Finally A Bride

by Renee Ryan

  Step one. Start with prayer.

  That’s exactly what she planned to do.

  * * *

  After carefully, firmly, resolutely shutting his office door in Molly’s face, Garrett had only one desire. Forget he ever touched her.

  Battling unwanted emotion, he sank in the chair behind his desk and shut his eyes against the memory of Molly in his arms. The images came anyway. Both times she’d lost her balance, he’d instinctively reached for her, steadied her. The move had been as natural as taking his next breath. And for those brief moments, they’d been closer than they’d been in years, mere inches apart.

  A mistake.

  Memories long forgotten reared up, twining through the present, calling to mind all they’d once shared. Even now, the lingering scent of jasmine and sandalwood teased his senses, making him yearn to sweep Molly back into his arms, to start anew, to—

  He cleared his throat.

  Work. Garrett needed to concentrate on work, and not on Miss Molly Taylor Scott and what could never be again.

  Rolling his shoulders, he repositioned the Phipps contract in front of him and picked up where he’d left off, halfway down the third page. Unfortunately, focus eluded him. And this time, it wasn’t only Molly that plagued his thoughts. Garrett couldn’t ignore the anxiety he’d caught on his sister’s face.

  Fanny was not a woman prone to worry. She was a happy sort, always quick to smile, quick to laugh, ready to organize the next party. Something had clearly upset her. Garrett had to trust she would share whatever was bothering her with Molly. And that Molly would come to him if anything was truly wrong.

  Nothing’s wrong.

  Fanny was a grown woman of twenty-two, her future all but set. In six weeks’ time she would pledge her life to a good, decent man who cherished her beyond reason. Reese was everything Garrett could wish for his sister.

  Nothing’s wrong, he told himself again and put Fanny out of his mind. Along with her beautiful, confounding friend. And all the other distractions battling for his attention.

  He studied the words on the page, one sentence at a time, went on to the next and then the next. He pulled his focus in tight, filtered out everything around him. Garrett liked working alone, liked having only himself to count on—and to blame. Best that way. Less messy. Less complicated.

  Focus, he ordered his wandering mind.

  And he did just that, absorbing the legal language on the page as if it were as fundamental as air. It was exacting, meticulous work, and he let it consume him. This was why he’d come back to Denver—to work for this firm, overseeing business contracts, drawing up others.

  Or so he told himself.

  But that wasn’t completely true. He’d turned down a better position in St. Louis, one more suited to his skills, so he could be near family. He’d missed them. He’d missed…

  No one else. Just his family.

  Focus.

  Once he was satisfied all was in order, he gathered the pages, stuffed the entire document inside a leather satchel and set it aside for his meeting tomorrow with Phineas Phipps.

  He stood and rounded his desk, set on addressing the next pressing issue on his agenda—Mrs. Singletary and her unprecedented request.

  Before he made it across the room, two hard raps came at the door, no more, no less. Reese’s signature knock.

  “Excellent timing.” Garrett opened the door with a swift pull. “I was on my way to your office to discuss Mrs. Singletary’s business proposition.”

  For a long moment the other man said nothing. He didn’t move, didn’t blink. The unnatural stillness in his stance was completely out of character, as was the cold silence.

  Was he disturbed over Mrs. Singletary’s proposal? If he was, it would be out of character. Reese never begrudged another attorney’s chance to further his career. What’s good for one of us in this firm, he said often, is good for all of us. That philosophy was one of the reasons Garrett had joined the firm six months ago.

  No, Reese shouldn’t have a problem with Garrett assisting the widow in the expansion of her business holdings. Something else had to be wrong. “Reese—”

  “Come with me.”

  Garrett nodded, even as his boss turned and headed down the hallway in swift, ground-eating strides.

  Once they entered his office, Reese glanced over his shoulders. “Shut the door behind you.”

  Garrett did as requested.

