Katherine spent all afternoon doing book work, now that both Mary and Evelyn were working the counter. It helped keep her mind off Gabe and his mother. And April.
And the fact that the two women were going to be staying in Gran’s house. With all that had happened lately, Katherine understood some of the comments Gran had made to her toward the end. And why she’d left her estate to Gabe, rather than her own son.
It was another example of a marriage gone bad. Katherine guessed Gabe’s father was miserable. As she had been. Which only underlined her determination not to remarry except for the right reason.
Which brought her back to Gabe’s problem.
She redoubled her efforts to do the books.
“HE WAS GREAT!” Joe was exclaiming when Katherine came through the back door.
“Who was great?” she asked, taking in the pleased expressions around the room. Maybe they would have something to celebrate after all.
“Mr. Astin. He hired me, Katie! And I don’t have to wait until fall. I’m going to get in on the ground floor. He’s putting the company together at his office at the ranch, where we did the interview. There’ll be a start-up team of five of us.”
“That’s wonderful, Joe,” Katherine said, swooping down on him to give him a sisterly hug. “I bet Mom’s thrilled.”
“Yeah,” he said, a huge grin on his face.
“Of course I am, but I knew all along Rick would hire him. He’s a very smart boy.” Margaret looked at Jack for confirmation and he, of course, nodded.
“But last night—” Susan began, but Paul hugged her, then whispered something in her ear. Hopefully something that would keep Susan from reminding her mother of her fears from the night before.
“Well, are you ready to eat, Katie? I’ve got a great meal all prepared for our celebration,” Margaret said. “I only wish Diane and Raine could be here. But we’ll call them after dinner and tell them the good news.”
Katherine took her belongings to her bedroom, changed out of her yellow-and-white uniform into jeans and washed up before returning to the big kitchen. Just as she did so, a vehicle pulled into their driveway.
“Hey, it’s Gabe,” Paul exclaimed, and hurried to the back door.
“Gabe Dawson?” Joe inquired. “Is he back in town?” His gaze shot to Katherine, who strived to keep her cheeks from turning red.
“Yes, he’s settling his grandmother’s estate, I believe,” Jack said.
“I heard he’s staying,” Margaret said.
Paul came back in alone. “Gabe wants to talk to you,” he said, looking at Katherine. “Alone,” he added as everyone stared at her.
“Well, for land’s sake, Katie, invite him to dinner. He’s probably starved since it’s six-thirty already,” Margaret said. “Never mind, I will.” And she hurried outside.
Katherine didn’t think Gabe would accept. After all, if he hadn’t eaten already, she knew he had a home-cooked meal awaiting him at Gran’s house.
Margaret came back in, with Gabe on her heels. “I told him we’re celebrating. You can talk to him after dinner, Katie.” Margaret was beaming, pleased that more people would be praising Joe.
Katherine looked at their new guest. “I thought you already had dinner plans?”
Gabe replied, “Nope.” No elaboration.
Okay, so he wasn’t cooperating with his mother…yet. But Katherine knew he loved his father. She suspected Mrs. Dawson would get her way eventually.
Over dinner, Joe repeated every aspect of his successful interview for Gabe’s benefit. Gabe, in turn, told everyone about his joining Alex and Mac, about working on contracts already for Rick’s new business.
Katherine managed to slip in the fact that she’d hired Ethel Moore to work mornings for her, so her mother wouldn’t have to abandon her family before dawn each day.
“I feel badly about that,” Margaret said, frowning. “I thought maybe you could use the extra money to get your own place.”
Gabe stiffened. “You’re moving out?”
“I never said that, Mom,” Katherine said, directing her gaze to her mother.
“I know, but I’ve thought about it. You warned me about Joe wanting his own place. I bet you only thought of that because you want your own place.”
Katherine fought to keep a calm smile on her face. “I was protecting Paul’s bedroom. I have designs on it once he goes to college.”
