The Widow's Little Secret

by Judith Stacy

  None of which particularly suited Jared. But what choice did he have?

  “Does that mean if I asked you to marry me right now you’d say no?” Jared asked, a little grin tugging at his lips.

  For an instant, Mattie looked angry. Then she saw that he was teasing, and smiled. “That’s exactly what it means.”

  “Just thought I’d ask.”

  Jared ambled down the hallway to the front door and stepped outside. “Be sure to lock up.”

  Mattie nodded from the doorway. “I hope you understand why I feel the way I do.”

  “I understand.”

  “It’s better this way,” she said.

  “If you say so.”

  “Just put me out of your mind,” Mattie said.

  “Can’t do that.” Jared shook his head. “In fact, I’m going to think about you naked all night.”

  “Jared!”

  “’Night.”

  “Jared! Don’t you dare do that!”

  Mattie fumed as he sauntered across her yard, then she slammed the door shut. Oh, that man!

  Think about her naked? How dare he!

  Mattie stopped dead in her tracks. Him thinking of her naked made her think about him the same way.

  Another wave of heat washed through her, warming her as his kiss had done earlier in the kitchen. Memories. So many memories of that night, their night.

  “Oh, gracious…”

  Determinedly, Mattie went to the kitchen and blew out all but one of the lanterns. She’d put that man out of her head—if it was the last thing she ever did.

  She stopped then, lantern in hand as the flame danced across the bouquet of flowers Jared had brought her. It was silly, really, to be so pleased by such a small thing. She should toss them out—along with all thoughts of Jared McQuaid.

  Instead, Mattie took the flowers to the bedroom with her, placed them on her bureau and readied herself for bed.

  Seldom did she come to this room without thinking of the night Jared had been here with her. Tonight, with his kiss still fresh on her lips, he raged like a storm in her mind…in her heart.

  Sliding beneath the covers, Mattie took one last look at the flowers and blew out the lantern. She fell asleep almost at once.

  But when she woke in the middle of the night, it wasn’t thoughts of Jared that had jarred her awake.

  Mattie sat straight up in bed.

  She knew how she’d save her restaurant.

  Chapter Ten

  As plans went, it wasn’t much of one. But it was all Jared had. He’d have to make it work.

  Be nice, Mattie had advised him. Damn…

  Standing outside the sheriff’s office, Jared nodded pleasantly to the men who passed by, and tipped his hat to the ladies. This morning he’d practiced his smile in the mirror while shaving—and nicked himself in the process—and was now trying it out on the townsfolk.

  So far, it wasn’t going well.

  But truthfully, his heart wasn’t in this “being nice” campaign Mattie had suggested. As a lawman, it went against his grain. So lying awake most of the night, Jared had come up with another plan he could definitely sink his teeth into.

  “Morning, ma’am.” Jared touched the brim of his hat as a woman passed in front of him. She spared him a brief glance as she went by; at least she hadn’t crossed the street to avoid him as others had done this morning.

  Jared held his smile in place until the woman was gone, then hung his thumbs in his gun belt, thinking.

  The plan that kept him tossing and turning all night, the one he was most concerned with, was the one that would win Mattie’s heart.

  Somewhere around midnight it had occurred to Jared that Mattie didn’t know him. Not really. Sure, she knew him in the intimate way a man and woman knew each other, thanks to their night together. But in view of the fact that Mattie had ended up pregnant, Jared didn’t think the experience had done much to endear him to her.

  On top of that, Del Ingram had been her first husband. Her only husband. And a poor one, to boot. Surely, marriage to that man was enough to sour any woman’s view of the holy state of matrimony.

  “Morning, ma’am.” Jared stretched his mouth into the smile he’d practiced this morning, and tipped his hat to a woman and her three little children who walked by. She grabbed the youngsters and scurried as far away from him as she could without venturing into the street, keeping a wary eye on him as she hurried down the boardwalk.

  Jared swallowed a mumbled curse and kept smiling.

  Despite the havoc he’d caused as sheriff, and what the townsfolk thought of him, Jared knew he could make Mattie come around. It would take some doing, but he’d show her the good man he was, the good husband he could be.

