An Unlikely Place for Love

by Ruth Ann Nordin

“Lois is crazy. She’ll kill us both if I divorce her.” What was wrong with this woman?

  “I can handle her.”

  “Lacy, what are you doing?” Sam demanded as he walked over to them.

  Kate silently thanked him.

  “Oh.” Lacy quickly backed away from Kate.

  “I told you not to talk to him anymore,” he sternly stated. “Billy, you can’t be encouraging her. It’s best that you make things right with your wife.”

  At least Sam was being reasonable.

  “You know what, Sam, you’re right,” Kate said. “I’ll be going. Don’t worry.”

  “But Sam, you don’t understand Billy like I do,” Lacy argued.

  “He’s married, Lacy!”

  As they fought, Kate quickly made her escape and changed into her Kate outfit. When she returned, people were enjoying the potluck. She hoped that she would find Lacy talking to Chris but Lacy was helping some women with the food. She sighed and sat down. She wondered where her brother went. Chris sat next to her. She groaned in dread.

  He spent the lunch sitting next to her and bragging about his wealth. “I even have a telephone,” he reported.

  She rolled her eyes. She also had a telephone.

  “Really, Chris,” she began, “I’m not interested. I love your brother.”

  “Speaking of my darling brother, where is he? Shouldn’t he be interested in who you spend the day with?”

  “He had to take care of his sheep. He’ll be here later.”

  “Hmm...Is it wise to spend your life with someone who cares more about animals than you?”

  “The only reason you’re interested in me is because you want Chad to sign those papers so you’ll have the entire inheritance from your mother’s will.”

  He stiffened. “He told you that, did he?”

  “I’m smarter than you give me credit for. I can figure some things out for myself.” She glanced at Lacy who was helping the other women with the clean up. “You might find Lacy to your liking. She’s as selfish as you are.”

  He put his arm around her shoulders and leaned so close to her that their noses almost touched. “Tell Chad to sign those papers and I’ll leave you alone. Otherwise, we’ll be able to get better acquainted.”

  Before she had a chance to respond, he kissed her.

  She slapped him. “You have no right to make advances at me.”

  Chris laughed. “Then have him sign the papers. If you don’t, I’ll make him think we’re involved. Those other men might buy the fact that you’re not interested in sex, but Chad is not that foolish and neither am I.”

  “Get your hands off of my sister!” Billy barked as he grabbed Chris by the shirt and lifted him out of the chair. “I believe you lost the race. You need to be with Lacy.”

  Chris looked startled.

  “I suggest you get back to her,” her brother stated.

  He mutely left and walked over to Lacy who looked stunned to see him.

  She smiled at her brother. “You do know how to handle people better than I do.”

  Billy shrugged. “I think I have a way with upsetting people. You’re the popular one.”

  “Which isn’t always a good thing.” She sighed as Lacy walked over to them. Chris stayed on the other side of the table.

  “Where is Billy?” Lacy asked.

  “Why aren’t you with Chris?” her brother asked.

  “Chris doesn’t want me. He wants you.” Lacy looked at her. “Chad wants you. Every man wants you. It must be nice.”

  Kate could feel the animosity from the woman and she didn’t like it. “Men only want what they can get from me.”

  “Lacy, if you don’t leave, I’ll carry you back over to Chris and tie the two of you together,” Billy replied.

  Lacy grumbled but left.

  “She can’t stand me,” Kate commented. “Ever since you spouted your mouth off in Mrs. Montgomery’s home, she’s had nothing but outright disgust for me.”

  “I already went back and apologized to the mother about my comments. As for Lacy, if I apologized to her, then she’d most likely think I was interested in her and give me as much grief as she’s giving you. It doesn’t even bother her that your Billy character has a wife.”

  She considered that he was right. “Well, I’m going to have to do something about that.”

  “What do you have in mind?”

  She stood up. “I’ll let my actions speak for me.”

