A Betting Bride

by Rebecca de Medeiros

  "Food is ready!" Serena called out to him a short distance away.

  Alec had a hard time looking in her direction. He hated this feeling of uncertainty that ran through him. He was no fool, he had known deep down that as a girl Serena had fancied herself in love with him. He had always tried to be a gentleman and not give her false hopes, but now the woman reclining on the blanket beside a mountain of food, tempted him beyond reason. She had somehow turned the tables on him, bringing forth a yearning to the surface that he had long ago suppressed.

  In his mind's eye, he could see Serena sitting contently under the tall, old oak tree in his back yard. She would be quietly thumbing through one of her many books as a pink cheeked toddler played happily with a rag doll by her side. The image was so vivid that Alec felt a pang in his chest. She would have that one day. Some lucky man would give her those things, but not him. A family was not for him. He would never be a part of that scenario. He could never allow himself to even try, it was too dangerous.

  Walking over to the water's edge, Alec bent and washed his hands in the crisp water. Scooping a bit up in his cupped hands, Alec dumped it over his head and shivered. It was exactly what he needed to keep his mind off of the depraved contemplations that he had been having regarding his best friend's little sister.

  "What have you got there?" he asked as he went over and made himself comfortable seated across from her.

  "Ham slices, crusty rolls, wedges of cheese and a few peaches," she placed a large portion of the food on a napkin and handed the bounty to him.

  "Don't forget the cookies," he reminded her.

  "Those cookies are mine buster. You lost them when you failed to catch the first fish remember?" Serena teased as she handed over a few of the sweets from the tin sitting beside her.

  "So, what do I have to do to wheedle the rest of those cookies from you?"

  "Hm... how about you tell me a secret? Something no one else knows about you," Serena held out one of the delicious indulgences and teased him with it.

  "Deal. I adore cookies, don't tell anyone," he admitted cheekily and snatched the treat out of her hand with a smirk and took a big bite.

  "Not fair!" Serena cried out and tried to get it back from him, but he held the rest of the cookie above her head out of reach.

  "All right, settle down. I will let you ask me questions, but I will only answer what I choose to."

  "Will you be truthful?" Serena looked up at him suspiciously.

  "The truth will cost you two cookies per question."

  "Alec..."

  "Okay, fine. Ask your questions," Alec sighed.

  Serena regarded him for a moment. Laying on her belly upon the blanket, she popped a sliver of cheese into her mouth and chewed while she thought about what she wanted to ask him. Her bare feet swung to the rhythm of a melody that only she could hear.

  "Where are you originally from? What made you come to Liberty? I know that you are from somewhere back east," Serena asked him.

  Alec had never spoken about his life before he came to Liberty, except to say that he was from somewhere back east. She had learned from Mathias that Alec had been orphaned as a small child. His family had been in the shipping business, but as brothers are fond to do, Mathias had refused to share any actual secrets with his little sister. So Alec's past remained a mystery to her.

  "Plymouth, Massachusetts. I came here because Mathias was retiring and starting a ranch," Alec bit into the rest of the cookie he held. He chewed thoroughly before continuing, "I had already decided that I did not want to ride with the Rangers any longer. There was no one left for me to go back to in Plymouth, so I offered to help your brother get on his feet before I moved on."

  "Yet, you never moved on. You stayed and eventually became mayor. Why?" Serena asked. She was curious as to what held Alec here for the last ten years. She had always secretly longed to sprout wings upon her ankles and fly off as if she were that fella Icarus, she had read about.

  "Ah, ah, ah... hand me the promised cookies or no more questions," Alec held his greedy hands out and Serena handed them over. She figured she better just give the man the whole tin then and there if she ever wanted any answers to her questions.

  "You are going to get a belly ache if you eat all of those," Serena warned him with a smile.

  "I stayed because Liberty was as good a place to rest my hat as any other," Alec admitted while side stepping her dire warning of indigestion. "You really should teach Mrs. Wyatt how to make these. Consider it your good deed for a lifetime."