  He knew how, knew what to do, even if he hadn’t done it in years.

  So if it took kissing up to every old biddy in town to keep his job and stay in Stanford, close to Mattie, he’d do it. He wasn’t about to leave. Whatever the cost, he would win Mattie’s heart.

  And she would marry him before their baby came into the world.

  Jared straightened as he spotted Mrs. Pomeroy heading his way. He didn’t know if he was up to “being nice” to that old battle-ax; he’d had only an hour or so of practice this morning. But here she came, her wide hips taking up most of the boardwalk, her lips pursed and her gaze deliberately, he was sure, avoiding him.

  “Good morning, Mrs. Pomeroy,” Jared crooned, touching his finger to the brim of his hat.

  Her expression grew more sour, though Jared hadn’t thought that possible, as she spared him a brief glance.

  “Ma’am, I’d like to—”

  “Humph.” Mrs. Pomeroy put her nose in the air and steamed right past him down the boardwalk.

  A curse rumbled in Jared’s chest. It tickled his lips, begging to be spit out, and might have, too, if Mattie hadn’t appeared at his elbow.

  She nodded toward Mrs. Pomeroy. “Thinking of her naked, too?”

  “Oh, damn…” Jared grimaced and splayed his hand across his belly. “Don’t say that. I just ate my breakfast.”

  Mattie tossed him a smug smile, and even that pleased Jared. He smiled back—and not his practiced smile, either. This one was genuine.

  “How are you feeling this morning?” he asked, forcing himself not to look down at her belly.

  “Better than usual.”

  Mattie always looked beautiful to him. But today her cheeks seemed a little pinker, not so pale and drawn from the morning sickness she experienced. In fact, today she looked as if she felt better than he’d seen her look since his return to Stanford.

  “Actually,” Mattie said, “I’ve had so much on my mind this morning, I haven’t had time to think about being sick.”

  “What’s on your mind?” he asked, and couldn’t help hoping she’d say it was him.

  Instead, Mattie glanced away. “Business. Just business. I have to run.”

  She scooted around him before Jared could stop her. He watched her, though, as she headed down the boardwalk, admiring the sway of her skirt. She stopped as Billy Weaver approached. They talked for a few minutes, and she was on her way again.

  “Morning, Sheriff,” Billy said, as he walked up. Jared nodded down the boardwalk. “You know Mattie Ingram?”

  “Oh, sure,” Billy said. “I washed dishes for Miss Mattie…before.”

  Jared straightened. “Before what?”

  “Before her husband passed on.”

  “What was she talking to you about just now?”

  Billy shook his head sorrowfully. “Well, the thing is, Sheriff, I can’t tell you.”

  “Why not?”

  “’Cause Miss Mattie asked me not to.”

  “She told you not to tell anyone?” Jared asked. “Or just me?”

  Billy winced. “Well, truth is, Sheriff, she said not to tell you.”

  “It’s a secret?”

  “Well, yeah.” Billy shifted from one foot to the other. “I’m sorry as I can be, She
riff, but I can’t tell you. I gave my word I wouldn’t. My aunt Frannie, she says that a man is only as good as his word, so I can’t tell you what Miss Mattie’s up to.”

  Jared nodded thoughtfully. “Why don’t you go on in and take care of the prisoners?”

  Relieved, Billy smiled. “Sure thing, Sheriff,” he called as he disappeared into the jailhouse.

  So Mattie had a secret, huh? Jared rubbed his chin as he watched her fade into the crowd down the street. A secret. One she didn’t want him to know about.

  Jared felt his “mean look” creep over his features, and he did his best to plaster a smile in its place as he nodded at passersby.

  Why would Mattie not want him—only him—to know what she was up to this morning? From her comment, he figured it was something to do with her business. What was wrong with letting him in on it?

  The whole thing just didn’t sit right with Jared. He didn’t like being on the outside of anything concerning Mattie.

  He waited around on the boardwalk, smiling and nodding until his cheeks hurt, and finally Billy came outside again.