  In silence, the other man moved behind his desk and sat. His brow creased in utter confusion, he clasped the back of his neck, circled his head and sighed heavily.

  “Problem?” Garrett asked.

  Reese’s jaw tightened. “You could say that.”

  “Something to do with the firm?”

  “No. I…” He trailed off, glanced out the window then back to Garrett. “I just spoke with Fanny.” He didn’t expand. He simply leaned back in his chair, eyes locked on a spot just over Garrett’s shoulder.

  Sensing he wasn’t going to like what came next, he remained tactfully silent. But when Reese continued blinking at nothing in particular, Garrett pressed for more. “What did my sister have to say?”

  Reese closed his eyes for a second and then opened them, his gaze sharply focused on Garrett now. Anger. Pain. Bafflement. All three glared out at him.

  Garrett braced himself.

  “Fanny broke off our engagement.”

  “She…no.” Garrett exhaled roughly, completely astounded by the news. “That can’t be right.” He must have misunderstood, must have heard wrong.

  “I assure you, it’s true.”

  “But…” Garrett struggled for words. “She’s happy, really happy. She told me so.” Just the other day. She’d jumped into his arms and said, Oh, Garrett, I’m the most blessed woman in the world.

  What had changed since then?

  Something. Something she hadn’t shared with him. “What did Fanny say, exactly?”

  Reese scrubbed the back of his hand across his mouth. “It wasn’t what she said so much as how she said it. She was upset, on the verge of tears. I’d never seen her like that, so…” He shuddered. “Emotional. She’s always been a steady sort, solid, even-tempered. I can’t fathom what’s put her off like this.”

  None of what Reese said sounded like his sister. Not the Fanny that Garrett knew, at any rate.

  “I asked her what was wrong,” Reese continued, “told her we’d work it out, together. ‘That’s what couples do,’ I said. It was as if she didn’t hear me. Or maybe she didn’t want to hear me.” He shook his head. “She just kept babbling, on and on and on, her words tumbling over one another. I could barely keep up.”

  This time, Garrett spoke his thoughts aloud. “That doesn’t sound like Fanny.”

  His mind kept returning to that particular point.

  “No, it’s not,” Reese agreed. “She said we didn’t add up, those were the exact words she used.” He shook his head again. “We don’t add up, as if our relationship was nothing more than a mathematics equation that needed solving.”

  Garrett’s blood turned cold. Ice-cold, but he remained silent, letting Reese talk.

  “We don’t add up?” Reese pressed his lips into a grim line. “What sort of convoluted math was Fanny using?”

  Garrett knew. God help them all, he knew.

  How many times had he sat, mesmerized, as he listened to Molly applying one of her “formulas” to a personal problem? He used to find her process of applying mathematical equations to life’s troubles charming.

  He wasn’t charmed now.

  Garrett only had himself to blame for this disaster. He should have followed his instincts and spoken with his sister himself, rather than trust Molly to handle the problem.

  “You and Fanny will work this out,” he said, determined to see it come to pass. “This is probably just a case of cold feet on her part.”

  “I’m not so sure.” Angry shock leaped into Reese’s gaze. “She said she had to follow her heart.”
Shadows swirled around his eyes, dark and dangerous. “Follow her heart,” he repeated, spitting out the words one by one. “What’s that supposed to mean anyway?”

  “I have no idea,” Garrett admitted, feeling uneasy and puzzled over the phrase. Something tickled at the back of his mind, a distant memory, but he couldn’t capture the thought fully so he focused on what he could address. He would find out what was going on in his sister’s mind, from the source herself, sooner rather than later. In the meantime…

  “Reese, don’t give up on Fanny. I’m sure she’ll be back, maybe even later today, retracting everything she said.”

  “I don’t know, Garrett.” Reese inhaled a ragged breath. “She sounded quite convinced she was making the right decision.”

  Perhaps. Perhaps not.

  Garrett would know more once he spoke with Fanny.

