It had to be lost, but all spring and summer that she lived here, they’d never had a truck get lost in their driveway.
Funny that the first should be tonight.
Crazy, loopy laughter wanted to bubble up from her dry throat, but she didn’t want to scare the nice old men who were bidding against Cheston. They probably didn’t want to be married to a lunatic, regardless of how big the house was.
The truck stopped, and the air hissed as the brakes came on. Because she couldn’t look at the crowd, couldn’t look at the bidders, couldn’t look at the auctioneer, she was watching the truck.
Boone jumped down out of the cab, and at that point, Roxie wasn’t even surprised. He’d broken down. That’s why he hadn’t been there. Of course.
He jogged over, straight to Abner. They spoke for a couple of minutes, then he turned...and punched the side of the barn.
Roxie couldn’t help it; she did flinch at that. And her eyes got wide. Why wasn’t he coming over to bid?
But then she heard the amount of money they were at—seven million—and she figured she knew.
He’d said he had a ranch, and he’d sold it. But there were no ranches nearby, and very few in the entire state, that were worth what Sweet Water was.
Boone couldn’t afford it.
She kept her mouth closed and sucked a breath in through her nose, pulling her chin back up. Funny that her mouth was completely dry, but her eyes pricked and started to fill.
No.
She absolutely was not going to cry. Not now anyway. Maybe an hour from now she could cry the wrenching sobs that were backing up in her throat. More from the fact that Boone had wanted her than because he wasn’t going to get her.
Or maybe it was all about the ranch for him, too.
She didn’t care. If she had to pick out of all the people in front of her or even out of all the men in the world, Boone would be her top choice. At this point, it didn’t matter if he only wanted the ranch.
“SOLD!” The auctioneer banged his gavel down on the makeshift stand. Roxie jumped. She didn’t even know which man had won. She just knew it wasn’t the right one.
Chapter 8
Boone should have known. He should have known he wouldn’t be able to afford it. He’d been overconfident about his chances and underestimated the number and wealth of the people who were here.
Of course, until two hours ago, he hadn’t really cared whether he won the auction or not. If he did, great. If he didn’t, he’d be living with his mother for a while, but he had the money from the sale of his ranch along with his savings, and he’d find something to purchase before winter.
Now...now even the pain that throbbed up his arm from his ripped-up right hand wasn’t enough to ease the pain in his heart.
Would she really marry that arrogant, cocky-looking dude that bought her?
He was powerless to stop her.
“No, you’re not,” Abner hissed in his ear.
Boone spun around to face him. “What are you talking about?” he hissed right back.
Abner pointed to the little white stick that was protruding out of Boone’s front pocket. He’d forgotten about the pregnancy test.
“That guy might change his mind if he knows she’s carrying your child.”
Boone’s jaw dropped, and his eyes skittered around. “How did you...?”
Abner’s mouth tightened. “Go on. Swallow your pride and get up there. Before it’s too late.”
Boone gave Abner a hard look. Abner was right. Boone didn’t want to get up in front of everyone and admit what he’d done. Lark was here. So was Clay. His mother. His other siblings and the guys he worked with. The town he lived in. People who had known and respected him all his life.
“Okay, folks.”
Boone was already starting toward the stage when the auctioneer waved some papers around and spoke to the crowd. “Cheston, here, has checked out just fine with the finances. Now, according to the stipulations in the will, anyone in the crowd can object, just like at a real wedding, then Miss Roxie Peterson has thirty minutes to decide if she wants to go through with it.”
Boone reached the stage and jumped up. “I object,” he said in as loud of a voice as he could. His heart pounded, but his hands were steady. So was his gaze as it landed on Roxane.
Her eyes were wide, but they held resignation. Like she’d decided she was going to go through with it already.
Boone didn’t have the money the other man did and couldn’t provide for Roxie the way he could, and he wasn’t sure exactly what his feelings for her were, let alone how she might feel about him. Maybe she hated him.
Regardless, he wasn’t going to let her go without giving this his best shot. The crowd had become as still as moonlight at midnight when he hopped onto the platform. With the cool and uncharacteristic stillness of the North Dakota air, his voice would easily travel as the crowd waited with baited breath for what their native son had to say.
It wasn’t what they were expecting; that was for sure.
He didn’t step any closer to Roxie, even though he didn’t want to stop until he was standing by her side.
Maybe she didn’t want him there. Maybe she was happy to walk down the path she had chosen. But she’d told him where she was going and what was going to happen, and he had to believe it was because there might have been some small desire in her to have him here.
He didn’t have enough money to buy her.
All he could do was use what he had, even if it shocked his friends, family, and neighbors. Even if it meant things that he’d rather keep secret were exposed.
He opened his mouth, hoping his heart didn’t come out.
“I don’t think she ought to marry someone else when she’s pregnant with my child.”
There was loaded silence for two seconds before the crowd gasped. Boone’s entire being was focused on Roxie, but he heard it. There were a lot of strangers here tonight, but pretty much the entire population of Sweet Water and the surrounding area were here as well. He’d just let a lot of them down. But his concern was for Roxie. Her shoulders were back and her chin up. Pride stirred in his heart.
