by Nerys Leigh
Before he could say anything more, the back door of the house opened and they stepped out, Bess following behind them.
“Hi, Daisy,” Sara called. She walked down from the porch with Dan at her side, his hand held out as if she might need help negotiating those four steps.
Bess trotted over to greet Indiana and Daisy, in that order.
Will came to a halt halfway across the yard, unsure what to do. Should he just turn around and run now, before the humiliation started?
“How are you feeling?” Daisy asked as Sara walked up to her.
“Like a beached whale with heartburn that has to visit the privy every few minutes.”
Daisy laughed sympathetically. “I remember what that’s like.”
“I am very, very ready to introduce this baby to the outside world, believe me.” Sara looked at the bunch of flowers Daisy held. “Those are beautiful. Who are they for?”
She glanced back at him. “Actually, they’re for Will, seeing as we’re courting now.”
Will’s gut migrated to somewhere around his ankles.
As one, Dan and Sara turned to stare at him.
“We’re not courting,” he said quickly. “I refused.”
“You refused?” Dan said.
“Yes. When she… um…” This was getting worse and worse. “Um… asked Ma and Pa’s permission.”
“Permission to what?” Sara asked.
“To court him,” Daisy replied brightly. “And they said yes.”
There were a few seconds of silent staring during which Will wished the ground would open up and swallow him.
“So,” Dan said, “if I’ve got this right, Daisy went to our parents to ask for their permission to court you, and they said yes.”
“They were very happy at the prospect,” Daisy said. “After I’d answered their questions.”
Will threw her an exasperated glance.
“There were questions?” Dan said.
Will heaved a sigh. He was never, ever going to live this down. “Pa asked her what her intentions towards me were.”
Sara slapped a hand over her mouth with a squeak.
Dan was clearly struggling to wrestle a smile into submission. “And what did Ma do?”
“Laughed. A lot.”
A snort escaped. “That’s our mother.”
“Well, I think it’s wonderful.” Sara gave Daisy a hug. “I’m so happy you’re going to be my sister-in-law.”
Will threw his hands into the air. “We’re not courting!”
Daisy walked over to him and held out the bunch of flowers. “Would you do me the honor of accompanying me to dinner at the hotel this evening?”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “We’re not courting.”
She shrugged a little, the flowers still extended towards him.
Stepping around her so his back was to Sara and Dan, he lowered his voice. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because you refuse to see sense, and I’m not going to let you waste a perfectly good life because you won’t forgive yourself. You could be happy with me and Nicky, and I’m going to prove it to you.”
What was he supposed to do? If he said yes, she’d keep on with the ludicrous courtship. If he said no, he’d look like a cad. There was no way out.
“Fine, I’ll go to dinner with you,” he said, taking the flowers. “But we’re not courting.”
“You may not be, but I am. I’ll be here at six to fetch you.” She turned to walk back to Indiana.
“What? No, wait, I can get myself into town.”
She glanced back at him. “I know, but since I’m courting you, it’s my job to fetch you. I’ll be here at six with the buggy.”
She bid Sara and Dan goodbye, mounted Indiana, and rode off.
Dan and Sara turned to Will.
He pointed the flowers at them. “Not a…” He stopped, lowered the flowers, and pointed with his free hand instead. “Don’t say a word. Not one word.”
He walked past them to fetch a vase from the house.
From behind him, there was a stifled snort.
“And no laughing either!”
Chapter 6
All his shirts were wrinkled. How could every single one of his shirts be wrinkled? And then he remembered – because Dan hadn’t let Sara do any work around the house for weeks and Will’s ironing habits were sporadic at best.
He glanced at the pocket watch lying on the table, beside the vase containing the flowers Daisy had brought. Fifteen minutes until she arrived. Was that enough time to heat an iron and press his shirt?
Except, what did it matter what he looked like? They weren’t courting and he wasn’t trying to impress her. Yes, he was wearing his best trousers and had polished his boots. And he’d taken a bath and washed his hair and shaved. But that was just because they were going to the hotel and he rarely ever went to the hotel to eat. It wasn’t because he wanted to look good for the woman he wasn’t courting.
It wasn’t.
Shaking his head in frustration, he grabbed the green shirt, the one Daisy made for him, and pulled open the bunkhouse door. He’d taken one step outside when he suddenly realized he was naked from the waist up. Huffing a breath, he darted back inside, grabbed one of the other shirts from the pile he’d thrown onto his bed, shrugged it on, and headed back outside again. He hurried across the yard to the house, holding the green shirt under his arm so he could fasten a couple of buttons as he went.
“How long will it take me to iron this shirt?” he said as he burst through the back door. He saw Bess lying on the floor just in time, managing to stumble to a halt before he tripped over her. “Did you have to lie right there?”
She raised her head, her tail thumping on the floor.
Dan and Sara looked up from where they sat at the kitchen table in the middle of their supper. Then they looked down at his chest.
He followed their gazes to see that, while he’d fastened the shirt he now wore, both buttons were far from being in their correct buttonholes.