  Then she left for the outhouse to change. It was time to pull out her final weapon in her arsenal. Lois. She put on her Lois disguise. She put the sack back with her brother’s horse and took a deep breath so she could get into character. She adjusted her red wig so it would look like her hair hadn’t been combed in days and ripped her pink dress so that she looked like she hadn’t changed clothes in awhile too. Lois was supposed to be crazy enough to rip another woman’s eyes out.

  She ran over to Tim and Jeff who had settled down at the table, ready to eat some pie and ice cream as everyone gathered together at the tables to eat dessert.

  “I’m here,” she told them, an anxious look on her face.

  They turned their attention to her.

  Her brother nearly spit his drink when he saw her.

  “Where is he?” she asked them. “You promised me that you would show me where he’s at if I came to this potluck today.”

  Jeff shook his head. “We never said that.”

  She gasped. “Are you going back on your word?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You men are all alike. You will defend each other to the death.” She grabbed him by the collar and shook him. “Tell me where he is!”

  “Get off of him!” Tim snapped at her.

  She fought against Jeff as he struggled to pry her fingers off of his shirt. Tim quickly ran around the table and lifted her up so that she had to let go of Jeff. Then he put her down.

  Everyone watched the scene in amazement.

  She turned to Tim and scowled at him. “I want my husband and I want him now!”

  “I don’t blame Billy for leaving you,” he spat. “You’re a real shrew.”

  “There’s rumors flying around about him with a Lacy Montgomery.” She found a fork and grabbed it. “I’ll kill her! Where is she?”

  Lacy looked up from the cookies, startled.

  Kate turned to her. “Are you Lacy?” She walked over to her and held her fork in front of her face.

  “No,” the woman lied.

  “I don’t believe you. Someone told me that Lacy Montgomery is a raven haired woman wearing a blue dress. You fit that description.”

  “Obviously, Billy wouldn’t want you since you’re so ugly,” Sam told her from down the table.

  Ugly? Kate glared at him.

  “Maybe Billy was drunk when he married you and woke up and realized what a mistake he made,” Tim added.

  “Well, he married me so he’s stuck,” Kate finally said. “He belongs to me.” She turned back to Lacy and snarled. “And no one is going to steal him from me. I heard all about you. You go around putting stuff in men’s drinks and try to lure them to bed you. Well, it won’t work on my Billy. I’m onto you.”

  “You do what?” Chris asked in interest. He was near Lacy but hadn’t bothered to talk to her before.

  Lacy looked uneasy. “I do no such thing.”

  “Lacy’s an angel,” Tim insisted.

  “What did she put in someone’s drink?” Billy demanded as he walked over to her.

  “She put alcohol in Chad’s punch when he wasn’t looking,” Kate told Billy.

  “She did that to Chad?” Chris grinned.

  “She had her clothes off and everything,” she explained.

  Chris looked at Lacy in amusement. “You wanted to have sex with him so badly you got him drunk?”

  Billy shuddered. “He saw her naked? It’s amazing he didn’t go blind.”

  “Are you insulting our sister?” Tim de
manded.

  “She’s hardly worth the effort. Apparently, the only way she can get a man’s attention is to get him drunk,” Billy replied.

  Tim punched her brother in the nose.

  Her brother reached up to touch his nose and gasped when he saw the blood on his fingers. “No one gets away with hitting me.” He punched Tim in the jaw.

  Several men joined in the fight.

  Kate jumped on Lacy and the two women went tumbling onto the ground, dragging the table cloth with them. Pies, cookies and punch fell on top of them as they rolled around on the ground.

  Lacy tried to grab her hair but Kate pulled back just in time.

  “You leave him alone, you little home wrecker!” Kate demanded and shoved a fistful of cookies into her mouth.

  Lacy tried to speak but her mouth was too full.

  Half of the people joined in the fight while the other half sat back to watch.

  Just as Lacy reached for a slice of pie to fling at Kate, Jeff pulled Kate off of her. Lacy threw the pie and it landed on Sam’s face as he was about to pick her up from the ground.

  “Shrew or not, you have a lot of passion,” Jeff said. “Forget Billy and come with me.”

  “I will not! I love Billy,” she insisted.