“Whatever,” Cheston sneered behind him. “That’s just an excuse she asked you to make.” He lowered his voice. “Bryan said she was as cold as a dead fish. I can’t believe she’d be overcome with sudden passion and take up with the likes of you.”
The man, though shorter, looked down his nose at Boone. Which didn’t bother Boone at all. It did, however, bother him that the man compared Roxie to a dead fish. He forced his fingers to relax out of the fist they had formed. He was already ripping his reputation to shreds; he didn’t need to add an exclamation point in the form of a bare-knuckle brawl on the platform to it.
Roxie’s eyes narrowed, and her lips flattened, a white line forming between them. Yeah, she wasn’t too happy with him. He wasn’t sure he was doing the right thing, and currently, she wasn’t acting like a damsel who’d just had her white knight show up. Maybe she wanted to marry Cheston.
The auctioneer let his microphone fall to his side. He let his eyes slide between Boone and Cheston, finally settling on Cheston. “Is that going to change your mind?”
“He’s lying.”
Boone pulled the stick from his pocket. The receipt came with it. He handed it to Cheston.
Roxie opened her mouth. Before she could speak, a little man who’d been sitting on the platform, but in the back and off to the side, stood up and stepped forward. He held an official-looking folder.
Cheston didn’t wait for him to speak. He shook his head. “Maybe there’s oil under there, maybe there’s not, but it’s not worth this. I’m out.” He strode off the stage.
The auctioneer put up a hand as though to stop him then shrugged. It wasn’t his job to drag anyone to the altar, apparently.
The crowd parted, and Cheston disappeared. Boone didn’t watch him go.
The auctioneer had probably thought he’d seen it all. To his credit,
he only looked disconcerted for a moment before he glanced at the little man with the folder.
The auctioneer’s singsong voice was gone as he said, “This is the lawyer who is here to make sure we follow the stipulations in the will.” He jerked his chin at Roxie. “What do you say now, Mr. Peregrine?”
The lawyer adjusted his glasses. “It’s not what do I say, it’s what does the will say. That’s the final word tonight. And...” He opened the folder he was holding. “It actually does have something to say about this situation.”
The papers crackled as he shuffled them. “Ah, here. It says, ‘If the buyer backs out, and there is someone else willing to claim the ranch and wed Roxane Peterson, then he must meet these specifications. He must wed Roxane Peterson within thirty minutes of the auction ending. He must live on the ranch with his wife. Neither he nor his wife will have access to any of the money of the ranch for sixty days, and at the end of sixty days, they must pass a test. The test will be administered by the lawyer who is executing the will. If they do not meet these conditions, they forfeit the money and the ranch.’”
The lawyer took off his glasses and looked between Roxie and Boone. “Are you two ready to keep those conditions?”
Boone waited for Roxie’s nod. He didn’t have to wait long.
His turn. “Yes.” His voice was strong and sure. This is what he would have chosen the second everything clicked at the C store and he realized what her stand in front of the pregnancy tests indicated. He didn’t care about the ranch, although he sure as heck wasn’t going to pass on that opportunity, either.
“Then give me a minute to fill out the special license, and we’ll proceed. I need your IDs.”
Boone pulled his wallet out of his pocket while Roxie must have had her license ready, because she handed it directly over.
The crowd murmured in the background, but Boone didn’t pay attention. His family would have some words for him, he was sure. Not because they hated him and wanted to make his life miserable but actually the opposite. They loved him. They wanted to help and encourage him to do right. Part of that was not allowing him to escape unscathed when he did things that would hurt him or someone else.
It’s funny, though, the way God could take his mistake and work it for good. He’d have to remember to point that out to his mother.
He hoped it was good, anyway.
Roxie hadn’t moved from her stance with her feet planted and her hands clasped in front of her. It couldn’t be easy to be standing in front of all these people, knowing they were watching to see who would buy her. Maybe she was stiff because she’d crack if she weren’t holding herself tightly together.
He wanted to protect her. To shield her from this. Instead, he’d made it worse.
His hands itched to reach out and hold her, but he wasn’t going to get her trust tonight, even if he did make vows to her. It took more than a few words to earn trust back after it’d been broken like he’d just done.
He stepped closer to her, relieved she didn’t back away, at least. Her expression wasn’t hateful, but it wasn’t welcoming, either.
“I’m sorry. I ruined your chance for Cheston. I didn’t have time to check with you about what you wanted.”
“None of this is about what I want.” She didn’t look at him.
“I, uh, I just did the only thing I could to try to stop everything and...get what I wanted.” He wasn’t used to being so vulnerable, and letting her know that he wanted her enough to stop the proceedings and announce embarrassing personal info that should have been kept between them was definitely making him uncomfortable.
But her lips flattened and she crossed her arms, almost like she was protecting herself from him. “Well, congratulations, it looks like two months of roughing it, and you might get a six-million-dollar ranch. Of course I come with it, but it’s a big house, and you can have one side and I get the other.”