  “I don’t know about you,” Billy said, dragging his hand across his forehead, “but I’ll be glad when Big Jim gets here to post bail for that boy of his.”

  Jared agreed. Johnny Ballard had done nothing but whine and complain since yesterday. At the same time, old Mr. Hopkins had yet to utter a sound.

  “How about you and me take a walk?” Jared asked. “I’ve got a few things we need to discuss.”

  “Deputy things?” Billy asked.

  “Exactly. Let’s—damn!” Jared howled and swiveled on his throbbing leg in time to see the little boy who’d kicked him yesterday race down the street. “That little brat did it again! Who is that kid?”

  “That’s Chuckie,” Billy explained. “Chuckie Waldron. His pa owns the barbershop.”

  Jared rubbed his knee, cursing. “Why the hell does he keep kicking me?”

  “’Course, I ain’t no lawman, not yet, anyway,” Billy said. “But seems to me he don’t like you.”

  Jared huffed. “Let’s go.”

  They walked down to the Lady Luck Saloon. But when Jared got inside, he realized Billy wasn’t with him. He looked over the bat-wing doors and saw him standing outside, rooted in place, his eyes wide.

  “What’s wrong?” Jared asked, stepping outside.

  “I can’t go in there,” Billy fretted. “Aunt Frannie will take a switch to me for sure.”

  “You’re a grown man, Billy. Plenty old enough to go into a saloon. Now, come on. I’ve got business to discuss with you.” Jared caught his arm and pulled him inside.

  Just inside the door, Billy froze, refusing to take another step. He squeezed his eyes shut and plastered his palm over them.

  “I’ll go blind!” he wailed. “Aunt Frannie told me I’d go blind if I ever came into this place!”

  “You won’t go blind, Billy.” Jared pried his fingers away from his face. “Open your eyes.”

  Slowly, Billy lifted one eyelid, then the other. “Well, dang, you’re right, Sheriff.”

  “Go sit down.”

  The saloon was quiet at this time of day, with only a couple of men playing cards. Jared bought two beers at the bar and joined Billy at a table in the back of the room.

  “I want to talk about you becoming my deputy,” Jared said.

  Billy sat on the edge of his chair, his gaze bouncing from ceiling to floor, wall to wall.

  Jared leaned into his line of sight. “Billy, are you listening?”

  “Huh? Oh, yes sir, Sheriff. I’m listening.”

  “Good, because I—”

  “This is beer!” Billy’s eyes bugged out. “Oh, goodness, you got me beer!”

  “You’ve never had beer before?”

  “Shoot no. My—”

  “Aunt Frannie. Yeah, I understand. Don’t drink it if you don’t want to.”

  Billy leaned closer and sniffed the glass. “Well, I don’t reckon it would hurt nothing if’n I just tried it one little ol’ time.”

  “Okay, fine, Billy. Now listen, I want to talk to you about being my—hold on, there.” Jared pulled Billy’s arm down as he gulped about half the beer from his glass.

  “Whew!” Billy’s eyes glistened as he smacked his lips. “That stuff’s pretty darn good.”

  Jared pulled at the back of his neck. “Listen up, Billy, this is important.”

  “Oh, sure thing, Sheriff.” He gazed steadily across the table at Jared.

  “First off, I want you to know that I’m taking you seriously about being my deputy. But the thing is, a sheriff has to trust his deputy. He has to know he can count on him for anything, no matter what.”

  “You’re trying to get me to tell you what Miss Mattie’s secret is, aren’t you?”

  Jared shifted in the chair. Maybe this kid was a little smarter than he’d thought.

  “Yes, Billy, that’s exactly what I’m trying to do,” Jared admitted. “But not because I want to do anything that will hurt Mattie. I only want to help her.”

  Billy nodded thoughtfully. “I heard about you being friends with that husband of hers, and how you offered to marry her, just to make things right.” Billy glanced around the saloon, then leaned closer. “If you ask me, that Del Ingram wasn’t nothing but trouble.”

  This was the first time Jared had heard anyone in Stanford say anything against Ingram. “Why do you say that, Billy?”

