by Judith Stacy
Was he unhappy with her cooking? Did it displease him that she’d used his mother’s china?
An old, familiar mantle of worry swept over her. If she didn’t figure out how to make a man happy pretty soon, how would she ever have a successful marriage? How would she ever be good enough?
Perhaps Cade would tell her. Anna’s spirits lifted a little. If he was unhappy with something she’d done, she’d insist that he tell her how to improve.
Anna wished now she’d gone directly to the lumberyard office after cleaning the breakfast dishes. Instead she’d gone to town to pick up a few things she needed for her new house. What she’d gotten was an earful when she’d walked past Talbot’s General Store.
The din of men, animals and saws greeted her now as she drew near the lumberyard office. Even after so short a time, she’d gotten used to the noise. Anna caught her reflection in the window glass, straightened her hat and went inside.
The sounds faded—or maybe she didn’t notice them anymore—thanks to the sight of Cade sitting at his desk. Ledgers were stacked up around him. One lay in front of him, unopened. He stared at the cover as if lost in thought.
An unfamiliar hunger claimed Anna. Now, and every time she’d looked at Cade since that first day on the railroad platform. She never felt it when she looked at any other man. Just Cade.
He glanced up at her and came to his feet.
“You’re here.” Cade fidgeted a bit, then waved her over. “Sit down.”
“You look troubled,” Anna said, and suddenly nothing seemed more important than learning what it was and finding a way to help him. She walked to his desk. “What’s wrong?”
He stewed for a moment. “I stopped by the schoolhouse this morning. Kyle wasn’t there.”
“Why won’t he stay in school?”
“I wish I knew. I’ve talked to him but he never gives me a straight answer.”
“Are the lessons too hard?”
Cade shook his head. “Mama taught him to read before he ever set foot in a schoolhouse. The teacher has to give him special work to keep him occupied. I even told him not long ago that I’d send him to a college back East.”
“Maybe there’s a problem with one of the other students,” Anna suggested. “A bully?”
Cade’s expression hardened but not out of anger. More a protectiveness for his little brother.
“I’ll see about that,” he said, then seemed to dismiss the subject by shoving aside the stacks of ledgers on his desk and clearing his throat. “So, ah, thanks for coming by this morning. There’s something I need to…tell you.”
A sense of unease crept over Anna. “What is it?”
“I, uh—just a minute.”
Cade walked to the front door, checked outside, then slid the dead bolt lock in place. He did the same at the back door, then stationed himself at the entrance to the storage room.
“Come in here,” he told her, then stepped inside.
Anna hesitated. How odd. What on earth was he doing?
“Anna?” He stuck his head out the door. “In here.”
She ventured close to the storage room and peeked inside. A small, shaded window illuminated cluttered shelves and dozens of boxes and crates strewn haphazardly about. The tiny room didn’t appear to have been cleaned in years.
“We don’t have much time,” Cade insisted. “Somebody might come to the door.
“But—”
Cade caught her wrist, pulled her inside and closed the door. He took up nearly all of the available space. Tall, big, strong. Warm, too.
Or was that her?
Anna backed up until she bumped the door. “What’s this all about?”
“I want you to do something for me.” Cade leaned across a stack of wooden boxes and pulled down the window shade, leaving the room in near darkness.
Anna’s heart rate picked up a bit. But she wasn’t sure if it was fear—or something different entirely.
Cade leaned close to her, towering over her. Heat wafted from him, cloaking her.
“You’re working for me now, you know,” he said.
Anna leaned her head back to see his face. She couldn’t read his expression in the dim light. “Yes, I know that.”
“And you remembered what we talked about when I offered you the job?” Cade asked. “Anything you see or hear has to be kept confidential. You gave me your word on that. Remember?”
How could she forget? He’d kissed her right afterward.
“Yes, yes I remember,” Anna said, growing impatient and a little annoyed with herself that the memory of his kisses never left her. “Would you please just get on with whatever reason you have me in here?”
He looked at her for another moment, as if judging something in her, or making a determination, then turned and began sorting through the wooden crates. When he’d dug down to the largest one at the bottom, he straightened, gave Anna another look, then pulled off the lid and set it aside.
“There.” He pointed.
She glanced inside the crate, saw nothing but packing paper. “Oh, honestly, Cade. You asked me to come over here, scared me to death thinking you were unhappy with my cooking, and all because of a crate of something? Why on earth—”
“It’s the fabric.”
Anna froze. She looked at the crate, then at Cade, then at the crate once more. “It’s the—”
“Fabric. For the wedding dresses. It’s—”
“Here?” Anna’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open. “What is it doing here?”
“It must have gotten sent over from the train station by mistake, along with some other supplies. Henry took care of things like this, and with him gone, nobody realized it.”
“How long has it been here?”
“I don’t know. I just found it a few days ago.”
“A few days ago?” Anna demanded. “And you didn’t tell anybody?”
Cade winced. “I couldn’t.”
Anna flung both hands out. “The whole town is up in arms over this fabric. Accusations are flying. Just this morning I saw Mrs. Kendall, Mrs. Sumner and Mrs. Proctor in Talbot’s General Store. The sheriff was there. The women wanted the store searched and Mr. Talbot carted off to jail.”