  "Mrs. Wyatt doesn't like me," Serena complained.

  "Mrs. Wyatt doesn't even like me very much, and I pay her a great deal of money to do so. I only keep her around because she scares off the council boys on a regular basis."

  "Who are you trying to fool? That woman thinks you hung the moon," Serena scoffed.

  "She is a crusty nag, but deep down the woman is a gem." Alec stared off into the distance with a smile on his face. For one unguarded moment, Serena saw past the mask of flippancy that he always wore. He honestly loved that old woman, even if he wouldn't admit it to himself.

  "You are lucky Alec."

  "How so?" He asked her confused. "I could loan you Mrs. Wyatt if you want, but I've got to be honest, she will make you scrub floors every Friday night with her."

  "No. You are lucky because you have gotten to travel and see the world. I have never been any further than Rattlesnake Canyon."

  "You long to travel?"

  "Yes, amongst other things," she confessed.

  "What things? Tell your old pal Alec all about them," he wiggled his eyebrows and leered at her playfully, making Serena laugh aloud.

  "Go into the Rot Gut Saloon and lay poker with the men." She admitted.

  "As if Marlon would ever let you into his sanctuary, you know how he feels about genteel ladies. You wouldn't get two steps in the door before he ejected you."

  "I want to break in a stallion on the Bar S," she continued on, not deterred from her list.

  "Mathias would break your fool neck for you... no need for the horse to do it. You better mark that one off of your list," Alec shot her idea down.

  "Go on a moonlight swim in the lake," she said ignoring his sarcasm.

  "That one is not so hard to accomplish. Just get your brother to bring you down here, and you can tick that one off of your list," Alec shrugged.

  "Won't work," Serena shook her head.

  "Why?"

  "Because... I want to swim naked. I read about it one of my novels, and it sounds decadent," she confessed in a scandalous whisper.

  "Good lord woman! Just what kind of books are you reading? Your mama finds one of those books, and she will never let you out of her sight again..." Alec laughed as she reached up and smacked him on the arm.

  "I wish I had been born a man. If I was a man, I would do all the things I've longed to do and no one would think a thing about it," she grumbled.

  "Being a man is not all splendor and roses Sugarplum. Swimming naked is a bit more dangerous for us men. A fish might decide to take a bite on our personal tackle." Alec howled at her disgruntled expression.

  "How did this conversation turn to me? I believe I was asking you the questions."

  "You've got one more question, make it a good one," he waved his permission in princely fashion.

  "Alec. What about your mother?" Serena hated to see him close up, but she had to ask. Serena honestly worried about him. Hunter would be back in town soon with the woman, and she feared Alec would react badly. She just wanted him to know that she would be there for him if he needed a friend.

  "Serena," he sighed. "Please do not start in on this. Why don't we talk about your parents? I have not seen George in a while. Has he seen the Doc?"

  "Doc Bixby has been a bit preoccupied, but Doc Fisher has agreed to see him," Serena answered. She would not argue the change in conversation.

  "The boys and I have been worried. George is the only sane member of that eccent
ric group. I need him well enough to help me herd the others away from trouble."

  Alec reclined on his back. Hands stacked behind his head, he positioned himself next to Serena's knees as she lay on her belly. His head pointed toward her feet he reached out a grabbed one. "You have the smallest feet I have ever seen," he remarked with a trace of awe in his voice.

  "A gentleman neither sees a lady's foot nor her ankles. If he does, he pretends that he has not, out of courtesy," Serena informed him haughtily.

  "Well now that I have seen them, I just cannot un-see them," Alec pinched one pink toe gently. "It would be like asking the boys on the council to stop planning harebrained schemes...utterly impossible."

  "Speaking of the boys, how do you think they are doing fish-wise? Think anyone is beating us?" Serena asked as she stole a cookie from the tin that he had left abandoned at his knee.

