by Emma Ashwood
But the person in the door-frame was not Ellie. Tally swallowed, feeling a flutter of fear that a ranch hand was apparently knocking at her door, still smelling of cattle and the not unpleasant tang of fresh sweat. He was, she could hardly help but notice immediately, incredibly handsome, with chestnut brown hair and piercingly blue eyes. His full lips were offset by a strong jaw and neck and his frame was lithe yet powerful. Never had she come across a man who looked like this back on the East Coast.
‘I wanted to apologize,’ the man said awkwardly, his gaze not quite meeting her eyes, ‘for not being present at dinner. It can be a long day on the ranch.’
Tally’s jaw dropped a little as she realized to whom she was talking. It was only then she noticed the lack of light in the room, dusk was here and she must have missed dinner completely.
‘You’re Jacob?’ she said, flustered. He wasn’t what she had been expecting. Of course he had described himself and sent a grainy photograph, but it had clearly not done him justice. She had been expecting him to be handsome enough, but still…Tally took a deep breath to regain her composure and gave him her sweetest smile.
‘I’m Tally May Jones,’ she said, wondering if she should hold out her hand or curtsy, realizing she had no idea what was appropriate in such a strange situation, ‘and I’m pleased to make your acquaintance. Finally.’
She hoped there wasn’t too much sarcasm in her final word. Jacob merely nodded.
‘I came to tell you we will be married in the morning; I’ve made arrangements with the pastor. It wouldn’t be seemly for you to spend another night here alone. I would have arranged matters for today but the trains can often run very late. I hope everything is comfortable enough?’
Tally blinked at the question, coming straight after such an announcement, ‘Erm, yes, wonderful. Ellie’s been lovely. In the morning? What time shall I be ready?’
‘The pastor will be ready at ten; we will be married at the small church in town. I’ll send Ellie up before to help you get ready and Jack will fetch you both in the cart. Goodnight, ma’am’.
He tipped his hat at her and turned on his heel, leaving Tally staring after him with an open mouth.
Jacob lay in bed and stared at the ceiling. The girl was beautiful, so much so he hadn’t wanted to meet her eyes, afraid he would give away his desire.
And that’s all it was, he told himself sternly. The appreciation of a pretty girl. There was no more to it than that. Nevertheless he wondered if he would have been better off taking an older woman as a wife, a widow perhaps, who would have no expectations on him other than to provide and would have understood her role here. Not some young girl who would want more of him than he was prepared to give. Parts of him had died along with Elsa and their child.
He had toyed with the idea of telling her he had made a mistake, giving her the money for her ticket and sending her home, but he knew that wasn’t possible. To do that to a young lady could ruin her reputation and tarnish her prospects, and his conscience wouldn’t allow him to do such a thing. It wasn’t her fault he was damaged. No, he would do the right thing and marry her, but he was going to have to be very careful with this woman. This girl with the mane of a lioness and eyes that could enchant a man in no time at all and without her ever knowing it.
He wasn’t going to let them enchant him. He couldn’t afford to be so careless. Jacob knew better than to give his heart when it could be all too easily shattered.
He dropped into a fitful sleep, his last conscious thought one of determination that he would not dream about Tally May.
CHAPTER FOUR
Chapter 3
The sun shone through frost on the small window, lighting up the little room and making Tally’s hair shimmer gold as Ellie weaved deft fingers through it, pinning and curling. Washed and spritzed with rosewater, trussed up in the brand-new corset her father had spent a month’s takings on, Tally felt almost like a princess.
After Jacob had left her last night, Tally hadn’t been able to sleep as she had tried to process all that had happened that day. When she finally had fallen asleep, it was with Jacob’s face at the front of her mind’s eye. She had woken this morning feeling refreshed and with renewed optimism.
He hadn’t seemed like a cold man, she reassured herself, just somewhat aloof and even a little sad. As if behind the gruff presentation he was carrying a great burden. And she had found his concern for her reputation touching. That would explain, she thought, the reason he had stayed away yesterday. These Western towns could be lawless, she had heard, so for her to garner any kind of sordid reputation would not bode well for her. Tally had convinced herself Jacob was trying to protect her, and things would be different once they were married. Which would be by noon this very day.
Nevertheless, she also thought she had been right in seeing sadness in him and remembering the sense she’d had the day before that Pete and Ellie were keeping things from her. She tried to question Ellie as the girl tended to her hair and rouge. No matter how many ways she tried to question her however, Ellie gave one-word answers, frowning at her hair as if she needed to concentrate and couldn’t possibly talk. In the end, Tally sighed and resigned herself to the girl’s administrations. Whatever it was, she would get to the bottom of it, she resolved. After all, they would be man and wife. Spouses didn’t keep secrets, did they?
