“He’s furious. I’m to marry a man who’s not at all happy about the marriage? How can I do that, Sally?”
“Simple. You just do, my friend. Your reputation is at stake. Think of your mother and how the town respects her, Letty Sue. Do it for her, if not yourself. Besides, you and Chase, you’re like two rushing streams flowing alongside one another, each one on its own path. But honey, once you two merge, the currents will unite like the waters filling a river full up, and make for a beautiful union.”
Letty Sue was skeptical. Doubts gnawed at her, yet she couldn’t see any other way out of her predicament.
Sally continued to beseech her. “Chase is handsome, intelligent, and Letty Sue, his eyes burn with desire when he looks at you.”
Letty Sue stole a quick glance at Chase, then shivered. “They’re burning now, Sally, but it’s not desire I see in his eyes.”
Sally’s blond brows lifted and she spoke low in her ear. “I know there’s something between you two. Marry him, Letty Sue. Find out what it all means.”
“I guess I don’t have a choice,” she said, attempting a smile. She glanced back at Chase, who was staring directly at her, pinning her with a gaze filled with rigid determination. Her legs weakened and her whole body trembled.
“Cheer up, Letty Sue. You’re marrying a good man.”
But would he make a good husband? And she a good wife? Marriage had been the farthest thing from her mind. She planned to travel, to see new things. Now she’d have obligations, wifely obligations. Again, her body shook with trepidation.
Sally laced their arms together, giving Letty Sue courage as they walked over to the men. “You have yourself a bride, Chase,” Sally said with pride in her voice. Dear Sally, she truly was a good friend.
He grunted in acknowledgment, yet his eyes stayed fastened on Letty Sue. Her breath caught in her throat. She swallowed hard and prayed she was making the right decision.
Sam called for the preacher, who’d been observing the entire scene from the steps of the church. He rushed over and spoke with them, making sure there was mutual consent. Then he invited everyone inside the church. “Please stay for the service,” he said. “There’s going to be a wedding.”
“Tonight, Reverend Davidson?” Letty Sue asked.
The robust, balding man smiled warmly and took her hand. “Tonight, Miss Withers. There’s no time like the present.”
Letty Sue felt the eyes of the entire congregation on her back. She stood stiff and straight next to Chase, listening to the vows Reverend Davidson read out. He made fast work of getting them married, the ceremony taking scant minutes. She could almost hear the preacher’s silent sigh of relief once the vows had been spoken.
Chase turned to her and placed a chaste kiss on her lips. Still and all, with nearly the whole town watching, Letty Sue felt heat singe her cheeks. She was astounded at how one lie could manifest such dire consequences.
She was a married woman.
Chase Wheeler was her husband.
She was Letty Sue Wheeler now.
The magnitude of her actions just hitting her, she turned in a daze and allowed Chase to lead her out of the church. There were congratulations, handshakes, kisses to the cheek, and as quickly as they were wed, Chase whisked her away from the well-wishers surrounding them.
Just before the ceremony, Sally had quickly rounded up flowers blooming outside the church gates and made up a small bouquet. She’d also insisted on repinning Letty Sue’s hair and tucking in bright yellow buttercups along her crown.
Chase said little to her, but had taken her hand and walked her down the aisle automatically, as though this ceremony was an everyday occurrence. He’d said his vows, yet never once did he look at her face or into her eyes. Tears had welled up then, but her stubborn pride wouldn’t allow them to fall.
Letty Sue had imagined her wedding day, when the proper time came, to be much, much different.
And Mama wasn’t even here.
Letty Sue gasped inwardly. What would she tell her mother? And when?
Oh, she’d put that dilemma aside for now. Right now, she had enough to contend with—namely, one deceivingly calm, handsome, headstrong husband.
“Where are we going?” Letty Sue ventured to ask, noting they weren’t heading toward the livery where the horses were stabled.
“To the hotel.”
She stopped walking, pulling her hand free from Chase’s. “The hotel?”