  "We will find that out in another couple of hours. The weighing in must be concluded by one o' clock," Alec informed her.

  "Goodness! We better get back to it then," Serena pushed his hand away from her foot and hopped up from the blanket. Walking back toward her awaiting pole she called out over her shoulder, "I cannot wait to hear you admit that I caught the majority of our fish!"

  Alec sighed. He could tell that it was going to be a long time before she would let that go. "Women, they know just where to hit a man where it hurts the most... right in his fish count," Alec muttered to himself as he rose to his feet and followed her back to the edge of the water.

  Mathias Sinclair had been having one hell of a week. He'd had to fire two more ranch hands for fighting this week. Normal fistfights he could overlook, it was the bowie knives that they had taken to each other that had sealed their fate. Then two days ago, Mathias had awoken to find that someone had poisoned the watering hole that he used for his cattle. He had lost three calves and four adult steer before he had discovered the problem. The four empty bottles of Thallium, lying not too far from the carcasses were a dead giveaway that someone was tampering with his ranch.

  Fencing off the watering hole to keep any stray livestock from the tainted water, Mathias immediately focused on his next problem. Trying to find another way for his livestock to get the water, which had been harder to do because of the lack of rain, Mathias had been in a foul mood. The solution, for the time being, was to have his men ride the herd and try to drive them closer to the homestead. They had set up deep trenches filling them with as much lake water as they could manage to transport. Mathias could not afford the added expense of hiring extra help, but his cattle needed water. So, unfortunately he'd had to take out another loan from that fat weasel of a banker.

  Now to top off his hectic week he had this to deal with. Standing in the middle of Liberty town square awaiting the horde of hopeful anglers to return with their bounty, Mathias sighed irritably. The fishing tournament that the council boys had planned was well underway, and as luck would have it, Mathias had been roped into judging the event. He did not have time for this foolishness he thought cantankerously. He had a ranch to run instead of playing nanny to a bunch of old men who could not even decide on the prize they wanted to present the winner.

  "I still say we should give the first place winner a dozen peaches from Harlan's store," Josiah recommended. He huffed as no one immediately agreed to his plan, "everyone loves peaches."

  "Josiah, I already told you... the partnering pair would be better rewarded with two dinners at your hotel," Mathias sighed.

  Getting that penny pinching old goat to part with two free suppers was going to be like pulling teeth. Mathias never did understand why he allowed the council to talk him into filling his pa's shoes. He must have been two shades of crazy that day to agree. When Fergus had shown up on his doorstep and asked him for the favor, who would have thought it would involve all of this craziness?

  "What about the ribbons that my wife made, aren't those good enough to give?" Josiah asked hopefully.

  "Josiah." Mathias rubbed his forehead. He was beginning to get a tremendous pain in his head from arguing with the man. "How about we take the cost of the dinners out of the money raised from the bridal bid? That way you are not forced to donate anything Josiah," Mathias offered.

  "Well, if you insist... I suppose that is truly the best solution to our problem," Josiah agreed with a smile.

  Mathias shook his head. He figured the greedy man was mentally counting the few coins he would make on the two meals. "Is everything ready for the fish fry this evening?" he asked the men gathered.

  "Franklin Baines has donated a large portion of fresh lard for tonight from his hog farm," Marlon informed the group as he took a puff off of the pipe he held. "I've got the four large fire pots that we used last year. They are still in Harlan's store over yonder," Marlon stated, pointing in the direction of a general store that had seen better days. "They just need a strong backed younger fella to go and fetch them for us."

  "All right, hint received. While I am doing that, why don't you boys grab yourselves a seat in the shade?" Mathias motioned to a pair of benches that were placed under a shaded oak tree.

  "While yer' at it boy, can you grab me a bottle of whiskey? I keep it behind the counter," Harlan requested as if he did not already have a flask tucked up in the back pocket of his trousers.