  He laughed. “You can learn to love me, honey.” Then he kissed her.

  “I don’t want you,” she spat. She found an untouched pie and threw it at his face.

  “You are all fighting over Billy and he’s not even here!” her brother yelled.

  Lacy jumped on her back.

  She stumbled and fell to the ground. She pushed the woman off of her and pulled her hair. “If you don’t leave Billy alone, I’m going to kill you!”

  Lacy slapped her as hard as she could.

  Kate put her hand up to her cheek. That hurt! She grunted, quickly stood up, picked up the other bowl of punch that was lying on the table and threw it at her. Lacy’s clothes got drenched in the red liquid. Lacy quickly grabbed a napkin and wiped her eyes so she could see her opponent. She took a cherry pie and threw it at Kate. Kate dodged the pie and laughed.

  Chris picked up a blueberry pie and threw it at Kate. This pie landed squarely on her face. Shocked, she stumbled back and fell on her bottom.

  “What is going on here?”

  Everyone stopped to turn to the voice. Kate wiped her eyes so she could see who interrupted them. She was stunned to see Chad staring at everyone in shock. Finally, he looked at her, as if trying to figure out if she was Kate or not.

  “She needs to leave Billy alone,” Kate explained. She quickly adjusted her wig before anyone noticed her hair was fake. “He’s my husband.” She stood up and tried to brush food off of her dress and face.

  Chad shook his head. “Is it any wonder why I don’t come into town anymore? Billy’s my employee. I’ll make it clear to him that he has to go back to Kentucky to make things right with you. Alright?” He looked at Kate.

  Billy leaving town was the only way she would ever successfully get rid of Lacy. “Alight,” she agreed.

  “The rest of you can go about your lives,” he told the onlookers.

  The people took that as their cue to leave him and Kate alone.

  Chris turned to Lacy. “I had no idea you could be so devious,” he told her, a wide grin crossing his face. “You do look pretty. Personally, you’re better looking than Georgia was. There’s just one thing I have to check.” He pulled her in his arms and gave her a long kiss.

  She put her arms around his neck and kissed him back.

  When their kiss ended, he smiled. “That’s all I need to know. Would you like to talk?”

  She smiled back at him. “Alright.”

  Tim and Sam ran over to them.

  “Lacy, we don’t want you with Chad’s brother,” Sam argued.

  She rolled her eyes. “I’m a grown woman. I can make my own decisions.”

  “No need to worry, Lacy,” Chris began. “If we get married, I’ll take you to California, so you won’t have to deal with their meddling ways anymore.”

  Tim started to protest, but she stopped him. “I’ve had enough of you and Sam trying to run my life. Honestly, I can make up my own mind.”

  Chris extended his arm to her. “Care to join me?”

  She nodded and ignored her brothers.

  Kate’s jaw dropped. She hadn’t expected this!

  Chris looked at Chad. “I’ll let you have your half of the inheritance. I found something more interesting than money on my venture out here.”

  Now Chad’s jaw dropped.

  They watched the two lovebirds sit on the lawn and talk to each other.

  Billy shook his head in amusement. “Ironically, they’ll be very happy together.”

  “Where is Kate?” Chad quietly asked Kate.

  “She went off running as soon as the fighting began,” she replied.

  “I’ll leave you two alone,” Billy told them as he walked off.

  “I thought if Lois fought with Lacy that Lacy would leave Billy alone,” she quickly explained. “Had I known your brother would take an interest in her as soon as he realized she was devious, I would have said something sooner.”

  “It looks like I missed an exciting potluck,” he said.

  She was relieved that he had a sense of humor about it.

  “I wanted to know if you would like to marry me and go back home as Mrs. Chad Walker? I was hoping to spend the day with you.”

  “Definitely! I was wondering if you’d ever ask.” She was about to hug and kiss him but he stopped her.

  “I’m only going to marry Kate. I’m not going to marry Billy’s wife.”

  “Let me clean up and change. I’ll be back. Then we can go find that preacher!”