He turned a scornful gaze on her. “It’s late, I’m tired and it’s best we show the town this marriage is real.”
Her body stiffened with shock. She asked quietly, “Real?”
His lips puckered and his tone mocked. He took her hand and continued down the street. “Don’t worry, Letty Sue. Only you and I will know the truth of it.”
Letty Sue wasn’t sure of his meaning. Was he protecting her by making sure everyone believed her claims earlier? Was he being noble once again, to insure Sheriff Mercer would not return to arrest her as well as him?
Is that what he meant by real?
Or did he mean to bed her tonight, to consummate the marriage?
They entered the hotel amid curious eyes. The clerk stared inquisitively, then, upon witnessing Chase’s seething look, quickly busied himself with the ledgers.
“We’ll take your best room. Nothing’s too good for my bride,” Chase said out of the corner of his mouth.
“Uh, why certainly, Mr. Wheeler.” Chase signed in and the clerk handed him the key. “Room 2l4. It’s the nicest one we’ve got. Up the stairs, three doors to your right.”
Chase slipped a gold coin into the clerk’s hand. “And see that your finest bottle of whiskey is delivered to our room.”
“Yes, sir.” The clerk dared a glance at Letty Sue and smiled timidly. She turned her head away. This was all so humiliating.
“It’s our wedding night,” Chase said unnecessarily.
The hotel clerk blustered, “Uh, yes. I know. Congratulations.”
Chase turned to Letty Sue and with one swift motion lifted her in his arms. Stunned into silence, she gawked at him. He didn’t meet her gaze, but fixed his eyes straight ahead and proceeded up the stairs.
Mortified now, realizing his intent, Letty Sue kicked and squirmed and pounded on Chase’s chest. “Put me down, Chase. Right this instant,” she hissed, hoping the clerk and others in the hotel lobby weren’t gaping at them.
“Don’t think so. You get the full marriage treatment. Don’t want anyone saying this marriage is a sham, darlin’. But you and I know different, don’t we?”
She stopped wiggling. “What do you mean?”
Reaching the top of the stairs and finding the room, he put the key in the lock and opened the door. Instead of setting her down once they were over the threshold, as was traditional, he kicked the door shut with his boot heel, walked over to the bed and emptied his arms, dropping her rather unceremoniously. The bedsprings creaked and she bounced before regaining her balance. “Oh!”
“What I mean, Mrs. Wheeler,” he began, pointing his finger, “is that this marriage is a fraud, as fake as fool’s gold. I’m saving your reputation, but that’s as far as it goes. As soon as Joellen gets back from her trip, the marriage will be dissolved. Until then, you’re my wife in public, but in private we’ll be just as we were.”
Letty Sue sat up, straightening her clothes and mustering her dignity. Her blood simmering now, she smiled sweetly and said ever so softly, “You mean you’ll be as obstinate and bullheaded as ever.”
Chase responded to the contrast of her caustic words and her soft tone. “If that’s what it takes to put down your impulsive and foolish nature,” he replied, his voice brittle.
Letty Sue let loose a long-suffering sigh. She didn’t want to start out her marriage this way, even if it was a fraud. Emotions roiled within her, and she wasn’t completely certain that disappointment wasn’t the chief sensation she felt. Chase wouldn’t be her husband in a real sense. She should be reli
eved, but instead, overwhelming melancholy set in, and it more than unnerved her. “Chase,” she began, then halted. What could she say? She wasn’t sure a real marriage was what she wanted, yet the thought of living in a false one didn’t bode too well, either.
A knock at the door brought her out of her gloomy thoughts. Chase answered it, gripping a bottle of amber liquid when he closed the door.
“Go to bed, Letty Sue,” he said solemnly. “I won’t be disturbing you. The only one I plan on bedding down with tonight is my friend here.” He held up the whiskey bottle to make his point.
