the way home, he held her, chastising himself over how he could have withheld the truth from her. How would he have felt?

  20

  Martin’s heart pounded a mile a moment as he saddled his horse, preparing to ride after Georgia. The cattle had taken him longer than he planned this morning and when he came home, he’d been shocked to find her gone.

  Shocked for about thirty seconds before rage kicked in. The woman knew better than to leave the property without talking to them. And no, a note was not acceptable.

  He swung up onto his horse and headed out of the barn, ready to ride hard to Butte before her father did something stupid, like try to marry her off to that evil Bartlett fellow. Even though she was already married. The man didn’t care.

  About half a mile down the road, he saw Daniel and Georgia riding toward him. Relief filled him as his heart seemed to swell. Anger poured through him and yet he also recognized that he was falling in love with Georgia.

  How could a cripple like himself love a woman he feared he could not protect?

  “Where is your father?”

  “Let’s get home and we’ll tell you what happened,” Daniel said.

  Even if he loved Georgia, she’d broken a rule today and he’d been terrified that somehow he had lost her.

  She would be punished tonight.

  In fact, his hands were itching to yank up her skirt and paddle her right here, but he could wait. All the fear he’d felt when he couldn’t find her returned. If he couldn’t protect her, how could he ever remain married to her? What about their children?

  When they returned to the house, Georgia slid off Daniel’s horse, and then took their horses to the barn while Martin followed Georgia in.

  “I’m sorry, Martin, I should never have left without talking to you first,” she said with a sigh. “But he told me all he wanted was for me to talk my mother into staying with him. She was threatening to leave and it was all my fault.”

  His fists clenched at his sides and he really tried to understand her decision, but her father had shown her time and again his deceit. Why did she still trust and believe in this man?

  “Do you know what it was like to come back and find you gone? It terrified me. I thought Bartlett had taken you. That somehow while you were under my protection, he’d stolen you.”

  She walked over to his side and reached up and stroked his face. “I’m sorry. He kept pressuring me to leave with him, that I had to help bring our family back together.”

  “What about our family? If we had children, would you have just up and taken off?”
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br />   “Of course not,” she said.

  “It’s hard enough not knowing whether I can take care of you and our family, but when you just leave with the enemy, it’s terrifying.”

  A tear trickled down her cheek. “What I didn’t know was that Bartlett was going to be there waiting for me. He wanted to convince me one more time to marry him, even though I’m already married. The man is not giving up.”

  Martin took a deep breath and released it. “Go upstairs, strip, and prepare yourself. You will be punished.”

  Her brows drew together and her mouth dropped open. “But I thought I was helping my family. Wouldn’t you have done the same with yours?”

  “Not unless my men told me it was all right or went with me. What if you had gotten to Butte and Bartlett took you against your will. He could have hurt you.”

  Tears welled in her eyes and a flash of anger shined from them.

  “You have to learn to obey us. We are looking out for your safety. We are your protectors.”

  Crying, she turned and hurried up the stairs to the bedroom. He could hear her sobs and it broke his heart, but she couldn’t do that again. She had to understand why they were keeping her safe. He couldn’t take walking in again and finding her gone.

  Daniel came in the door and glanced at him.

  “I’m punishing her tonight,” Martin said.

  “I know. When you rode up, I could see the anger and understood why. We could have lost her today. That son of a bitch, her father, is ruthless.”

  “Until he gives up, I think we’re going to have to make certain she stays with one of the women when we’re not here,” Martin said. “The cattle are requiring more time right now.”

  “Agreed,” Daniel said. “I’m going to sell the business and concentrate on the cattle side. We’ve got plenty of money. That way I’ll be home more.”

  Martin smiled. He’d known after they married Georgia that soon Daniel would be a full-time rancher, and he didn’t mind at all. In fact, they could focus on growing the herd.

  “Come on, let’s get this over with, so we can concentrate on the pleasure side.”