  Chapter Twenty

  When Chad brought Kate home, he wasn’t sure what to expect. He knew what he hoped, but there was that part of him that wondered if she’d be as enthusiastic about making love as she was about kissing. So he decided that he’d test the waters and ask her to dance. It was an activity that they enjoyed...and it required touching. At the very least, he thought she might want more time before they consummated their marriage, especially since everything had happened so fast.

  “What are you doing?” she asked as he got the music ready to play.

  He shrugged. “I thought it might be nice to...” How did he come out and say, To get you in the mood for the bedroom?

  “Well, I thought it might be nice to make our marriage official.” She walked over to him and traced her hand up his arm. “You know what I mean?”

  He couldn’t believe his hands were actually shaking. One would think that he was the virgin in the room. His pulse quickened. He did want her in his bed, to make love to her and know what it was like to fully give himself to a woman who would fully give herself back to him.

  She glanced at his hands. “I’m not her,” she whispered. “Come with me.”

  A man ought to lead, he knew, but he wanted to see what she would do, so he followed her into the bedroom. “Would you like me to draw the curtains?”

  She stopped in front of the dresser and removed the pins that held her hair back. “No. The breeze cools off the room.”

  He stood by the bed, too fascinated to do anything but watch her. Just how much was she actually going to let him see before she hid under the covers?

  She removed the belt around her waist and set it on the dresser. The yellow dress loosened around her and she unbuttoned the front of it. The male part of him thickened in anticipation. She was a breathtaking sight. Just as beautiful as she had been when he caught her sleeping in the barn.

  He chuckled.

  She glanced over her shoulder. “What’s so funny?”

  “I was just remembering how I first say you. Not as Billy but as yourself. You know, up in the loft of the barn.”

  She grinned. “You never did answer my question.”

  “What question was that?”

  “Did you like what you
saw?”

  “What do you think?”

  She pretended to think about it. “I don’t know. I was asleep at the time.”

  His fingers itched to touch her. Instead, he took his boots off, keeping his eyes on her. Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t look away as she let her clothes fall softly at her ankles. He dropped his boots, ignoring the loud thud they made on the floor. She was a magnificent sight. Bountiful breasts with pink nipples that pointed out. Her shape was a perfect hourglass. Slender, long legs. Her blond hair fell in gentle waves down her back. He had to touch her, to assure himself that this time he wasn’t dreaming.

  He came up behind her and pushed her hair aside so he could kiss the side of her neck. His hands settled on her bare shoulders, enjoying the softness of her flesh.

  “I’m guessing you liked what you saw,” she joked.

  His gaze lifted to the mirror in front of them. Her body beckoned him, and she smiled at him as she stared into the mirror. He traced the curve of her arms until he held her hands. His thumbs caressed the backs of her hands.

  “Very much so and now that you’re my wife, I can admit it. Let’s go to bed,” he whispered, his breathing already ragged.

  She nodded and went over to the bed. She got into bed and slipped under the covers. “It’d help if you joined me.”

  He blinked. Right. He’d been too caught up in trying to memorize every part of her body that he forgot he was still dressed. He threw off his clothes and hopped into bed with her. He thought he detected a slight smile of amusement on her face, but he didn’t care. This was really happening...and to him. It was no longer something he wished for.

  He moved so that his body touched hers. She was warm and yielding. And she was his. All his. And he was hers. He brought his lips to hers and kissed her. “I love you, Kate,” he softly said.

  “I love you too, Chad.”

  He deepened the kiss, this time parting his lips and let his tongue trace her lower lip, urging her to open to him. She did. He slid his tongue into her mouth, delighting in the taste of her. His hand traced the length of her, noting the tender breasts. He moaned as he cupped her in his palm. Her nipple grew hard. She groaned and snuggled closer to him.

  He wanted to spend more time on her breasts, but he was too aroused to be that patient. He tried to slow down but he couldn’t. His hand moved down her body until he felt the opening of her womanhood. Oh, she was wonderfully made. He slid a finger into her. She was damp but not as wet as she needed to be if she was going to receive him. He slid another finger into her. Then he found what was supposed to be the sensitive region on a woman’s body.