“Forget that.” He waved the hand holding his green shirt. “I need to press this before Daisy arrives in fifteen minutes.”
Sara started to rise from her chair. “I’ll get the iron heating, but it’s going to be close. Although as the one being courted, you are allowed to be fashionably late.”
“We’re not… oh, never mind.” He waved her back and headed for the pantry. “I’ll get the iron on the stove. Carry on eating.”
“For someone who’s not courting, you’re very flustered,” Dan remarked.
Will emerged from the pantry with the iron. “I’m not flustered, I just have enough manners to not want to make Daisy wait for me.” He placed the iron onto one of the hot plates on the stove. “Is this hot enough?”
“Should be,” Sara said. “Do you want me to put more wood in?”
“No, it’s all right.” He stared at the iron, willing it to heat faster.
“There are wrinkles in your trousers,” Dan said.
Will spun around. “What?! Where?”
His brother burst into laughter.
Sara shook her head at her husband. “Stop it, he’s flustered enough as it is. Your trousers are fine, Will.”
“I’m not flustered!”
He was flustered, although he couldn’t for the life of him understand why. He and Daisy had eaten together hundreds of times. Maybe even thousands, if he took it over their entire lives. Why was today so different?
“I’m going back to the bunkhouse. I’ll be back in ten minutes.” Hopefully the iron would be hot enough by then and Daisy wouldn’t be early.
He jogged to the bunkhouse to finish dressing and check his hair in the small mirror he kept above the washbasin for shaving. It was getting a little long. Maybe he should have asked Sara to trim it for him, but it was too late now.
Besides which, Daisy had seen his hair several times in the past few days. What difference did it make if it was long or short now?
This was get
ting ridiculous. They weren’t even courting.
He ran his fingers through his hair, checked that none was sticking up, and turned away from his reflection. Daisy knew what he looked like and apparently deemed it acceptable. So would he.
When he returned to the kitchen, Sara was washing the dishes from supper and his shirt was laid out on the table, Dan pressing it with the hot flatiron.
Will’s mouth fell open. To his remembrance, it was the first time in his life that his brother had ever pressed his shirt for him. Dan hated ironing as much as Will did.
“Uh… thanks,” he said.
Dan laid the iron on the stove and held up the shirt, turning it back and forth. “Good enough. Now, remember to be polite and say please and thank you. Do you have a clean handkerchief?”
Will snatched the shirt from him. “Give me that.”
He shrugged off the still randomly buttoned wrinkled shirt and replaced it with the green one. Tucking it into his waistband, he looked down at himself. “How do I look? Is it all right?”
Sara walked up to him and straightened out his collar. “You look very handsome. Daisy will be very pleased that you’re courting.”
“We’re not courting. This is just dinner with a friend.”
She didn’t have to say anything. Her knowing smile spoke volumes.
The sound of a buggy rolling into the yard outside set his stomach jittering. Honestly, why was he so nervous? It wasn’t like he’d never spent time with a woman before. He’d been with plenty at the saloon, before he gave all that up. And there was all the time he’d spent with Daisy and Nicky.
And then it came to him. He’d never actually been on a romantic dinner with a woman, as an adult, at least.
Except, this wasn’t a romantic dinner.
Was it?
No, it wasn’t, because he and Daisy weren’t courting.
They weren’t.
“Your beau is here.” Sara frowned. “That doesn’t sound right. Belle?”
“Neither,” Will said, grabbing his jacket from where he’d left it draped over a chair and heading for the door. If he could stop Daisy from coming inside, maybe he’d be able to avoid more teasing.
Sadly, Dan and Sara followed him out.
Daisy was climbing down on the far side of the buggy as he crossed the porch. She circled around past Indiana, and Will got his first proper view of her.
Of their own accord, his feet came to a halt at the top of the steps. For a few moments, all he could do was stare.
Beneath her shawl she wore a pale green satin dress with a wide, deep neckline, and her hair was arranged in a soft style gathered at her nape, with loose, gently curling strands framing her face. He couldn’t remember ever seeing her like that. He’d certainly never seen the dress. That was something he most definitely would have remembered.
She walked to the foot of the stairs and smiled up at him. “Good evening, Will.”
He forced his feet into motion. “Good evening. You look beautiful.”
He hadn’t intended to tell her that, but his mouth was apparently working independently of his brain. He was just grateful he hadn’t said what he really thought, which was that he’d never seen a more beautiful woman in his life.
Her smile grew. “Thank you. You look very handsome.”
He wished he owned a suit to wear. Beside her, he was going to look like the farm boy he was, even in his best trousers and shirt and polished boots.
“We expect you to have him home before nine,” Dan said from where he and Sara stood arm in arm on the porch.
Will turned to glare at him and he grinned.
“Don’t worry, Mr. and Mrs. Raine,” Daisy said. “I’ll look after him.”
“Don’t encourage him,” Will muttered. “He thinks he’s funny.”
“I am funny.”
Will waved him away and steered Daisy to the buggy. The sooner they got away from his brother, the better.
“May I help you up?” she asked with an innocent smile.
“Any more and I’m marching right back into the bunkhouse.”