Letty Sue closed her eyes and swallowed hard. If the wedding hadn’t been like anything she’d ever imagined, her wedding night certainly won first prize for being the worst in recent history. With the lantern light turned down, Chase slumped against the door.
A weary expression stole over his face and Letty Sue almost felt sorry for him. But then he raised the bottle to his lips and slugged down a mouthful.
With a deep, soulful breath, Letty Sue lowered herself and tried to get comfortable in the big accommodating bed.
And so began her honeymoon.
Chase cursed the whiskey that roiled around in his gut, causing turmoil, yet not the desired results. The spirits should have knocked him out by now, so he could shut his mind off for a spell and get some sleep.
Instead the alcohol did the opposite, keeping him awake and fully aware of the woman just five feet away from him, tossing and turning on the luxurious four-poster bed. Her soft moans and night sounds made him ache. He lay there watching her and, with wry deprecation, mused that he’d found a new form of self-torture, one more harmful than the Cheyenne way. His body grew taut. His teeth clenched.
And when he heard rustling, he followed the movement with narrowed eyes. Letty Sue had gotten out of bed. Centered between the parted, crimson velvet draperies, she stood by the window, gazing out. The moon fully defined the soft curves of her body, silhouetting her womanly form. The pale, glowing light caressed her, making her seem unworldly in her beauty.
Chase continued to watch her slight movements. She lifted her arms and pulled the pins from her hair. Several buttercups, nearly wilted now, fell to the floor, and her glorious curls spilled onto her shoulders. Slowly, she reached back, attempting to undo the buttons of her gown. Her fingers fumbled and he heard her mutter a soft curse. Hearing her swear put a smile on his lips. She pushed and pulled at the fabric, failing in her mission. Chase found himself standing behind her before good sense set in.
Her startled gasp was one of sheer fright, for he was certain she’d not heard him rise.
“Shh, it’s just me,” he murmured in her ear. She attempted to turn to face him, but he clamped his hands on her shoulders and kept her facing straight ahead. “Need some help getting out of this thing?”
She hesitated, her shoulders rigid, but finally she let the tension seep out, and nodded. “Yes, please. I’m uncomfortable sleeping in all these clothes.”
He grinned, knowing she couldn’t see him. He remembered her attire, or rather lack of it, the night she’d ridden her horse into town. “Wearing lots of petticoats tonight?”
“Too many, I’m afraid,” she whispered. She lifted her hair, sweeping the sable waves to one side, and offered him her back.
With nimble fingers, Chase worked at the shiny pearl buttons, each one popping open to reveal the tempting flesh underneath. He breathed in her scent and wished for one small moment in time that they were married, in the real sense. He’d remove her clothes, then she’d turn and help to shed his, and they’d both drop to the bed in a fit of unbridled passion.
Chase drove those thoughts from his head. He could ill afford to let his lusty cravings overrule what he knew to be his obligation. He couldn’t make love to Letty Sue. He couldn’t take her innocence and then leave once her mother returned to the ranch.
Letty Sue had done a foolish thing. Her impetuous nature had nearly caused her ruin, but he’d rectified that tonight by marrying her. Once his anger ceased, he’d realized the price she’d been willing to pay for his freedom.
It humbled him.
But irritated him as well.
Because now he had a complication he didn’t want—a wife so damn tempting he knew his will-power would be amply tested on a regular basis.
And knowing that she was his woman, legally, made it all the more appealing in his mind.
But his vow to protect her didn’t come lightly.
And he knew for certain that Letty Sue wasn’t the woman for him. He couldn’t trust her. Thoughts of Marabella’s deceit kept his heart cold. He’d not make the same mistake again. He would keep his judgment rational and sound, no matter how tempting his wife was.
No, Chase thought miserably, he couldn’t take her innocence, then walk away. He wouldn’t dishonor either one of them that way.
“All through,” he said tightly, reining in his emotions. The wedding night, the half undressed woman who was his wife, the moonlight streaming in and the big bed filling the room was just about too much for Chase.