“Hey! I’m not leaving forever!” the boy protested.
Everyone laughed and conversation became general again, relieving Katherine.
She didn’t want to discuss anything about her family in front of Gabe. His mother’s words today still stung. Even though she didn’t believe Gabe felt like his mother, they’d hurt.
After Margaret served chocolate pie, Gabe looked directly at Katherine. “Can we go for a ride?”
“It’s been a long day, Gabe. Maybe another time?” When hell froze over. He could go spend time with April instead.
“I have some things I need to talk to you about, Katie, and they won’t wait. If you want your family—”
Her anger flared. “Don’t try to manipulate me, Gabe Dawson! You may have learned from the best, but I’m not going to cooperate.”
Gabe smiled, obviously recognizing her reference to his mother. “I need to apologize for today.”
“No! It doesn’t matter,” she said hurriedly, and jumped up to carry dirty dishes to the sink.
“What happened today?” Joe asked.
“Nothing!” Katherine said, her voice louder than she’d intended.
“My mother came to town. She managed to offend half the population of Cactus inside of an hour, Katie included.”
She put down the dishes and whirled around. “Gabe, there’s no need to discuss this any further.”
“I think there is. But we have other topics to consider, too. That’s why I asked you to go for a ride.” He stared at her, his brown eyes gleaming. Was he laughing at her?
“Not tonight.”
“The other thing I wanted to discuss was Gran’s will,” Gabe said calmly, as if she’d asked him a question.
She weighed the pros and cons of trying to stall the blasted man, or letting him have his private discussion. She hated to give in, but she didn’t want her family in on this discussion. “Fine!” she snapped. “We’ll talk outside.”
GABE THANKED MARGARET for the dinner, congratulated Joe again and excused himself. He’d decided on his approach to Katie, but he hadn’t wanted to try it in front of an audience.
Katie was standing like a soldier on guard on the back porch, her arms rigid at her side. She glared at him and said nothing.
“Sure you don’t want to go for a ride?” he tried again.
“No!”
“Okay. We’ll start with my mother…and April. They were rude this morning with no reason. My mother thought she was being clever with her smart-ass remarks.”
“I told you it didn’t matter.”
“But it does, Katie,” he insisted. “You’ve worked harder than my mother ever has. And you’ve supported your family when it wasn’t your job. You own your own business. Everyone loves you.” He smiled. “My mother can’t claim any of those accomplishments, especially the last one.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and turned away from him. “It doesn’t matter,” she repeated.
He moved closer and took her shoulders in his hands. Unfortunately, she jerked away from him and moved as far from him as she could and still be on the porch.
Which only confirmed he’d chosen the correct approach.
“We need to talk about Gran’s will,” he finally said.
“There’s nothing to talk about. You said there was nothing to do.” She kept her back to him.
“You know that’s not true. There are two options. The easiest one is for you to marry someone else.” He prayed he was handling this situation right. He’d die if she selected that option.
“Easiest for whom?” she sn
apped. “Not me! I’ve been in a loveless marriage. I won’t do that.”
Relief swept through him.
“Well, there’s another option.”
She turned to stare at him. “What? Are you going to try to prove Gran was incompetent? I don’t think—”
“No. But you haven’t forgotten you said you’d help me, have you?”
Her gaze grew cautious. “No, I haven’t forgotten. And I will if I can.”
“It’s pretty simple. Gran’s will said we had to marry, but it doesn’t say how long we have to be married. If we married for a few months, a pretend marriage,” he hurriedly added, as her eyes widened in shock, “then we could have it annulled after the year is up.”
“Wouldn’t that be illegal? I told you I wouldn’t do anything illegal.”
He took a step closer to her, knowing she couldn’t retreat any farther without getting off the porch. “It would be a real marriage. The marriage vows don’t say we have to sleep together. We can share Gran’s house—platonically—for a few months. There are three bedrooms. You can have the third one to do whatever you intended to do with Paul’s.”
