The Reluctant Bride

by Leigh Greenwood

  “Then you never read the letter I sent you.”

  He shook his head.

  “You didn’t get anyone to read it for you?”

  “I was too ashamed to admit I couldn’t read.”

  “What did you do with it?”

  “I burned it.”

  “So you never knew what was in it?”

  “No.”

  “So you didn’t know.”

  “No.”

  “I offered to help you escape. When you didn’t reply, I thought you’d rather hang than …” She looked as though her gaze had turned inward and she was staring into the past. A moment later she sighed and refocused. “I was very foolish to have wasted so many years. I should have made better use of my life.”

  “What are you talking about?” Tardy asked.

  “None of your business, young man. You’ve already caused quite enough trouble as it is.”

  “Me! What have I done?”

  “I think she means the diary,” Tanzy said.

  “Oh,” Tardy said, his umbrage evaporating.

  “Ethel, could I see you for a minute?” the sheriff asked.

  “What for?”

  “It’s about Stocker’s will.”

  “I don’t know anything about it. You’ll need to talk to his lawyer.”

  “I have. That’s why I want to talk to you. Guess who he left his ranch to?”

  “I have no earthly idea.”

  “He left it to his only relative who never asked him for money: you.”

  For the first time in her life, Ethel Peters fainted.

  “I’m going to miss Tardy,” Tanzy said. “It was fun having him around.”

  “He’s not going to miss us,” Russ said. “Now that his aunt owns the biggest ranch in Colorado, he’ll have all he can do to learn enough to be able to handle that place in a few years. He’s already trying to talk one of the boys into being his foreman.”

  They were headed back to the ranch in Ethel’s buggy. She was still too dazed to protest when Tardy offered it to them.

  “It was funny listening to him assure his aunt that she didn’t have to worry, that he could tell her what to do,” Tanzy said. “And she let him.”

  “Don’t expect it to last long. Ethel Peters is one strong-minded woman.”

  “Did you know she was still in love with you?” Tanzy asked.

  “I never had the slightest suspicion. She was always the one who criticized me the most.”

  “That should have been a dead giveaway,” Tanzy said. “Women never bother with men they don’t like.”

  “Is that why you’ve been pestering me ever since you got here?”

  Tanzy punched him. “It was the other way around. You were the one who wouldn’t leave me alone.”

  “If I had, you’d have left town with nowhere to go and nothing to do when you got there. You ought to be thankful I stopped you.”

  “I am, but I couldn’t tell you. You’d hold it over me for the rest of my life.”

  “I’m only going to hold one thing over you.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Your promise to love me forever. You do that, and you can do anything else you like.”

  “If I do that, I can’t do anything you won’t like.”

  That’s what I like: an obedient wife.”

  Tanzy hit him again, but not very hard. Russ laughed, put his arm around her, and pulled her tight against him. The valley was beautiful, but it was still too damned big. It would take him forever to get to the cabin and have Tanzy to himself. He had a lot of years to make up for, and he was in a hurry to get started.

  About the Author

  Leigh Greenwood is the award-winning author of over fifty books, many of which have appeared on the USA Today bestseller list. Leigh lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. Please visit his website at http://www.leigh-greenwood.com/.