His jaw jutted out, and his brows shot up. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Okay, you two. It’s late, and these folks want to see a wedding before they go. You still both good?” The lawyer handed back their IDs and waved the special license in the air.
“I am,” Boone said firmly. Although he was going to have a talk with Roxane just as soon as he could. He’d always wanted Sweet Water, never thought it would happen, either, but tonight wasn’t about the ranch.
“Me too,” she said, almost fatalistically, like she’d choose to get married to him rather than have her legs cut off at the knees.
They faced each other and joined right hands. She’d been married before, and maybe she’d had the white dress and flowers and fancy trimmings, but Boone still regretted that she was getting married to him on a cheap makeshift platform, surrounded by muddy fields and a whole gaggle of tractors and farm equipment. She wasn’t even wearing a pretty dress. She certainly wasn’t smiling.
He wished it were different. He’d change it if he could.
He made sure to say his vows loud and confidently. If there was another woman in the world who had a stronger effect on him than Roxane, he sure didn’t want to meet her. He had all he could handle right here in front of him. He still didn’t believe in love at first sight, although that would explain everything they did at Clay’s wedding, but it wouldn’t be hard for him to love her, if he didn’t already.
The question was could the lady love him?
Her voice was softer as she repeated the promises that would bind them for a lifetime. Even if she left him, he wasn’t the kind of man who’d switch boats midstream. He’d pledged his life to her, and he’d spend the rest of his life either walking beside her or walking alone.
“I now pronounce you man and wife. Sounds like you two already took care of the kissing part, so I’ll present to you,” he indicated the audience, “Mr. and Mrs. Boone Stryker.”
“I’m not changing my name.” Roxane’s voice followed close on the heels of the lawyer’s statement.
“Oh.” The man looked crestfallen, like Roxane had given him a personal insult.
Boone was the one who’d been insulted. He kept his face impassive, though. He didn’t want to fight about their names. It was probably a pride thing for him—he wanted his wife to have his name. Maybe it was a caveman thing where she was leaving her tribe and joining his, but yeah, that’s what it said. They were joined.
But that’s not what she wanted, and he tried hard not to take it personally, although most of the people he knew in the audience would feel the same way he did—like it was a slap in the face to him. If that’s what it was, he was supposed to turn the other cheek.
He’d do that.
Tomorrow.
The crowd clapped and cheered, and some of them called for a kiss, but Roxane ignored them, and he did too. It was dawning on him that he’d actually done it. He’d gotten the woman he wanted, his child would be raised in his home, and Sweet Water was theirs as well.
But he didn’t want to get everything he’d ever wanted and have Roxane pay. They needed to have a talk, and he would make sure that she understood they both needed to benefit from this arrangement, not just him.
“Okay, you two. I need you both to sign, then I’d say it’s a wrap.”
“That’s great, because I have a headache and I’m going to bed.” Roxane took the pen from the lawyer and used the folder to press on while she scribbled her name.
She handed the pen back to the lawyer without looking at Boone and walked toward the house.
Mr. Peregrine held the pen out. Boone took it and put his name, bold and confident on the line. He’d already said the vows. He’d put everything he had into making things work with Roxane. If everything he had wasn’t enough, then he wouldn’t live with regrets.
Chapter 9
Roxie hurried to the house. She’d wanted to pretend that Boone meant the words he was saying, that he wanted her and would have taken her without the ranch. She’d actually gotten excited, for the first time in a long time, when the lawyer said th
ere were stipulations if the bidder backed out. Like maybe they would have lost the ranch and money, but Boone could have still chosen just her.
A picture flashed in her mind, Boone’s head over hers, his eyes partly closed, and his lips skimming down, touching the line of her jaw so light and so soft that she barely felt it. A touch that spoke of reverence and wonder. The way one might touch a million-dollar vase. For a man who looked so rugged and capable, whose hands were calloused and whose skin was hardened by the sun and wind, it was the kind of touch that was unexpected.
It almost made her cry.
The memory made guilt prick her heart, sharp and sore, because she’d not treated him well out there in front of all those people. Being sold like a hog on the block, being looked at like a steer ready to butcher, being marginalized by a six-million-dollar ranch had made her feel worthless. A sideshow. Someone people came to gawk at and maybe even laugh at. Pity.
So she’d lashed out.
And he’d taken it.
Of course he had. He wasn’t going to give up the ranch because of a few insults.
She was almost to the back door when someone grabbed her arm. She spun around. Bryan.
“You really knocked up?”
They’d been married, of course, but they hadn’t seen each other for months, maybe a year or more. At least since she’d moved from New York this past spring. He’d cheated on her, so their divorce hadn’t exactly been amicable, but really? No hey, it’s been a while, how are you?
“Do you have anything you want to talk about that’s actually your business?” She used her haughtiest tone. She didn’t have to dig deep to find it. It was almost natural when she was talking to Bryan.
“I set you up with Cheston. He’d have been a good guy. What’d you throw it away for?”
Cowboys Don't Buy Their Bride at Auction Page 7