“Resorting to bribery?” she asked, her beautiful lips quirking at the corners.
He smiled in return, glad to see some of her anger disappear.
“I don’t have a problem with bribery. I’m even willing to offer a bonus. After all, you’ll be losing quite a bit of money if you marry me.” He knew he’d made another mistake as her features tightened again.
“I don’t want Gran’s money. I never—I didn’t know she was going to do that. It all belongs to you. But it feels like we’re—I don’t want to do the wrong thing.”
He shrugged his shoulders, hoping to regain lost ground. “It’s the only thing I can think of. And I’d suggest you ask Mac, but if we tell him we’re trying to get out of the requirements of the will, I’m not sure our plan would work.”
She covered her face with her hands. Then she took her hands down and stared at him. “I need some time to think.”
“Of course. I understand. I’d appreciate your helping me out, but if you decide you can’t, well, I’ll understand that, too.” He figured he’d better get out of there before he cradled her against him, hoping to remove that worried look from her face.
And hoping to feel her body against his one more time.
He backed off the porch. “Sorry I manipulated you, Katie. I hate it when my mother does that, but I had to speak to you alone.”
She nodded but said nothing.
“Well—” he cleared his throat “—uh, let me know when you make up your mind. Or, if you have any questions.”
“What about April? Are you going to marry her after we—after our marriage is annulled?”
He gave a sardonic laugh. “In my mother’s dreams. But no other way. No, I don’t have any plans for that.”
“But they’re at your house.”
“Yeah. Hopefully, when I didn’t show up for dinner, they got disgusted and headed for Dallas.” He knew he was being too much of an optimist. But a guy could hope.
“I’ll let you know as soon as I can,” she assured him, that worried look returning to her face.
He stepped back up on the porch and risked brushing his lips against hers. “Stop worrying. Everything will work out.”
Then he hurried to his car before she could reject him outright.
Driving to Gran’s house, he reviewed his plan again. He had figured the one thing that Katie always did was help someone in trouble. If she responded to his plea and married him, he’d have a lot of time to convince her their marriage could work out.
But he wouldn’t use manipulation. If she didn’t believe that, then he’d keep his hands to himself. He would. But it’d be a living hell.
An appropriate thought, he acknowledged as he pulled into Gran’s driveway. His mother’s Mercedes was parked by the back door.
Groaning, he parked his car beside it, making a mental note to himself to trade in his Mercedes as soon as possible. It had been another choice his mother had encouraged.
When he entered the back door, his mother was standing in the kitchen, her arms crossed and indignation on her face.
“Where have you been? Dinner is cold!”
April was nowhere in sight.
“Then you should’ve eaten it when it was hot,” he said calmly.
Claire stared at him in shock. “How dare you speak to me like that!”
“What did I say that was so terrible?”
“I slaved over a hot stove for you!” she exclaimed, glaring at him.
He looked at the table. “Number one, Mom, you told me to be home at six for dinner. You didn’t ask me. Number two, that food looks remarkably like food from The Last Roundup, which means you lied about cooking it.”
“We didn’t have time to cook. We had to pack your belongings, Gabe, darling, so we could get out of this forsaken place first thing in the morning.”
He shook his head. “The only place I’m going in the morning is to work in downtown Cactus.”
“Downtown! Ha! You’re doing no such thing. I’ve managed to get your job back for you, but you’ve got to call your boss and tell him it’s what you want. The man wouldn’t take my word for it,” Claire grumbled.
“Mom, I’m not going back. I don’t want that job. I’m staying here.”
“I won’t stand for it!” she shrieked.
April appeared in the doorway, dressed in a silk negligee. “Your way isn’t working, Claire. I think it’s time I took over.” She crossed to Gabe’s side and ran one hand up his chest. “Darling, let’s discuss everything in a more comfortable place.” She grabbed his tie and tried to pull him toward the bedrooms.