“I know things are getting out of hand.” Cade pointed at the box. “But this isn’t going to make things better.”
Anna thought he’d taken leave of his senses. “Of course it will. I’m going to Talbot’s right now and tell them the fabric is here.”
She yanked open the door but Cade reached over her head and slammed it shut again. She spun around. “What is wrong with you? Why don’t—”
“There’s not enough.”
Anna clamped her mouth shut, her gaze darting once more to the crate.
“The mill made a mistake filling the order. There’s not enough fabric. See?” Cade picked up the bill of lading from atop the packing paper.
Anna angled it toward the feeble light creeping in around the window shade. Her blood ran cold.
“There’s not enough fabric,” she said, looking up at Cade. “The mill made a mistake. They didn’t ship everything that was ordered. Only a portion.”
“A small portion.”
“Not nearly enough for three wedding dresses. Barely enough for two.” Anna touched her fingers to her forehead. “Oh, dear. This is awful. Three brides and two wedding dresses. How will the fabric be divided up? Which of the brides will get it? And which one will get none?”
Cade shook his head. “Damned if I know.”
“What are you doing to do?” Anna asked.
“Me? I’m not going to do anything.” Cade reached around her, opened the door and strode into the office.
“Of course you’re going to do something,” Anna insisted, following him.
“No, I’m not.” Cade swung around to face her. “You are.”
“Me?” Anna stopped in her tracks.
“This is your problem now,” Cade told her. “You figure it out.”
She gasped in outrage. “You can’t dump this in my lap.”
“Yes, I can. You work for me, remember? It’s your responsibility now.”
“Not so fast.” Anna advanced on him.
Cade backed up. “It’s a woman’s problem. A woman should handle it.”
“This could get me run out of town!”
“Better you than me. God knows what those women might do if they find out the fabric was here all along. My business could be ruined. And I’ve got enough problems here already,” Cade told her. He strode to the rear of the office, unbolted the back door and yanked it open. “I haven’t got time to be fooling around with fabric and squabbling women. You handle it.”
Anna’s spine stiffened. “And if I refuse?”
“Suit yourself. But just remember your promise. You can’t tell anybody the fabric is here.” Cade plopped his hat on his head and went outside, slamming the door behind him.
Cade followed Ben into the kitchen, glad this long day was behind him. More than the usual number of problems had plagued him at the lumberyard—or maybe they just seemed worse after his confrontation with Anna this morning over the fabric. He’d gotten rid of the situation by dumping it on her, but that didn’t make him feel as good as he’d hoped.
At least he’d get a good supper. Anna’s cooking was the best. And he liked seeing her move around the kitchen, bending over to use the oven, reaching up to the cupboards. He’d caught her singing to herself when he’d come down for breakfast this morning. Such a sweet sound. Knowing she waited inside the kitchen right now made the day’s problems seem a little less important.
Stepping into the room, Cade hung his hat and the office keys on the peg, then turned and saw his two brothers staring down at the supper table. Anna brushed past him.
“Leave the dishes. I’ll clean them later,” she barked, and disappeared out the door.
“What the…?” Cade turned to Ben and Kyle.
“What did you do?” Ben snarled.
“Yeah,” Kyle snapped.
Cade had no idea what he was being accused of until he looked down at the supper table. It held a bowl of carrots, three slices of cold ham and the last of this morning’s biscuits.
“What did you do to her?” Ben demanded.
“What makes you think that I—”
“Look at this meal,” Ben declared.
“Yeah,” Kyle said again, his anger rising. “Yesterday we got a great supper. She even made dessert. I like her. I don’t want her to leave. And I don’t want to go back to doing the cooking!”
“And I don’t want to eat his cooking anymore.” Ben pointed his finger at Cade. “Whatever you did, she’s taking it out on all of us. You’d better fix this.”
Cade grumbled under his breath, then slammed out the back door.
Fine thing. Couldn’t even come to his own home and have a quiet supper. And then to have his own brothers turn on him. Well, that topped his day off just dandy.
Cade strode across the yard to Anna’s house. He almost pushed the back door open and went inside, but caught himself and pounded his fist against the wooden planks.
“Anna!”
He raised his hand again but the door jerked open. Anna glared up at him, her cheeks flushed, her breathing heavy and her nose flared a little.
Lord, he wanted her.
Cade just stared at her, his anger gone, replaced by urgent and all-consuming desire.
She crossed her arms in front of her, pushing her breasts up a little. “What do you want?” she demanded.
What he wanted flashed through his mind in a heartbeat. Pull her against him. Kiss her senseless. Carry her to bed, make love until they were both exhausted. Then keep her beside him…forever.
Forever?
Cade backed up a step, stunned by his own runaway thoughts. He realized then that she was still staring at him, puffed up with anger and indignation, waiting for him to say something.
He gestured toward the house next door. “Does this mean we’re not getting dessert tonight?”
“Oh!”