Ellie helped her into her dress and then held up the small mirror, tilting it at different angles so she could see herself – or parts of herself, at least. The first thing I’m doing as Mistress of this house is getting a usable mirror, she thought. Even so, she could see that she looked lovely, if only by Ellie’s admiring sighs.
‘You’re as pretty as a picture, Miss,’ the girl said with a smile.
‘I wish my mother could be here,’ Tally said and then remembered Ellie’s mother had passed. ‘Oh I’m sorry, that was insensitive.’
Ellie shook her head. ‘Not at all, Miss. What’s been is been. No good hanging on to your grief and letting it eat you from the outside like…’ Ellie stopped and turned away, suddenly very busy with the flowers she had brought for Tally to hold. Like Jacob? Tally knew if she questioned her she would get no answers, so she filed the comment away in the back of her mind and tried to concentrate on the matter at hand. Her wedding.
Once they were married she would have plenty of time to get to know the mysterious Jacob Tucker.
As Tally was being primped and preened, Jacob was pacing up and down outside the church, waiting for the pastor to arrive. Other than Pete and Ellie as witnesses, the pastor's wife and the town Sheriff, there would be few guests. He wondered belatedly if he should have invited some more folks from the town, or at least his workers and their families, those of them that had them. Jacob had a tendency to employ young men like himself; hard-working and with few ties.
He had deliberately kept this wedding as brief as possible, with little fanfare, but remembering Tally's face at the door and the air of bewilderment he had sensed from her at his abrupt tone, he was surprised to find he was feeling guilty. She was a young woman after all, and as business-like as he intended to keep this marriage, she no doubt would have appreciated one day to be made a fuss of. He wondered what could be done at the last minute, and then shook his head at himself.
Don't give her false hope. You have nothing more to offer her.
Perhaps he was making too many assumptions. After all, he had been careful to never give a false impression in his letters, to never insinuate any attempt to woo her heart. She must know what nature of arrangement this was, and far better she marry a man who would provide for her and offer security and stability than lose her heart to some Johnny-come-lately.
Jacob tried his hardest to convince himself he was doing the right thing as he waited for his new bride to arrive. Pete wasn't helping; he knew the older man thought he was being unnecessarily cruel to the girl by keeping his distance the way he had, and he felt almost the sting of betrayal, for Pete should appreciate his
carefulness more than anyone. Pete's wife had died too, and the other man had never, to anyone's knowledge, so much as visited with a saloon girl in the years since; like Jacob he had remained faithful to the memory of his beloved.
Jacob turned his mind from the thought of Elsa; he must not think of her today. Best to get this over with and he could return to his work and lose himself as he always did in the workings of the ranch. With a woman about the place, things would run even more smoothly; once she had gotten used to her situation, Jacob was sure all would be well.
Pete's voice broke into his thoughts. 'Looks like the pastor's here. I'll take the cart and go and get the young ladies, shall I?'
Jacob nodded and took a deep breath as he watched Pete drive away. The pastor shook his hand with a beaming smile, and Jacob tried his best to muster up one of his own, wishing he didn't feel that the bottom was about to fall out of his world.
Waiting in the church, Tally seemed to take an age, and Jacob was on the verge of believing she had changed her mind and was about to breathe a sigh of relief when the doors flew open.
They were here. Jacob stared resolutely ahead as his new bride walked through the church to stand at his side, deliberately avoiding those big blue eyes as he turned to face her. Even so, there was no avoiding how beautiful she was. Ellie had done something glorious with her hair, pinning it in long, loose curls that practically begged a man to run his fingers through them. Her figure was flattered in the soft lines of her dress, which was tasteful and simple and all the more alluring because of it. Her big blue eyes, the very ones he was trying so hard not to look into, were gazing at him with a mixture of shyness and expectation and Jacob felt a stirring of desire that he hadn't felt for a very, very long time. His gaze dropped to the girl’s softly rouged lips and, as her cheeks flushed, he dragged his gaze away, embarrassed that she had seen his momentary desire.
Tally recited her vows, her eyes never leaving Jacob’s face, even as Jacob kept his gaze fixed on a point slightly above her head, reciting his own in a monotone voice, trying to disguise the whirl of emotions that rose within him. The memory of the day he had recited these very same vows to Elsa flooded him, and the pang of that combined with his undeniable attraction to this beautiful stranger caused a painful conflict within him. He became aware of everyone staring at him and was glad he had not bothered with a full congregation.
'The ring?' the pastor prompted, and he saw Pete handing them out and realized he was miles away, lost in his own thoughts. Tally was wearing a slight frown now and, as he hastened to put the ring on her finger, he fumbled and nearly dropped it. A slight giggle came from Ellie behind them and as Tally's eyes met his again, Jacob found himself smiling into them. They squeezed each other’s hands as they completed their vows. Tally tipped her face up to his for the consummation kiss, and he was amazed to find himself brushing his lips across hers. At the sudden spark that flared between them, he pulled back and set his jaw, looking away again as the few onlookers politely clapped.