  Walking toward the store front Matthias nodded his head politely to a small group of ladies that were gathered around tables wrapped in bunting. The women that had set the booths up to sell baked goods shot each other wary glances. He figured their caution was well deserved. He really had not been much of a conversationalist over the past few years. Some would even call him a mean tempered grouch. His mother informed him regularly that he reminded her of a bear with a sore paw, whatever that meant.

  Mathias figured that it was his size that intimidated most people. At six feet and five inches in height, he was well aware most people called him 'the giant' behind his back. He hated that, but it served his purpose. If he wanted to be left alone, he would just shoot a glare in the direction of the person bothering him. They would usually light out as if their tail were on fire. There were a few exceptions to the rule. His family, the council boys and his ranch foreman Culver, were never daunted by his surliness or his size.

  Quickly retrieving the complete set of cast iron pots, he stacked them neatly out in front of the store and went back inside to find Harlan's promised bottle. When a quick search behind the counter came up empty, Mathias stooped low and began rummaging through the rats nest of invoices the old man kept there. Dear lord, how did the man keep track of anything around here? Mathias was half tempted to spend the day sorting the chaos for Harlan. He was a big believer in organization.

  "Good lord there is a rotted apple under here!" Mathias mumbled in disgust. Reaching around the blackened husk, he searched inside a sack filled with more disgusting sights, "Ugh, god. I hope that is a dried pickle I am touching!"

  "Take a bite of it and let's find out," An amused voice sounded. The light drawl came from the other side of the counter top startling Mathias. His head shot up so fast he bumped it on the wooden edge of the counter. Rubbing his aching skull, Mathias peeked over the top, and though he was loathed to admit it, he enjoyed the sight before his eyes.

  Arms crossed under what looked to be a nice handful of bosom, the slim vision of an angel in pale peach frippery, cocked a saucy smile at him as she rested her elbows on the surface of the work surface.

  "Miss Bixby, if you think I am going to take a bite out of something that has probably been under this counter since Jesus himself walked the earth, you are sadly mistaken," Mathias huskily replied.

  "Learn to live a little bit Mr. Sinclair. How do you know what is bad until you try it?"

  "Said eve to Adam, that was of course, right before she got him kicked out of Eden," Mathias replied with a smirk.

  Trudy pouted little. One plump bottom lip slightly jutted, and Mathias felt something stir in him that he had not felt in quite a long ti
me. The accomplished flirt was toying with him, for some strange reason Mathias felt the urge to keep up the games.

  "Would you like a bite? I could retrieve it for you if you want," Mathias offered solemnly.

  "No, thank you. I am not here to taste your pickle sir," Trudy ran a tongue over her bottom lip, and Mathias felt like he had just swallowed his own.

  The woman was too young, too refined to know that she had alluded to something scandalous. Something he would give his right arm to participate in with her. Mathias mentally shook himself.

  He was a pig, for allowing visions of certain acts that she could perform on his body to run through his head. This woman was a friend of his sisters, or so he believed. He remembered her running through the school yard in pigtails whenever he would pick his little sister up from school. Which made her a good ten years younger than he was himself; Mathias had no business allowing his eyes to roam freely over her deliciously formed body.

  "I came because my parasol broke," Trudy pointed to the blasted contraption she had laid at the register. It had taken her nearly an hour to break the damn thing, and she her arms ached from the strain of trying to snap it in two. She had hated to part with something so beautiful, but plans being what they were, she had complied with her papa's wishes.

  "I sincerely doubt that Harlan Jones keeps a stash of ladies para-whatever you just called that thing..."

  "No silly," Trudy laughed. "I need to get one from your parent's shop. Josiah directed me to you because Serena has somehow disappeared and I am desperately in need of one."

  "She is fishing with Alec today," Mathias informed her with a shrug.

  "Oh? Are they all alone?" Trudy asked sweetly, but it killed her to keep her tone civil. Her father would blame her yet again for not gaining Alec's attention.