She erupted into giggles, although she didn’t object when he helped her up on the passenger’s side. He jogged around to take the driver’s seat before she could slide over into it.
“Have fun!” Sara called, waving as Will circled Indiana around the yard.
“And behave yourselves,” Dan added.
“I guess you’ve had some teasing,” Daisy said as they drove away from the house.
“Yes.” Will looked at her sideways. “I wonder what could have started that off.”
She didn’t look at all sorry. “I only did what I had to. If you’d just asked to court me in the first place, none of this would have happened.”
Why couldn’t she accept that he wasn’t going to marry her? “Daisy…”
“I know, you’d make the worst husband and father in the world and so you’re not going to marry me. You’re being stubborn purely for my good and not at all because you can’t let go of the past and forgive yourself, even though everyone else has forgiven you, including God.”
When she put it like that he just sounded silly. “I never said I’d make the worst husband in the world.”
Smiling, she slipped her hand around his arm. “You’re getting a free meal and some good company. Just enjoy yourself.”
He should have gently but firmly unwound her arm from his, seeing as they weren’t courting. But it felt good there so he left it.
And then something she’d said nudged at him. “Wait… you’re paying?”
“Of course I’m paying. I’m the one doing the courting.”
Closing his eyes, he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Zach will be there. He’s never going to let this go. You realize you’re stripping me of every bit of manliness I have.”
“Don’t be silly. Being a man has nothing to do with paying for meals or picking someone up to take them out or opening doors or…”
“If you dare open a door for me, I’m coming right back home, even if I have to walk all the way.”
She smiled. “Or any of those superficial things. Being a man means being kind and considerate and thoughtful and responsible, all of which I’m trying to convince you that you already are.”
If she knew the things he’d done, she wouldn’t think so. In fact, stopping this whole thing would be as easy as being completely honest with her. But much as he wanted to stop the courting charade, he wanted to disappoint her even less.
So he kept quiet, and left her arm in place around his, and wished he’d made better choices when he was young and stupid.
~ ~ ~
The Green Hill Creek Hotel was the grandest building in town. Truthfully, it didn’t have much competition, apart from the huge and somewhat ostentatious house of Emmett Vernon, who owned the hotel, the bank, and several other buildings in the small town. But the red brick hotel was impressive nonetheless, with tall windows, columns to either side of the double front doors, and three floors.
Mr. Vernon had anticipated the arrival of the railroad on the edge of town a couple of years before would bring more customers than it actually had, but business was picking up a little now, according to Zach. Zach worked in the hotel, and was Will’s best friend, but Will hadn’t told him about the (not) courting. He had a feeling that was about to change.
He brought Indiana to a stop outside the hotel and looked up at it nervously. For the first time since it was built, he felt a little apprehensive about going in there.
“Don’t worry, I won’t embarrass you,” Daisy said, as if reading his mind.
“I wasn’t worried about that.” He was. “I’m just concerned that if people see us having dinner together, they’ll assume we’re courting.”
“We are courting.”
“You’re courting. I’m not.”
“Then why are you here?”
It was a good question. He wished he had a better answer. “For the free meal.”
She lau
ghed and squeezed his arm. “Since when do you care what people think?”
Since he set about trying to shed his reputation as the wayward youngest son of the Raine family. “I don’t. I just don’t want people to get the wrong idea. For both our sakes.”
“Both our sakes?”
All right, mainly his. “Uh… yes?”
Sighing, she shook her head. “It’s a good thing you’re pretty. Stop worrying and let’s just go and enjoy ourselves.”
He couldn’t prevent his smile. She thought he was pretty. No, handsome. She thought he was handsome. At least, he hoped that was what she meant. Either way, the connotation was the same. And she was right, he was here so he might as well enjoy himself.
Before he could beg her to wait for him to help her down, she climbed to the ground. He’d just taken the rope from behind the seat to secure Indiana to the hitching post when Daisy arrived at his side of the buggy and held her arms up to him.
“I am this close to leaving.” Waving her hands away, he jumped to the ground.
“No you’re not,” she said, smiling.
He tied the rope between Indy and the post, then held out his elbow. “Or maybe you’d like me to hold your arm?”
She considered their respective arms. “I don’t think it would work very well. You’re too tall.”
“Good.” He waggled his elbow. “Let’s go eat. I’m hungry and you’re paying.”
Unfortunately, Zach was behind the reception desk in the hotel lobby when they walked inside. Not that Will didn’t like seeing his friend; he just didn’t want to see him at that moment.
Zach’s brows reached for his hairline as they entered. Will nodded to him and steered Daisy in the direction of the dining room, hoping to avoid an awkward conversation.
He didn’t succeed.
Zach darted from behind the desk and sprinted across the lobby, skidding to a halt in front of them and effectively blocking their way forward. “Evening, Daisy. Will. What a surprise to see you here.” He fixed Will with a pointed look.
“We’re here for dinner,” Daisy said.
“Dinner. The two of you. Together.” His gaze flicked between them. “Huh.”
“Well,” Will said, “good to see you, Zach.” He made to walk around his friend.