  “You know how my aunt Frannie says I got to go back East and work for my uncle because I don’t have a real job here? Well, that’s because I work at a whole bunch of different places in town. The mercantile, the blacksmith, the feed and grain store, the bank, just about everywhere in Stanford. So that’s how I know what all’s going on.”

  Jared’s frowned. “And what is it, exactly, that you know?”

  Billy glanced around again, then lowered his voice.

  “Miss Mattie’s about to lose her restaurant. That’s why I don’t wash dishes over there no more. That’s why she let the Spencer sisters go, too. She can’t afford to pay nobody to wash dishes and wait tables, so she does it herself.”

  “What does that have to do with Ingram?”

  “He left accounts all over town. Miss Mattie’s been trying to pay on them. That’s why she can’t buy meat for her restaurant. That’s why she don’t have hardly no customers anymore.”

  “Damn…” Jared grumbled, hating Del Ingram all over again.

  Why hadn’t Mattie told him this? He could help her. He had a good chunk of money put aside. He’d give her every cent, if she’d just ask for it.

  “Anyhow,” Billy said, “that’s what she was talking to me about this morning. Miss Mattie’s figured out how to save her business.”

  “Yeah? How?”

  “Well…”

  “Look, Billy, if you’re going to be my deputy, you have to tell me what’s going on in this town. Mattie’s not planning something illegal, is she?”

  “Oh, shoot, no. She’s going to talk to the mayor about those investors that are coming to town.”

  Anger spiked through Jared. Mattie would ask the investors—total strangers—for help, but she wouldn’t ask him?

  “Miss Mattie wants the town to throw a big shindig at her restaurant for those investors,” Billy explained. “She told me that if the town has it at her place and pays her good, she can get the restaurant back on its feet again.”

  Jared shook his head. “There’re dozens of men coming out here, plus everybody from town. That’s a hell of a lot of work for her.”

  “Yeah, I know. Especially in her…condition,” Billy said, his cheeks flushing. “That’s what she was asking me about this morning—if I could help out that night. That is, if the mayor and the town council let her do it.”

  Jared fumed silently. Mattie was biting off a big chunk with this idea of hers. Too much, in his opinion. She wasn’t well. She was having a baby, for Pete’s sake. She had to take care of herself. And this plan
of hers would be nothing but hard work.

  Jared didn’t like it. He didn’t like it one bit.

  He folded his hands cross his chest, thinking. If what Billy said was true, Mattie would likely lose her restaurant without this financial boost. And without her restaurant, she couldn’t support herself.

  A little smile tugged at Jared’s lips. Mattie would have to marry him then. She’d have no other choice.

  Billy drained his beer. “Miss Mattie’s on her way over to the mayor’s house to talk to him about it.”

  “Right now?”

  “Yes, sir.” Billy hiccuped. “Shoot, she’s probably already settled it with him.”

  Jared pushed himself out of the chair. “We’ll see about that.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Darn that mayor! Darn him!

  “Oh!” Mattie clenched her fists as she stood in the shade of the general store near Mayor Rayburn’s house. She was so upset she thought she’d explode.

  He’d liked her plan, the one she’d come up with in the middle of the night, the one that would save her business. He’d thought it a fine idea and intended to propose to the council Mattie’s suggestion that the town host a supper for the Eastern investors. A grand celebration to welcome them and to showcase Stanford’s many fine qualities and business opportunities.

  The problem was that Mayor Rayburn had refused to let Mattie’s restaurant host the supper.

  Just thinking about it made Mattie’s blood boil, made her ache inside, pushing her emotions to near the breaking point. And lately, for some reason, all those things seemed more intense.

  Her condition, Mayor Rayburn had explained, lowering his voice and ducking his head as if it were something shameful. She had a baby on the way. She wasn’t up to hosting the supper.

  It had taken all of Mattie’s willpower not to shout at him, not to burst into tears. Calmly, she’d explained that she was perfectly healthy, well enough to host the supper, something she did for a living, anyway.

  But Mayor Rayburn had been adamant. The Cottonwood Café would not be considered for the supper. She wasn’t up to it. It wasn’t decent, in her condition. People would talk. The mayor simply wouldn’t hear of it.