Rhett's Make-Believe Marriage

by Liz Isaacson

  Chapter Twelve

  “Bang,” he said, holding the bit of hot dog high so Penny could see it. She watched it, and he said, “Bang,” again, this time using his other hand to push her to the ground. He held his palm flat over her, the sign he’d taught her for stay.

  “Good girl,” he said, feeding her the hot dog. But she hadn’t really done the trick. Rhett couldn’t believe this was what his life had come to—training his dog during the day while everyone around him worked.

  Sure, he had things to do around Seven Sons, and he did them. But Jeremiah ran the ranch, and they had plenty of hired help. Rhett hadn’t been able to help during his stressful forensic case, and he’d never felt this useless. But now, with a very easy case that he’d already finished, he was literally searching for things to fill his time.

  He and Evelyn hadn’t been able to get out to Three Rivers Ranch yet, where Courage Reins was, and Rhett was considering going himself just to have something to do. He did have one thing on his agenda that day—look at a house with Evelyn.

  It had been a couple of days since he’d suggested they get their own place. He really hated the current situation, but she had tried to make things less awkward around the homestead. She did eat breakfast in the morning, and she’d been joining them for dinner too.

  “Let me ask him.”

  He glanced up as Jeremiah came in, his phone stuck to his ear. “It’s Callie. She’s wondering if you can help with the barn.”

  “Yes,” Rhett said before his brother had even finished speaking. “I can help.” He’d do anything to get out of this house, and the way Penny practically sprinted to the open back door said she would too.

  Jeremiah went back to his conversation while Rhett went out on the deck and picked up the big ball Evelyn had bought for his dog. “Ready, Pen?” he called, launching the ball into the air. She booped it with her nose, sending it back up. She barked and chased it around the yard, hitting it to herself and running after it with the speed of lightning.

  Rhett laughed at her, because he’d literally never seen a dog play catch with herself before. He turned when Jeremiah came outside too, this time, the phone call over. Rhett hadn’t spoken to Jeremiah about Evelyn again, but he’d been warming to both of them as the days went by.

  “They’re in a tough spot over there,” he said. “I feel bad for them.”

  “I can help,” Rhett said. “I literally do nothing.” And it was his wife’s ranch. He could definitely help them with whatever they needed, from fixing a fence to installing a new gate on their pasture.

  Rhett hadn’t grown up on a farm, but the past year of rebuilding after the tornado had taught him that he could wield a hammer as easily as he could find evidence in a paw print.

  “She’s grateful,” Jeremiah said, pausing at the railing and watching Penny too. “That dog is somethin’ else.”

  “Yeah.” Rhett smiled at her. “So, Miah. What’s with you and Callie?”

  His brother swung his gaze toward Rhett, and he could see everything in those eyes. So much of himself. So much of their father in those deep, brown eyes with a sprinkling of their mother in the freckles across his nose. Only two years younger than him, Rhett had spent almost all of his teenage years getting into trouble with Jeremiah.

  “There is nothing between me and Callie,” he said, almost coldly. “Number one, I wouldn’t do that to Liam. Number two, I am not interested in women. Period.”

  “Okay,” Rhett said, holding up his hands in a show of surrender. “I didn’t say you had to date her. I was just asking if there was something there.”

  “No,” Jeremiah said. “Liam holds her in high regard, if you know what I mean.”

  Tripp had told him that too, and a low laugh started in the back of Rhett’s throat. “Well, why doesn’t he ask her out?”

  “We had a pact, bro.” Jeremiah shook his head and started down the steps. “I have to get back to work. You can head over to the Shining Star anytime you want. Callie says there will be lunch at twelve-thirty.”

  Rhett watched his brother walk away. No, they weren’t back to where they’d been before he’d married Evelyn. Then, Jeremiah had always been the hot-head, quick to jump to conclusions. But he’d laughed too. He’d sat with the brothers on the couch and fell asleep while they watched their favorite shows.