  Naturally, he’d make certain she was all right first, and would determine she wasn’t hiding something about Reese that none of them suspected. If all was in order, and this turned out to be just a whim on Fanny’s part, well, then, Garrett would take it upon himself to talk some sense into her.

  For now, he kept his face blank, even as he struggled with the suspicion that Molly’s interference may have played a role in this debacle. It was very likely that somehow, with her own brand of twisted logic, she’d influenced Fanny to break off her engagement—as she’d done twice herself.

  If he was right, if he found out Molly had said or done something to cause Fanny to beg off, Garrett wouldn’t let her off easily. She wasn’t going to smile and simper and charm her way out of this one.

  No. This time, Molly would answer to him.

  Chapter Three

  Molly found her parasol precisely where she’d left it earlier in the day, leaning against the building outside Mrs. Singletary’s favorite millinery shop. Breathing a sigh of relief, she picked it up and backed away.

  “Oh.” She found her progress halted by a wall of solid muscle. “Oh.”

  She jerked forward, stumbled awkwardly, dropped the parasol.

  A familiar pair of hands secured her balance with a firm but gentle hold.

  Molly froze, stunned by the realization that she knew who had a hold of her. Garrett.

  Garrett. Even if he hadn’t prevented her previous fall earlier in the day, she recognized the clean, woodsy spice of his shaving soap.

  Before she could thank him, he turned her slowly to face him.

  Their gazes locked.

  Her mouth went dry as dust. He was so unbelievably dashing, standing with that relaxed looseness he’d earned from years of riding the range on his family’s ranch.

  They continued to stare at one another.

  The bristling intensity of the moment seemed too deep to fathom. Garrett had a look on his face she hardly recognized. He was absolutely…furious. Furious, with her.

  But why? What had she done?

  Nothing, that’s what, which meant he was upset about something else, something that couldn’t possibly have to do with her. And yet, he was glaring at her as though she’d done him precise harm.

  She lifted her chin, refusing to cower. Or be the one to break the silence first.

  “What? No suitors clamoring for your attention this afternoon, no hordes of men enthralled by your startling wit?” He looked her over with an insolent, thorough glance. “You’re losing your touch, Molly.”

  The aggravation in his voice slid a chill across the base of her spine. What had brought on this dark mood of his? Since when did Garrett care if she had admirers? So shocked by his behavior, it required several attempts before she could respond calmly. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Don’t you?” His lips twisted. “We both know you take great delight in leading men around by the nose, then casting them aside when you’re through with them.”

  “I most certainly do not.” Now he was just being mean. And that wasn’t like Garrett, past or present.

  Why this antagonism? It seemed so…so…personal. There hadn’t been anything personal between them in years.

  As the daughter of a seasoned lawman, Molly knew when to stand and fight, and when to beat a tactical retreat. The latter was in order, but Garrett still held her.

  “Let me go,” she whispered, keeping her voice free of emotion. “Please.”

  His hands abruptly released her. Palms facing forward, Garrett stepped back, though he kept his gaze locked with hers, watching her closely. “Where’s Mrs. Singletary?”

  “Having tea with a friend.”

  “Ah.” The answer seemed to satisfy him, but the anger was still there, simmering just beneath the surface.

  She found her own anger rising to meet his. “I fear I am one full step behind. Tell me.” She kept her voice even, her tone as cool as his. “What have I done to offend you?”

  Pulling in a deep breath, he looked away. She saw the conflict in him, the rough tug of emotion he struggled to keep under control. He shifted his stance. Shadows from the awning overhead curtained his face, hiding his eyes from her now.

  “Fanny has broken off her engagement with Reese.”

  “She—” Molly’s hand flew to her throat “—what?”

  “You heard me.”

  No. No, no, no. That couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t. Thinking back to their last conversation, she sought to recall every word that had passed between them.

  What had she said to her friend? Surely, Fanny hadn’t misunderstood her advice. “I need to speak with her.”

