Marked for Marriage

by Jackie Merritt

  “That’s about what they’re worth. I was remembering that miserable, long drive from Texas, for one thing,” Maddie replied.

  Noah brought her a glass of wine, which she took, then touched it with his glass. It made a pleasant little clink, and he said, “Shall we drink to more enjoyable drives?”

  The toast dug a smile out of Maddie. “Sounds good to me.” She took a swallow and found the wine delicious.

  Noah sat on the carpet in front of the fireplace. “The pizza should be here in about thirty minutes. Do you like this wine?”

  “Yes.”

  “Tell me about that miserable, long drive from Texas.”

  “There’s really nothing to tell. It was miserable because I felt miserable, and no one could disagree that fifteen hundred miles isn’t a long drive.”

  “I can’t figure out how you managed to drive at all when you were so drugged.”

  “I wasn’t drugged during the day, for heaven’s sake. I know better than that. The only time I took a prescription pain pill was after I had stopped driving for the day and after I had fed, watered and cared for Fanny. If I felt really horrible while I was driving, I used over-the-counter pain medication. It helped.”

  “You’ve got guts, kiddo.”

  “Always have had, kiddo,” she retorted. It was the unmitigated truth, and hadn’t she been forgetting the hard times—her parents’ fatal accident, for one earthshaking example—that she’d gotten through by the grace of God and her own courage? She would get through whatever fate had in store for her now, too, and if that included never competing again and didn’t include marriage with the man she’d come to love in so short a time, she would survive.

  The wine was relaxing the tension she’d arrived with, and it felt so very good to just let go and stop worrying, even if it was only a temporary respite from the emotional gridlock she would again be facing when this evening was over.

  “I like your house,” she said. “But if I may be honest, I’m not fond of its location. When I buy a house someday, it’s going to be situated on at least a hundred acres.” She knew she sounded as though she had the means to buy that dream home tonight if she wished, and in a way she did. Certainly her savings account would more than cover a down payment and closing costs. But what on earth would she do to earn enough money to make monthly payments for twenty or thirty years?

  “I made a real deal on this house,” Noah said. “The owner had it built because he and his wife had fallen in love with Montana during a summer vacation, and they had the money to construct the kind of home they were accustomed to living in in California. Well, as I’ve seen happen more than once around here, one winter was all it took for the missus to say uncle. Her other complaint was that Whitehorn had no shopping malls, which, of course, it doesn’t. Anyhow, I was at the gym one day and overheard the man telling a friend that if he didn’t sell fast and get his wife back to California, she was going to leave him. I was living in an apartment complex at the time and I hated it. People coming and going at all hours, noise of some kind going on all the time and very little privacy.

  “Anyway, I butted into the conversation and asked the fellow if I could see his place. He was visibly overjoyed to just show the house, and after I saw it and he named a price so low I could hardly believe my ears, I became a homeowner.”

  “Lucky you.”

  “It was luck, very good luck, because, guess what— One of my patients is an elderly man who happens to own a six-hundred-acre ranch about fifteen miles from town. He and his wife have reached the age where maintaining and operating even a small ranch is simply too much work, and they have no children who might want the place. Anyway, they would like to move to Whitehorn and he told me that they would trade for this house, straight across.”

  Maddie nearly hyperventilated from a momentous burst of instantaneous excitement. “Are…are you going to do it?”

  “I might.” Noah got up for the bottle of wine and poured some into Maddie’s empty glass. Standing before her, he topped off his own, then stood there sipping from his glass and looking at her. “Do you think I should?”

  “Uh…I would…but why, uh, would you want a ranch?”

  Grinning rather slyly, Noah turned and resumed his seat on the carpet by the fire. He startled Maddie with a complete change of subject.

  “You heard about the chest of gold and jewels, I’m sure.”

  She wanted to talk about that ranch so much she hurt, and besides why on earth was he rambling on about gold and jewels?

  “I’m surprised the Braddocks didn’t buy your patient’s six hundred acres. Didn’t you tell me that the Braddock family was buying land all over the area?”

  “My patient hasn’t advertised his intentions, so the Braddocks probably haven’t heard about the availability of that ranch. Besides it’s small potatoes for them, according to rumor. About that chest of gold and valuable jewelry…”

  Maddie sighed impatiently. “What about it?”

  “You did hear about it, didn’t you?”

  “I’m afraid not.”

  “It was found in the old foundation of the Hip Hop Café during the arson investigation.”

  “Oh, maybe Mark did mention something about it.”