He ignored Tally's look of disappointment through the rest of the service, making sure to not meet her gaze again, trying to ignore the way his lips still tingled where they had met hers. The small church felt suddenly claustrophobic and he longed to get back to his ranch where he could retreat back to safety and away from this bewitching girl who had all too suddenly become his wife.
Pete drove them back in the cart, with him and Ellie upfront. There was an awkward silence, which Pete broke in his usual gruff way. 'Lovely little ceremony that. You look divine, Miss Tally...or Mrs. Tucker now, I suppose I should say?'
'It was lovely, thank you, Pete,' Tally said politely, then looked at Jacob. No doubt he should say something, he realized.
'Yes, thank you both for helping us. You did a great job with Tally's hair, Ellie.'
Ellie nodded happily. 'She looks radiant, doesn't she, Mister?'
Jacob nodded, saying quietly, 'She does indeed,' ignoring the searching gaze he could feel Tally fixing on him.
Back at the ranch he helped her down from the cart and they stood for a moment awkwardly, unsure of what to say. This was all so different from when he married Elsa; there had been a hog roast and dancing and no work for three days...but this was not the same thing, he reminded himself.
'I'll see you for dinner then,' he said. Tally's expression barely changed.
'Yes. I'll look forward to your company. In the meantime, I thought I would get on with seeing what's needed in the larder. Do we have any particular plans for Christmas?'
The sudden hope in her voice was more than Jacob could bear. 'Not as yet', he said sharply, before turning and leaving her staring after him.
As Tally got on with her inventory of the food stores, having changed from her beautiful dress into one more practical, she felt her blood boiling. Her upset was gone for now, to be replaced by a creeping anger.
What an utterly infuriating, blockheaded man!
She thought to herself as she stood on tiptoe to peer into dusty cupboards. 'And with no idea about keeping a larder well-stocked,' she said out loud to thin air as she perused almost empty shelves. No wonder he wanted a wife.
The thought dawned on her that was indeed the only reason he wanted a wife. To be a housekeeper. No doubt he considered it cheaper than paying a woman to come up from the town to see to his domestic needs.
But what about his other needs? Was there really no thought of romance.? That kiss...just the barest touch of lips, yet Tally knew he had felt just the same as she. Yet he had pulled away from her as quickly as if he had been scalded. For just that one moment she had felt something leap between them, and his seeming dismissal of that stung both her pride and her heart.
Tally blinked back angry tears, determined to focus on the job at hand. Then a thought came to her and she called for Ellie, who came running in from the kitchen.
'Are you alright, Miss?'
'Yes. Were you planning on cooking dinner tonight for me and Mr. Tucker?'
'I expected so, Miss. I was just about to start chopping onions for stew.'
'Well don't. I want you to go to town and fetch some pumpkin and sweet potato, if you can find it, and more milk and eggs. I'm going to make dinner tonight.'
Ellie nodded and rushed off, somewhat clumsily Tally thought, but her mind was on tonight's dinner. She would get around Jacob Tucker one way or the other, and she was going to start with her grandmother's pumpkin pie.
When Jacob sat down for dinner, looked dirty and tousled from yet another hard day's work, he seemed surprised to see Tally serving. 'Where's Ellie?'
'I gave her the night off; she looked peaky. Besides, I thought for our first dinner as man and wife it would be nice if it was just us?' She smiled hopefully at Jacob, who nodded but avoided her eyes. Again. It was almost as though he was scared of her.
She sat down after ladling a heap of delicious looking potatoes onto his plate of pies and greens.
'This looks delightful,' he said politely. His eyebrows shot up at the first taste and Tally smiled with satisfaction.
'How was your afternoon on the ranch? I was wondering if you could show me around when you're not quite so busy? I'd really like to get to know my new home,' she said, trying to show the genuine interest in her voice and feeling deflated when Jacob gave a non-committal sound through a mouthful of pie. Still, at least he was enjoying his dinner.
They continued to eat, and Tally felt herself growing nervous. After all, it was their wedding night and she was about to spend it with a man who had barely said two sentences to her. She thought of the beautiful nightgown her mother had packed for this very night and wished Ma was here to reassure her. Before coming down to dinner she had laid the gown on her bed and wondered what to do about her things, realizing she didn't even know where Jacob's room was. Perhaps Ellie would have moved them while they were having dinner? She had no real idea as to the etiquette of these situations and had no-one to ask here. It would hardly be seemly to ask Jacob. Still, sh
e took a deep breath and said as innocently as she could, 'Will Ellie be moving my things? Into the...main bedroom?'