  She set out down the sidewalk.

  Garrett stopped her with a light grip on her arm. “She won’t see you.” He released his hold when she glanced pointedly at his hand. “Even Callie can’t get her to come out of her room and talk this over rationally.”

  This was awful, absolutely terrible and so unlike her friend.

  “Oh, Fanny,” Molly whispered softly. “What have you done?”

  “What do you think she’s done? She’s followed your lead.”

  Garrett blamed her for this? “I would never wish the pain of a broken engagement on anyone, not ever.”

  “Is that so?” He didn’t seem convinced. “Then why did Fanny tell Reese that their union didn’t…add up?”

  His words wrapped around her, replacing her previous sense of outrage with bone-deep guilt. “She…she actually said that, that she thought they didn’t…add up?”

  “Let me guess.” Garrett towered over her, glaring down from his superior height. “You gave her one of your formulas to apply to her situation.”

  Molly stiffened, but didn’t deny the accusation. She kept her head high, while her mind raced back to the alcove in the law firm.

  You’re perfect for one another, she’d said to her friend. Fanny had agreed quickly, perhaps a bit too quickly. And then she’d said something altogether off-putting. So everyone keeps telling me.

  Such a revealing response, and yet Molly hadn’t made the connection, not completely.

  “What was the equation you gave her?” Garrett asked, his voice disturbingly patient. “I need to know exactly what you said if I’m going to fix this for her.”

  Molly lifted her chin even higher. “I gave her a simple equation, with only four variables.”

  “Four variables,” he repeated, his gaze softening for a split second as he inched closer. “Only four, like always?”

  “Yes, like always.”

  Her stomach did a slow, spiraling somersault. She remembered the times they used to walk the rugged land, hand in hand, discussing their plans for the future. It hurt to realize how close they’d once been and yet how far apart they were now. Their chance at happiness had come and gone, in its place only long intervals of loneliness.

  “What were the variables?” Not waiting for her answer, he stepped back, looking pensive. She’d seen him like this too many times not to recognize that he was in planning mode.

  At least his anger had dissipated a bit.

  Sighing, Molly wrapped
her arms tightly around her waist. “I told her to start with prayer.”

  “A wise beginning,” he admitted, a bit reluctantly if his grudging tone was anything to go by.

  “Then I said she should spend time in the Bible.”

  “Sound advice.” He released a jagged breath. “And the third variable?”

  “Trust in the Lord’s guidance, of course.”

  “Of course.” He almost smiled at her then, not quite but almost. It gave her the courage to continue.

  “And, lastly,” she squared her shoulders, “I told her…”

  She broke off, pressed her lips tightly together and looked away, because now she knew why Fanny had broken off her engagement with Reese.

  Clearly, her friend had been far more upset than she’d let on, and Molly hadn’t seen it. She hadn’t recognized that Fanny was deeply confused. In pain. Alone with her terrible doubts and concerns.

  If only she had recognized the truth.

  Would it have made a difference? No, she would have given her friend the same advice.

  “Molly.” Garrett’s voice dropped to a whisper. “What was the fourth variable you gave my sister?”

  She fought back a wave of sorrow, and maybe a little envy, knowing that Fanny had adopted the one part of the equation Molly had failed to apply to her own life.

  Twice, she’d convinced herself the final variable wasn’t important. Twice, she’d lied to herself. Twice, she’d suffered the utter humiliation of abandonment by a man who had proposed and claimed to love her above all others.

  “I told her to—”

  “The exact words, Molly. Your exact words.”

  “I said.” She stared into Garrett’s handsome, severe face with nothing but regret washing over her. “Follow your heart.”

  * * *

  Follow your heart.

  Only as Molly pronounced those three perplexing words did Garrett realize why he’d been so uncomfortable hearing them in Reese’s office. She’d given him the exact same advice seven years ago, when he’d struggled over whether to become a full-time rancher like his brothers, or pursue a career in law.