“We have nothing to discuss,” he said coolly, refusing to budge.
His mother began to shriek again.
Until a quiet voice from the door stopped her.
“That’s enough, Claire.”
Chapter Twelve
Katherine met her new employee and Mary at the shop at six the next morning. They worked well together as a team. By noon, things had slowed down and Katherine had time to think.
Too much time.
She’d scarcely slept the night before, thinking about Gabe’s proposal. She’d once dreamed of hearing him propose marriage. Then it had happened. Wrong time. Now it had happened again. But it wasn’t real.
They never seemed to get it right.
Nevertheless, she’d promised to help him. She believed it would be wrong, not what Gran wanted, for Gabe to lose his inheritance.
But would they be doing something wrong to marry without intending to fulfill their marriage vows?
Finally she picked up the phone and called Alex Langford at home.
“Alex, I know it’s Saturday, but I have a problem, a big problem. Could you meet me in town for an hour?”
“Sure, I can, Katie. I can be at the office in half an hour.”
“Uh, not the office,” Katherine hurriedly said. “I think Gabe is working today.”
“What’s the matter with that man? Working on a Saturday?” Alex teased. “He’ll ruin our laid-back reputation.”
Much to Katherine’s relief, she didn’t ask why Katherine wanted to avoid Gabe.
“We could have a late lunch at The Last Roundup, if that’s okay,” Alex suggested.
“That would be wonderful,” Katherine agreed. “I’ll meet you there at one o’clock.”
Leaving her shop in Mary and Evelyn’s hands, she hurried home and changed out of her uniform. She didn’t want to wear it to lunch.
Alex was already seated in a booth and waved at Katherine when she came in. She hurried over, after scanning the room. She didn’t want Gabe to see them.
“Are we doing something secretive?” Alex asked, leaning forward and whispering.
“Sort of.”
“Great. I love it!” Alex returned with a big grin.
They placed their orders, then Alex looked
at her expectantly.
“Do you remember our discussion about Mrs. Dawson’s will?” Katherine began.
Alex nodded.
“Whatever I say to you is protected by lawyer-client privilege, isn’t it?” Katherine wanted to be sure of that before she continued.
Alex nodded again.
“Gabe has asked me to marry him for a few months, until the will issue is resolved. Then we’ll annul the marriage.” She kept her gaze on Alex. “Is that illegal?”
Alex’s eyebrows climbed. “Illegal? Hmm.” She stared across the restaurant, considering her words. “No, I don’t think so. After all, the will doesn’t mention consummation, only marriage.”
“But—”
“I’ll admit, it’s not in the spirit of the will, but you’re only held to the wording of it.”
“But if Mac knew, could he invalidate our—could he stop Gabe from inheriting?”
“No. But I don’t think you should tell anyone, Katie. The less people who know, the better off you’ll be.”
“Why, if we’re not doing anything wrong?”
“Because it’s probable the charity scheduled to receive the other half of Mrs. Dawson’s estate would sue…and quite possibly win.”
“I never thought of that!” Katherine said with a gasp.
“That’s why you pay me the big bucks,” Alex teased. “Mac had to notify them of their contingency inheritance and they asked that he keep them informed of events.”
Katherine frowned, feeling guilty that a charity would be denied funds because of her actions. But she still believed Gabe deserved his inheritance. In fact, she believed Gran wanted it that way.
“Besides, it would be too hard on a man’s ego to admit that a beautiful woman was marrying him but he wouldn’t be able to sleep with her,” Alex added.
Katherine’s face flamed. “Gabe doesn’t want—he’s not interested in—”
Alex laughed. “Oh, Katie, all men are interested in that. Fortunately, the good ones care about other things, too, but they’re all interested in sex.”
“I’ll vote for that,” Tuck Langford said, appearing at their table and scooting his wife over. After he’d sat down, he said, “Mind if I join you?”
The $10,000,000 Texas Wedding Page 12