Anna slammed the door, but Cade was quicker. He caught it with his arm and stepped inside. This house was a twin of the one next door. Yet seeing Anna standing in the middle of the kitchen where she’d already added her own special touches made him feel entirely different about the place.
“What are you so mad about?” Cade asked.
Her eyes widened. “You don’t know?”
“I’ve got a pretty good idea, but I don’t want to admit to anything you might not know about yet.”
“Oh, honestly…”
“Is it the fabric?”
“Yes. And I’m not really mad. I’m hurt.”
Cade thought for a moment, trying to follow her reasoning. He failed.
“If you were just mad I could say I’m sorry and that would be the end of it,” Cade said. “But this ‘hurt’ business is going to take a little longer, I just know it. Want to go outside?”
She hesitated a few seconds, then nodded and glided out the back door ahead of him.
The last of the sun’s rays had already slipped below the horizon, leaving the sky with a few streaks of purple and the land banded with shadows. Anna lowered herself onto the top step of the porch. Cade sat down beside her.
The evening breeze was cool, and it carried the night song of a bird perched high in a nearby treetop. Cade let the quiet surround them; apparently, Anna was content to do the same.
He looked at her, though, studied her profile as she gazed toward the lumberyard. A loose strand of her hair lay against her neck. Cade wanted to curl it around his finger. He wanted to lean forward and bury his nose behind her ear, a sweet spot he’d discovered when he’d kissed her. He wanted to uncover other spots that he knew would be even sweeter.
“So, what’s the problem at the lumberyard?” Anna asked without turning to him. “This morning in the office, you said you had your hands full with problems there.”
Cade shifted, a little surprised that she remembered what he’d said.
“Business dropped off unexpectedly. But it will come back around,” Cade said. “Nothing I can’t handle.”
“I’m sure that’s true.” Anna turned to him and the look of confidence in her eyes pleased him. Her expression hardened a little. “I’m hurt because you didn’t trust me.”
“I trusted you to come into my house, have free rein of the place with nobody around,” he pointed out.
“But you didn’t trust my judgment,” Anna told him. “You dumped the fabric situation on me not because you knew I could handle it well, but because you didn’t want to fool with it. And you did it under the guise of me being your employee, someone obligated to do as you said.”
Cade thought about it for a minute, trying to come up with a way to refute her claim, but couldn’t. “Yeah. I guess you’re right about that. Trusting people outside the family isn’t easy for me.”
“No one in my family had any faith or confidence in me to help with the business, even after I graduated from Miss Purtle’s Academy,” Anna said.
Cade couldn’t imagine how lessons on etiquette and table manners would help out in her father’s business, but he didn’t say anything.
“I tried so hard to figure out how to get my father and brother to accept me, but I never did.” Anna gazed across the yard again. “I thought it would be different out here.”
“It takes time to build up trust,” Cade pointed out.
“And only a second to destroy it.” She turned to him once again. “Who shattered your trust?”
He drew back a little, surprised by her insight. He wasn’t sure anyone knew how much of that incident in Texas he still carried around with him after all these years. It showed in most everything he did. Ben understood. That’s why the two of them made good business partners.
Sitting next to Anna, Cade experienced a comfort he’d never found with a woman before. Telling her what had happened didn’t seem too difficult.
> “We used to live in Texas. My pa ran a couple of businesses there. I wasn’t much more than a kid when this girl came to town, visiting her aunt. Prettiest girl I’d ever seen. She took a shine to me right away. I fell head over heels for her, asked her to marry me. She said yes.”
“You’ve been married?” Anna asked, surprised.
“No.” Cade shook his head. “Her papa showed up in town, explained that she was already engaged to a business associate of his.”
Anna seemed to consider what he’d told her. “So she was just looking for a way to get out of the marriage her father had planned for her.”
“And I was her escape plan,” Cade said. “She never loved me in the first place.”
“Oh, Cade, that’s awful.”
Anna touched his hand, sending a wave of warmth up his arm. It was a comforting feeling. More than worth the lingering anguish of telling the hurtful story.
“I understand why you have trouble trusting people,” she stated.
“Does that mean you’ll take care of the fabric?”
“Maybe,” she said. “I want something from you.”
Cade’s interest piqued as all sorts of thoughts skittered through his mind, but none, he was sure, that had anything to do with what Anna was likely to ask for.
“I want you to explain men,” she told him.
His brows drew together. “You want me to do—what?”
“I want you to—”
“Miss Anna?” Kyle called.
Cade looked up to see his two brothers approaching. They stopped at the bottom step.
“Whatever stupid thing he did—” Ben said, jerking his thumb at Cade “—we’re here to apologize for it.”
“Yeah. We’re sorry for whatever it was,” Kyle said. “So will you still cook for us?”
“How about if I make you some hotcakes right now?” Anna got to her feet, then glanced back at Cade. She gave him a half smile. “I’ll expect answers to my questions, starting tomorrow.”
Chapter Eight
Time was of the essence.
Anna hurried out the back door of her house, anxious to find the prospective brides and their mothers, and get this unhappy chore over with. She’d thought about and could come up with no other way to handle it except to be honest. She’d announce the “good news,” then let them figure out what to do with the fabric—or lack of it.
