“I’m not so sure.”
What if she’d realized he’d been attracted to her when they’d played lovey-dovey in front of his cousin and decided to call this off?
Maybe that was the smartest thing to do.
“You’re making me nervous.” Annie’s smile faded.
“I might have reason to be.”
Annie gave him a sympathetic look. “I can’t say I blame you. I wanted to run for the hills right before I married Jacob.” She snuggled in closer to her husband. “I’m glad I didn’t though.”
Surely Corinne hadn’t run. But what if Matt had gotten to her and paid her to back out?
Matt and Lilith hadn’t left as planned, and Nolan had made it clear they were not invited to the wedding. However, he couldn’t order them not to visit his bride-to-be. He walked to the edge of the church’s porch, though he knew he couldn’t see the laundry from there.
When his cousin hadn’t followed him into town, he’d breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps he shouldn’t have.
A trail of smoke billowed across the horizon, and the imperceptible shaking of a locomotive rumbled beneath his feet. Could Corinne be on the departing train, bribed to leave him behind?
Maybe she’d not needed a bribe. Maybe she’d realized she could do without him. Or Matt had given her money to help save her business—no potential romantic complications to even worry about.
Down the street, Matt appeared a block away and marched in their direction. So he had followed him in.
Nolan descended the front steps, arms crossed, scowl at the ready.
His cousin looked up, a tic in his cheek ruining what seemed to be an attempt to keep from smiling. “She got cold feet, huh?”
Had Matt just given her those cold feet?
“Nolan?” Jacob came up beside him and frowned at Matt.
“Aren’t you the marshal?” His cousin swiped off his hat.
“I was,” Jacob drawled as he stepped forward.
“Do you know where the lawyer’s at?”
“Mr. Wright?”
“No, the other one.”
“You mean, Mr. Grayson?” At Matt’s nod, he shook his head. “I’m afraid he’s in prison. Why?”
“I don’t like the new lawyer.”
God bless Mr. Wright. He must not have caved to whatever scheme his cousin had tried to finagle the lawyer into.
Jacob shrugged. “Mr. Wright doesn’t intend to stay long from what I’ve gathered. We’ll likely get a new lawyer before the year’s end.”
“That won’t help me.” Matt pierced Nolan with a glare. “I’ve talked with him about the will. About everything…”
Why was he pausing? To make him nervous? He was certainly succeeding. Where was Corinne?
“He told me you have to follow the intent of your father’s request.”
Nolan fought against fidgeting. “I know. Mr. Wright informed me of the same.”
It’d been a mistake to move the wedding up so soon, making it more than obvious this was not a love match. Yet “love match” had not been what his father demanded. A convenient marriage was enough.
What if his cousin stuck around to prove that they’d not married in truth?
But what could he do to prove it? Peek in their windows at all hours? Maybe Matt was simply hoping to intimidate him into changing his mind.
Behind him, Pastor Lawrence cleared his throat. “Has the lady arrived?”
Nolan wished he could make the heat in his face disappear. “Not yet.”
Matt’s smirk widened. “I’ll be on my way, gentlemen.” He turned on his heel and strode off.
Nolan couldn’t help but take out his timepiece once more. “Do you think he’s done something?”
The pastor clasped his shoulder. “Do you need to check on Miss Stillwater? Perhaps we should reschedule?”
Down the street, Nolan caught sight of a flutter of shimmery green.
Head down, Corinne walked toward them in an emerald dress made of iridescent fabric that shone wherever it captured the sun.
She glanced up, but quickly looked back down at her feet, one hand twisting a loose curl that framed her face and spilled down her neck. The white flowers behind her ear quavered as she tugged on the ringlet.
She was more beautiful than he’d ever seen her.
“Seems we’ve got a bride, Pastor.” Jacob patted Nolan’s shoulder before turning to walk up the stairs and head into the church.
The bloom in Corinne’s cheeks and the dangling white earrings that caressed her neck kept him from following them in.
Where had a laundress gotten a dress like that?
Stopping in front of him, she peeped up, her mouth scrunching to the side. “You don’t have to look at me like that.”
“You mean I shouldn’t look at you as if you’re beautiful?”
Shrugging, she dropped her gaze again, picking at the minuscule white flowers tied to her wrist.
He tugged the curl by her cheek, making it bounce. “I thought you outlawed romantic nonsense?”
“Evidently one’s not allowed to get married in work clothes—not according to Mrs. Whitsett, anyway. You can blame her.”
Taking into account Corinne’s blush and slight grin, it seemed she wasn’t too upset at being forced into wearing something other than her usual plain blouse and nondescript skirt.
“After learning why I was asking her if she’d take over my laundry, she practically dragged me to her daughter’s.” Corinne fussed with a skirt pleat. “It’s Ava’s dress. She’s a bit fuller than I am, so it took time to alter. And I couldn’t help much, considering—” She held up her hands. “Pain kept me up all night.”
He reached for her curled fingers and gently raised them to kiss the back of her hand.
She pulled away, her eyes wide.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“It’s all right.” But she turned her face away.