  “Well, no one knew where it had come from or who had buried it there, so it was sent to a lab for investigation. I heard today that the investigators did a darned good job and put the gold together with some old memoirs left by…you’ll never guess…one of your very own ancestors. A Kincaid.”

  “Now why doesn’t that surprise me?” Maddie drawled drily before taking another swallow of wine. “I swear that nothing happens in this entire county that doesn’t involve at least one Kincaid. Are you aware of Kincaid history? Some of them were terrible people…dishonest, greedy, you name it, they did it.”

  “And some of them were and are terrific people,” Noah said softly. “You’re a Kincaid and so is Mark.”

  Maddie arched her eyebrow. “Oh? Are you saying I’m a terrific person?”

  “Terrific, exciting, beautiful, funny, intelligent and dare I add mouthwateringly sexy?”

  “I think you’d dare anything, Dr. Smooth-Talker.”

  Noah’s laughter made Maddie smile. “I amuse you very easily, don’t I?”

  The doorbell rang and Noah got to his feet. “That’s our pizza.” He went to Maddie’s chair, bent over and kissed her lips. “No one ever amused me the way you do, Miss Cutie-Pants.”

  Maddie could hardly believe that he’d made up a name for her the way she’d been doing for him ever since they’d met. “Times, they are achangin’, and so are you, Doc,” she said under her breath as happiness—and good wine—warmed her through and through. He’d told her about that ranch for a reason, and maybe they wouldn’t get to the rest of it tonight—such as a discussion about marriage and their commingled futures—but eventually they would.

  No, she couldn’t leave Whitehorn ever again, not to compete, not for any excuse or reason.

  Noah came in with the pizza box, two plates and a stack of paper napkins. “I consider pizza to be finger food, but would you like a fork?” He set everything on the coffee table.

  “Nope. I eat it the same way you do, but I had the impression that you only ate fruits and vegetables.”

  “That impression was mostly right, sweetheart.” Noah sent her a broad grin. “This is vegetarian pizza.”

  “You scoundrel,” she scolded. “Your name should be Kincaid.”

  Laughing, Maddie moved to sit on the sofa with him, and they began eating, and, of course, they washed down the delicious vegetarian pizza with delicious wine.

  “So,” Maddie said after a few bites. “What’s going to happen to the gold and jewels? Or didn’t Whitehorn’s thriving grapevine carry that message yet?”

  “It belongs to Jennifer McCallum, of course. What is she, about eight or nine now? An adorable child that everyone seems to love. She’s known as the darling of Whitehorn, you know. Anyhow, since sh
e inherited the original Kincaid empire, the chest is hers, but the biggest news of all is that when she was told about it, she said that every Kincaid should have a piece of the pie. Apparently she plans to divide it up among all of you Kincaids.”

  Maddie lowered her piece of pizza. “You’re not serious.”

  “It’s what I heard.”

  “From whom?”

  “My nurse.”

  “Well, if Nurse Norma is that deeply involved in Whitehorn’s mainstream, imagine what she’ll say about my coming to your office today.”

  Noah nodded with a tongue-in-cheek expression on his face. “Oh, she’ll say a lot.”

  “You think you’re teasing, but it’s not funny, Noah.”

  “Sure it is. Do you really give a damn what anyone says about you?”

  “Well…no, actually.”

  “Good, that makes two of us.” Noah took a big swallow of his wine and looked at Maddie with his eyes twinkling. “So, maybe you’re going to be a rich woman.”

  “Yeah, right. I’ll believe that when it happens. There are so many Kincaids, that chest would have to be the size of Texas to make any one of us really rich.”

  “A bit of an exaggeration, but I get your point.” Noah added softly after a moment, “Will you stay with me tonight?”

  Maddie’s pulse went wild. “You really don’t care what people might say, do you?”

  “Told you I don’t. Maddie, listen. It’s starting to rain again. Stay here tonight. We’ll open another bottle of wine and lie together in front of the fire. We’ll cuddle and talk and cuddle and…”

  Laughing, Maddie slapped him on the arm. “You can stop with the ‘cuddles,’ Dr. Sweetie-Honey, I got the message loud and clear.”

  “‘Sweetie-Honey’?”

  “Yes,” she said softly. “Tonight you feel like my sweetie-honey.”

  Noah was so moved he could barely speak. After clearing his throat he managed one simple question. “And tomorrow?”

  Tomorrow she was going to talk to Dr. Herrera and to Dr. Pierce. Tomorrow could be a bright and wonderful day—even with rain—or it could be dreadful beyond imagination.