  “At least he’s speaking to you,” Rhett told himself. He whistled at Penny, and she herded the ball back to the deck. “Good girl,” he said. “Now, come on. Let’s go see what the women have for us to eat.”

  He opted to walk the half-mile, mostly to wear Penny out a little bit more. A cattle dog, she could literally run for hours and be happy doing it.

  Before he and Evelyn had gotten married, Rhett would’ve simply knocked on the front or back door and walked right in. So he did the same today, though a bit of awkwardness entered his bloodstream as he called, “Hello? Ladies? It’s Rhett.”

  Footsteps sounded on the wood floor, and then his wife emerged from the mouth of the hallway. “Oh, hey, sugar,” he said easily, though the sight of her made everything in him prance and dance and rejoice. “Is Callie around?”

  “Callie?” Her surprise was cute, and Rhett drank in the sight of her in those black leggings, that pale pink blouse, her dark hair curled around her shoulders. “Are you seeing another client today?”

  “As a matter of fact, yes.” Evelyn smiled at him as he drew closer to her.

  “I’m glad,” he said, keeping track of how many new clients she’d gotten since their wedding. Four. This one today made four. She had to be happy about that, and the sparkle in her eyes testified of it. “So are you saying Callie’s not here?”

  “She’s out on the ranch somewhere.”

  “Is the house empty?” He trailed his fingers down her arm, watching her shudder right in front of him. Pure heat dove through him, and he pressed his lips to her forehead, about all he could do with his wide-brimmed cowboy hat in the way.

  “Behave yourself,” she said with a giggle. But he didn’t want to behave himself. He wanted to kiss his wife.

  “When is your client coming? Or are you going into town again?” He’d been waiting for her on the front steps each morning, and they’d sort of established a new routine. Of course, it had only been two days, but she was sharing more with him, drinking coffee in the kitchen, setting bread in the toaster. Small steps, but important ones too.

  “She’s coming here,” she said, holding onto his shoulders. “So you can’t be here.” Her words pushed him away, but her hands brought him closer.

  “Mm,” he said, finally reached up and taking off his cowboy hat so he could kiss Evelyn. She melted right into him, and Rhett felt like the luckiest man in the world. So consumed with the scent of her skin and the touch of her fingertips along the back of his neck, Rhett didn’t hear anyone enter the house.

  At least until Simone said, “Oh, aren’t you two so cute?”

  Evelyn ducked her head, a soft sigh coming from her mouth as Rhett kept both arms around her, steadying her. “Hey, Simone,” he said as if he’d stopped by to deliver the mail. “Have you seen Callie?”

  “I don’t think you’re going to find her standing there,” Simone said with a knowing smile.

  But he really had come to talk to Callie. Fine, kissing Evelyn was high on the list too. The doorbell rang, and Evelyn jumped to attention. “Rhett, that’s my client.” Her warning tone was clear. Time to clear out.

  “Maybe she’ll want to meet me,” he said, turning to answer the door.

  Evelyn danced in front of him. “You say hello, and go.”

  “Kiss me again,” he whispered. Flirting with her had been oh so much fun. And to think he’d been holding back all these months.

  “No,” she said through a smile.

  “We’re still on to look at that house tonight, right?”

  “Yes,” she said, reaching the door ahead of him and opening it. “Flora, so good to see you. Come on in.”

&n
bsp; The woman standing on the porch clearly had plenty of money, if the fancy blouse and shiny shoes were any indication. She also carried a purse without a strap, and Rhett knew he hadn’t seen one of those around Three Rivers.

  “This is my husband, Rhett Walker,” Evelyn said, snapping Rhett back to the moment.

  “Afternoon, ma’am.” He put his hat back on his head and went out the way Flora had come in. “I’ll see you later, butternut.” He closed the door behind them as Flora giggled, and he may have caught her saying, “Wow, he’s handsome,” as the door clicked closed.

  “Okay, I’ll admit it,” Evelyn said, leaning forward to peer up at the house through the windshield. “This house is really cute.”

  Rhett had sent her the link to look at it, and he asked, “Did you look at it online?”