Were her cheeks pinker or had Mrs. Whitsett and her daughter insisted on rouge, along with whatever it was that was darkening her eyelashes? But even if her blush wasn’t natural, that didn’t explain why she avoided looking at him. “I’m sorry I teased you earlier. A woman wanting to look her best on her wedding day isn’t romantic nonsense.”
“Thanks.” She pursed her lips. “But I think it might be a bit much.”
“Not at all. Perhaps when you pay off your loan, you can buy some expensive fabric like this so you can feel beautiful on more days than today. You’re gorgeous in green.”
She looked up at him sharply.
He smiled and lifted his hands. “I’m breaking no promises. You being beautiful is simply the truth.”
She scrutinized him in such a way he could almost imagine she was thinking him handsome, desirable even.
But then she huffed and hooked an arm around his. “Pastor Lawrence has likely given up on us. Let’s go.”
“Yes, yes. We should do that.” He walked with her up the stairs, trying not to let her nearness do things to him it shouldn’t.
He’d told the pastor earlier that they wanted the ceremony to be bare-boned. But with how her dress brushed up against him, her heightened color making him wonder if her skin was as warm and soft as it appeared, and the way she smelled of powder and lavender, it was a shame he’d asked Pastor Lawrence not to include the ceremonial kiss.
Years from now, he’d likely regret not kissing her when he’d had a legitimate reason to do so.
Oh, who was he fooling?
He already did.
Chapter Fourteen
Back in her normal clothing after returning the lovely green gown to Leah’s daughter, Corinne took the stairs up to her bedroom slowly, but not too slowly lest Nolan realize she was climbing leisurely for his sake. She glanced over her shoulder to check if Nolan was still behind her—he was, of course, and her heart sped up yet again.
There was nothing untoward about taking one’s husband up to her bedroom to bring down her luggage.<
br />
One’s husband.
Hers.
But since he was more a business partner, having him up to her room didn’t sit quite right. Even if Leah had smiled at them as they made their way upstairs.
She’d tried to tell him she didn’t need help, but he’d insisted since her hands were hurting.
After blaming her hands for lost sleep and being late to her own wedding a little over an hour ago, she couldn’t insist they were fine. She had been up all night, but not because of pain—she dealt with that most nights—nor was it because she’d worried Nolan wouldn’t follow through with what he offered.
She’d been unable to sleep because she knew he’d follow through.
It’d been a mistake to make eyes at him the other day in front of his cousin as if they were in love.
It had almost felt real.
Stopping at her door, she swung it open and stepped back to let him in. “This is it.”
He frowned at her two carpetbags at the foot of the bed, then scanned the room.
There wasn’t much to see. A narrow mattress, a washstand, five hooks on the wall.
She hadn’t been lying when she’d said she didn’t need help getting her things from upstairs.
“Are you wanting to take the washstand?”
She shook her head. “If you have one for me to use, it’s nothing special.”
Without saying more, he crossed the room to pick up her bags.
Leah didn’t need this apartment, though she could sublet it to help pay rent. Hopefully, she’d only do so if she trusted the tenant—Leah shouldn’t be hurt any more than she had been.
At the bottom of the stairs, Nolan turned to wait for her as she took the last set of steps. “I’d thought we’d be busy moving all afternoon, but seems I was wrong. Would you like to eat at the hotel?”
She frowned. Did he think those two bags were all she had? “We have lots to pack and haul out.” She wouldn’t have bothered giving Ava back her dress already if she’d only had two bags to carry away.
He turned to peer through the doorway that led to the front of the laundry. “Aren’t you leaving the equipment for Leah?”
“Of course, but the rest goes.” She beckoned for him to take a look around the room where he stood. “I’ve got all this.”
She crossed over to a nearly full crate and wedged in another glass container filled with chemicals. “I don’t have enough boxes, however. Though some things would be awkward to pack, like those split barrels and wagon wheels. I figure it’ll take us most of today to get what we can, considering we’ll have to make multiple trips.”
He scanned the room as if seeing it for the first time. “I thought this stuff belonged to the banker.”
“No, it’s mine.” She bent to lift a bucket full of metal odds and ends, bracing for her hand’s inevitable protest. “The heavy items should probably be stacked as close to the wagon bench as possible.”
“Wait.” He grabbed the handle which had bent with the weight of the material.
Maybe she shouldn’t have filled it so full.
His other hand wrapped around hers, and despite the fact they’d married this morning, her hand tingled as if touching were inappropriate.
“You shouldn’t lift this.”
“I figured I’d have to, considering.” She glanced down at his leg.
His jaw worked, and his eyes shuttered.
He’d told her earlier that saying she was beautiful was truth, not romantic flattery, so she wouldn’t allow him to hurt himself in some chivalric demonstration that ignored reality. “There’re plenty of things you can help me carry out, but these—”
“My leg is missing, not my arms.” Nolan didn’t unwrap his hand from around hers.
“All right.” Maybe she shouldn’t have assumed what he could and couldn’t do—as he’d promised not to do to her.
She let go.