His willpower ebbing, he pushed the material off her shoulders gently, deliberately grazing her skin with his fingers. It was creamy and soft. With a deep inhalation of breath, he stepped closer and slid his hands down her arms, following the sleeves of her gown down to her wrists.
In essence, she was trapped by the confines of her dress and completely at his mercy. He could do as he pleased with her in this position and ease the ache that seemed to consume him tonight. But her slight trembling and the little catch in her throat brought him back to his senses.
He backed off instantly, as though she was fire and he’d just been burned. He stood against the wall once again, watching.
Her back to him, she said politely, “Thank you.”
She laid her petticoats and dress out across the polished oak chest and returned to the bed.
Chase had an uncanny urge to tuck her in. Hadn’t he once told her that if he tucked her in, she’d have nothing to complain about?
Ah hell, he thought. The long and short of it was that if he tucked her in properly, the way he wanted to, neither one of them would be complaining in the morning.
He slid back down to the floor and lifted what was left in the whiskey bottle to his lips. It wouldn’t help.
Nothing would.
Because tomorrow, Chase would be moving into the ranch house with her.
Chapter Eleven
Letty Sue glanced at the food she’d prepared, set out in lovely hand-crafted bowls on the dining room table, and foolishly hoped her husband would join her for dinner. True, he’d get a better meal with the boys under the thatched roof canopy where they ate each evening, but she’d hoped Chase wouldn’t humiliate her that way. This was their first official night together on the ranch. She worried over what the ranch hands would think, how they’d react to Chase not spending time with her tonight. Chase had not spoken a word about it, leaving her to wonder.
After dropping her off this morning with a brief, polite farewell, he’d left her to her own devices. She’d tried to conjure up things to do—wifely things to do—but all she managed in the end was to sit in her room and contemplate her life. Self-pity not suiting her nature, Letty Sue soon had had enough, and decided to use her culinary skills, limited as they were, to cook her husband a meal.
Now the fare sat on the table on a lovely lace tablecloth, getting cold.
The back door creaked open, jolting Letty Sue from her thoughts. To her relief, Chase entered, stomping dirt from his boots at the doorway, then coming farther in to lift his hat off and hang it on a peg on the back wall.
He’d entered the kitchen first, then noted the dining table set with dishes her mother only turned out for very special occasions. His brows lifted in question.
“I—I th-thought it fitting to eat our first meal in here,” Letty Sue said, loathing the trepidation she heard in her voice.
Chase gave her a quick nod. “Doesn’t matter
where we eat, Letty Sue.”
She drew in her bottom lip. She hadn’t wanted to start their marriage, sham that it was, on the wrong foot. And she’d vowed not to argue with Chase tonight. They could live in misery or they could have a decent time of it, until her mother returned.
She’d put all notions of joining her mother in the East out of her head for now. Newly married, she thought to make a proper wife for Chase, even though he wanted nothing to do with this marriage. Yet she felt an undeniable obligation to him and, admittedly, to herself. Failing as a marriage partner was not an option. Something drove her, making her want to prove to herself as well as to Chase that she could do this.
“Well, then,” she said cheerily, “let’s eat.”
Chase sat down at the table, and she watched him lift a bowl, staring at it as though resigning himself to eat. With a rounded spoon, he ladled some food onto his plate. Tawny misshapen objects that had sunk to the bottom of the bowl emerged onto his plate. His look of astonishment prompted her to explain.
“It’s chicken…with dumplings?”
Chase’s face registered no emotion. “Are you paying Petey for cooking lessons?”
“Yes, but I…only had the one,” she said quietly, remembering how Chase had stormed into the diner, ready to protect her honor. She still believed jealousy was what had driven him, but he would never in this lifetime admit to that. “But I plan to have more,” she hastened to add.
He picked up his spoon and ate. Whether he liked the food or not, he didn’t say. They sat in silence, Letty Sue not touching a bite, but pushing the food around on her plate, hoping this wasn’t the way it would always be between them. Polite silence.
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