  “Yes,” she said, still drinking it all in. “There’s just something about seeing it in person, you know?”

  Oh, he knew. The two-story home sat on half an acre on the southern edge of Three Rivers. Just a half a block off the highway they drove to get to their ranches. It wasn’t huge, by any stretch of the imagination, but the little white house had three bedrooms and three bathrooms and a great big fenced yard for Penny.

  It had been freshly painted, and it gleamed like a shiny, new penny. Their realtor pulled into the driveway behind them, and Rhett said, “Okay. She’s here.” He got out of the truck and turned toward the petite, blonde woman. “Hi, Betsy.” He extended his hand for Evelyn to take, which she did.

  “Betsy Palmer?” she asked, and the two women looked at one another. Being new in town, Rhett was used to several seconds of silence while people sized each other up. It meant there was history there he didn’t understand, because he hadn’t been in Three Rivers as long as some people. As most people, actually.

  “Hello, Evelyn,” the real estate agent said cordially, though Rhett thought it had probably taken her a great deal of effort to do so. “Of course, I knew you’d married Rhett.” She shook his hand and then hers, continuing down the sidewalk as if there were no tension at all.

  “What’s that about?” Rhett whispered.

  “Tell you later,” Evelyn muttered back, and for some reason, the thought made him absolutely giddy. He loved spending time with Evelyn, and listening to her talk about her business, her clients, her problems. And the history she had with people in town was one of his favorite things.

  “This house is for sale or rent,” she said. “Do you know which you’ll be doing?” She paused at the top of the steps and started keying in a code on the lockbox.

  “Renting,” Evelyn said at the same time Rhett said, “I think we’ll buy it.”

  They looked at each other, and he chuckled nervously. “I guess we’ll talk about it.”

  “Hmm,” Betsy said, taking the key out of the box and fitting it into the lock. “Well, it has central air conditioning, a brand-new furnace, and has been completely remodeled.” She opened the door and stepped inside. “The asking price is a little high, but if you’re going to rent, you should be fine.” She gave Evelyn a scathing smile—at least Rhett thought she did. It came and went so fast, he couldn’t be sure.

  The inside of the house was as charming as the outside, and Rhett had only spent five seconds inside before he leaned over and whispered to Evelyn, “I love this place.”

  She was too busy scanning everything to answer him. She barely said two words for the rest of the tour, and Rhett couldn’t decide if that was good or bad. Betsy took them into the backyard, which looked like a tropical paradise to him. Of course, it was the beginning of the summer, and most of this would probably be brown by July.

  “I’ll leave you two to discuss it,” Betsy said, handing Rhett a piece of paper. “Come out front when you’re ready.” She’d warmed to Evelyn throughout the tour, and Rhett handed her the paper as the real estate agent left.

  “Why don’t you want to buy?” he asked.

  “Because, Rhett.” She focused on the paper in her hand. “Buying means we’re permanent, and I don’t know.” She lifted her gaze to his. “Are we permanent?”

  “Maybe not yet,” he conceded. “But Evelyn, I feel like we didn’t really think this through. You thought your business had tanked because Patrick broke up with you. What will happen to it if we get divorced?”

  It was a very valid question, and Evelyn just shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe we made a big mistake.” She’d said that before they’d tied the knot, and the idea felt as false now as it had then. “And I thought you bought that ranch, so you’d have something to pass on.”

  “Oh, Jeremiah will buy it from me,” Rhett said. “He’s the one who’s poured his heart into Seven Sons. Not me.” He looked around the backyard. Was this where he was supposed to spend his time and energy?

  “You decide,” Evelyn said. “I do love this place. It’s very…quiet. It’s peaceful here.”

  “Yes,” he said. “Peaceful.” And he had plenty of money, and he could buy it with cash, no problem. “If you want to rent, that’s fine with me.”

  “There’s another thing,” she said, tucking her arm through his.

  “Yeah? What’s that?”

  “All of my money goes to support my sisters and the ranch. I can’t afford this place.”