He looked around and sighed. “I should ask Jacob to help.”
“But he’s already on his way home.”
“He and I can come back later this week.”
And now he was assuming she would be of no help. “We can do it now.”
“No—”
“Either this goes with me,” she set her hands on her hips, “Or I stay with it.”
His forehead wrinkled, as if trying to gauge if she’d actually follow through with the threat. “Why does it matter? It’s just junk.”
Her head snapped back. “Junk?”
“I’m sorry.” Though a glimmer of amusement danced his eyes. “But you can’t fault me for thinking it is what it looks like. What do you need it for?”
She scanned the tables laden with what indeed resembled rubbish. Would he be too proud to let her earn patents in her own name? Would he steal them from her as her father once had? “Uh, just … tinkering.”
His expression indicated he didn’t believe her.
“You remember that wooden clothes rack on the back of the building? I can’t make stuff like that without materials. And if we don’t have money until you sell cattle, it’s not wise to spend money to replace all this.”
He exhaled slowly, but turned to scan the room. “I don’t have anywhere to put it.”
“What about that cabin you said I could have one day?”
“It’s small. If all this were in there, and you wanted to move in later, it’d be cramped.”
“We can decide what to do then if necessary. In the meantime, we’ll work to raise your profits enough to build something else to store my things.”
A ghost of a smile showed up on his face, and she had to turn away. Something about that grin had made her breath grow short.
She picked up another bucket and turned toward the back door, but not before she saw him shake his head at her. “Bring the wagon around back, Nolan.”
“Aye, aye, boss.”
She couldn’t help but roll her eyes, and yet, his good-natured sarcasm made her breathe easier.
Two hours later, she wiped sweat from her forehead with her sleeve, wincing despite her attempt not to use her hands. The pulsating ran clear up past her elbow. “Nolan,” she breathed.
He stopped in the middle of shoving a crate into the wagon to look at her.
If only she could’ve held out for a half hour more.
She tried to voice that she couldn’t continue, but she’d lost her breath calling out to him.
After giving the crate one last shove, he came toward her, his gaze probing. “I let you do too much, didn’t I?”
Now that her hands were no longer busy, they tingled with needle-like pinpricks.
She couldn’t look at him. Earlier, she’d basically accused him of ignoring his physical limitations, but she’d been the one who hadn’t stopped when she should have.
Once again, he reached for her hands and she inhaled sharply—this time because of the pain.
He let go and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “We can get what remains another day.”
She nodded, trying not to let the warmth in her eyes turn into tears. Thankfully, he seemed to realize she didn’t want to talk—or rather, couldn’t.
There wasn’t much left anyway. All junk, as he’d said.
If things didn’t work out between them and she had to leave, what did she possess that could save her?
She struggled to climb up to the wagon’s seat, attempting to keep weight off of him, unsure of how much he could bear.
Once his hand left her back, she slid onto the bench and tried not to think about what the future might hold. But there was no denying she’d made herself completely vulnerable to a man yet again. The stuff they were hauling was worthless, and the laundry was now in the hands of the banker and Leah.
But Nolan’s vows this morning were words no man had ever said to her. He’d sworn to protect her until death—as if he’d meant it.
However, Kurt and Randolph had said many things just as convincingly, and she’d fallen for their every line.
N
olan cleared his throat. “You ready?”
She nodded weakly, and he flicked the reins to start the team.
Whether or not she was ready, there was nothing she could do now. Hopefully marrying Nolan was a better decision than all the one’s she’d made before.
Chapter Fifteen
Once they left town, Nolan had given up trying to engage her in small talk. The panging in her hands and arms had made it difficult for her to formulate logical responses.
Leaning back, Corinne allowed herself to sway with the wagon, willing the pain to leave with each exhale.
If her hands weren’t better soon, would she be of any use in bringing in enough money to keep them afloat this fall? Maybe asking for a profit split had been too much. She was no cowgirl, and no rancher paid their housekeeper a percentage of his profits. What if she couldn’t do enough work to be worthy of her share? Perhaps taking his offer to do nothing would’ve been smarter.
But how to ask? She didn’t want him to think she had no intention of following through with what she’d promised.
Nolan cleared his throat. “I’m afraid our arrival will not be a happy event. Matt and Lilith chose to stay. I don’t think they believed I’d go through with it. Lilith especially since, well—”
He cut himself off again with the clearing of his throat.
“I know,” she whispered. A laundress was worth less than the mud on Lilith’s dainty kid leather boots.
He patted her leg as if to assure her but then snatched his hand away.
“I’m sorry my acting skills were so bad they didn’t believe we’d marry.”
He chuckled. “Even if we weren’t acting, I’m not sure they would have believed it. Matt’s heard me tell my father often enough that nothing would persuade me to marry, hence why they showed up at the ranch, sure they’d inherit. It wasn’t your acting skills. Besides, I had too much fun watching them writhe. You made me laugh.”
She tried to come up with something witty to make him laugh again, but stopped. If she enjoyed her time with him too much, would her heart attach itself?
Pretending to Wed Page 10