  Rhett kissed her forehead. “I can, sweetheart. I think we should get it.”

  “Okay,” she said. “But I swear I didn’t marry you for your money.”

  “I know that,” Rhett said, recalling Jeremiah’s words about protecting himself with a prenuptial agreement—which he hadn’t done. “I would never think that.”

  She nodded and turned back to the house. “All right, then, Rhett. You got your way. We’ll live together here.”

  He touched her arm, and she turned back to him. He wanted to ask her if that meant they’d have all the perks of being truly married, but one look at her face, and he knew she wasn’t ready for that.

  Truth be told, he wasn’t either. Sure, he liked this woman a lot, but he wasn’t in love with her.

  Yet.

  “What?” she asked, her voice gentle and filled with concern.

  Rhett blinked out of his thoughts. “Nothing.” He smiled at her. “Let’s go get dinner.” As they went through the house to the front yard, Rhett offered a silent prayer that he would know what to do when it came to Evelyn. Because being married to her was turning out to be just as much of a minefield as being her best friend.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Another week passed, and Evelyn once again found herself packing up her clothes and toiletries. Rhett had rented the house on Quail Creek Road, and Evelyn was secretly giddy about it. Not that she minded sleeping by herself on the second floor. Just like she hadn’t minded living with her sisters.

  But this new house signified something else—a new adventure. She’d literally never lived anywhere besides at the Shining Star Ranch. Well, and now at Seven Sons. But she’d never had a place of her own, without Callie and Simone, and it felt exciting.

  Not only that, but she’d told her father about the marriage and the new house, and he wanted to meet Rhett. Of course he did. Just because he was seventy-five with a bad back and bad hips didn’t mean he didn’t want the best for his girls. Since neither her father nor her grandmother could drive, Evelyn had to go into town to pick them up and bring them out to the ranch.

  But after she and Rhett moved into their new place, which was happening that morning, she’d only be a skip away from her family, and she’d already invited them to the house for dinner.

  After she and Rhett got settled in the house, they had a riding appointment at Courage Reins, where they’d spend their afternoon with the therapy horses—and Evelyn could chat with Carly and Reese.

  Things had slowed in her matchmaking business, but she’d signed a total of six new clients since marrying Rhett. “Thank you, Lord,” she said as she folded a pair of shorts and put them in her suitcase.

  She hadn’t done anything wrong. Sh
e’d gotten married legally, with a willing participant. She thought of Rhett, and how they’d be living together that evening. “You’ve already been living with him,” she told herself, putting her travel jewelry case in the suitcase too. But this would be different, and she knew it.

  They’d be alone. Right next door to each other. No buffer, and no reason for her to go running off to the comfortable office at the Shining Star. She was moving her office too, and she’d work from the little white house in town from now on.

  Or at least for now.

  She honestly had no idea what the future held, and she’d spent a great deal of time that week beating herself up for not thinking through all the threads of her decision. Help me, she prayed. Guide me. Put my feet on the path they should be on. Don’t let me hurt Rhett.

  That man was made of gold, and she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she hurt him. As if summoned by her thoughts, he appeared in the doorway. “Oh, the yellow blouse. Hey, honeybee. We’re here for the chair.”

  He entered the room with Tripp right behind him. “And as soon as you’re done packing, we’re ready to head over.”

  “You got the boxes in my office already?” she asked, surprised. She’d only been up for an hour, and the sun not much longer than that.

  “Yep.” Rhett picked up one side of the chair while Tripp positioned himself on the other. “The desk. The chair. Even the curtains. Callie said those were lucky.” He smiled at her and they hauled the chair out of the room.

  These Walker brothers were nothing if not efficient. Rhett had been filling his days with work around the Shining Star, and Callie didn’t have a single bad thing to say about him. Evelyn got to see his moods, and know he wasn’t perfect. She got to hear him talk about things that worried him, or something in a case that troubled him. She got to see the vulnerable side of him, as well as the tough cowboy, and she realized as she stood there in that room that had never really been hers, that she could easily fall in love with Rhett Walker.