  “I won’t know anything about tomorrow until tomorrow,” she said with a sudden mist of tears in her eyes.

  Emotional with compassion for her troubles, he took her glass from her hand and set it with his on the table. Then he put his arms around her and held her for a very long time.

  Both of them knew they could not be any closer to each other than they were during those lovely minutes, though neither said so. The time wasn’t yet perfect for saying what was in their minds, but it would be. Soon, very soon.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Early the following morning Noah drove Maddie to her truck. After a tender parting kiss, he asked, “Will you call me after you talk to Dr. Herrera?”

  “I…guess so.”

  Noah was insistent. “Better still, would you give me permission to talk to him?” He playfully touched the tip of Maddie’s nose and smiled. “I am your primary physician, you know.”

  “Completely your decision, I could remind you at this point,” she replied pertly.

  “You needed someone to look out for you, sweetheart. I just happened to be that someone and I just happened to be a doctor. That was good luck for both of us, I’d have to say.”

  “Oh, you would. Your life must have been terribly boring before I came along if you think our meeting brought you any good luck.”

  “My life was boring beyond belief.”

  Maddie still didn’t know for certain why Noah had labeled so many years of his life a “void.” She suspected a woman had brought him a lot of misery, but that theory was strictly guesswork. Be that as it may, it was difficult for her to look at Noah, see him for the handsome, intelligent man that he was, and accept that he’d lived a boring-beyond-belief existence. His work couldn’t possibly be that uninteresting to him, so he obviously was referring to his personal life.

  Well, had hers been so great that she could doubt anyone else’s portrayal of life in the slow lane? The truth of the matter, of course, was that interaction with people you liked, admired, were drawn to by personality or hormones was perhaps the most profound distinction between “boring” and “exciting.” Obviously Noah hadn’t been doing much interacting.

  It moved Maddie that he’d found her interesting enough to change his loner ways, and she laid her hand on Noah’s cheek and wished she could say everything that was in her heart. She couldn’t, though. Last night had been wonderful. They had made love, laughed together over silly things and talked and talked. But Maddie knew they’d both been holding back, because neither of them had really opened up about feelings or hopes for the future.

  Maybe they were both hopeless misfits, but there was no way she could ignore her very serious problems, and it was entirely possible that neither could Noah ignore them. After all, what did she have to bring to a permanent relationship besides problems?

  “Gotta go,” she said, striving to sound upbeat instead of as sad as she suddenly felt inside.

  “Wait and let me help you out.” Noah stepped to the ground, hurried around to her side of his vehicle and opened the passenger door.

  “Thanks, Doc,” Maddie quipped, still making that effort to appear unruffled and certainly in control of herself. But she couldn’t hide everything behind a bright facade. For instance, her old response to offers of unneeded assistance from a guy had usually been a clearly stated, “Thanks, but I can do it myself.” However, considering her bad knee and the fact that Noah’s SUV was so high off the ground—he didn’t have the extra little step that she’d had installed on her truck—she genuinely appreciated his assistance.

  “See you later?” he said, putting what he apparently wanted to happen in the form of a question.

  Maddie nodded. “I’m sure you will.” She crossed the street to reach her truck, unlocked it and got into the driver’s seat. Looking out the side window, she waved and he waved back. Then they each drove away, going in opposite directions. The symbolism did not escape Maddie’s notice. Their individual paths through life could very well have crossed this one time, never to be repeated again.

  Aren’t you getting a bit melodramatic?

  Well, hell’s bells! If I’m fine and Fanny’s fine, what excuse could I possibly come up with to hang around Whitehorn? If I’m so darned interesting that he’s no longer bored, why not come right out and say that he doesn’t want me to go anywhere?

  He did.

  Uh, guess he did say something to that effect, didn’t he?

  Truth was, they’d both hinted and beaten around the bush way too much.

  But did she have the nerve to do anything else?

  “Not really,” she whispered just as she drove into Mark’s driveway. Sighing heavily, she got out of her truck and went into the house.

  Noah received a surprise that morning. While making his rounds at the hospital, he ran into Dr. Clark, chief of hospital administration. The older man fell into step with Noah, and they discussed various patients and diagnoses until they reached a fork in the corridor, where they stopped to chat further.

  “Noah, we’re losing Dr. Franklin to retirement. As you know, he’s been an important member of the hospital’s board for a long time. We must replace him, of course, and I would like to submit your name to the remaining board members for consideration. How does that strike you? It’s quite an honor, you know.”

  Noah didn’t want to appear ungrateful, because many physicians did consider board membership at a fine hospital an honor, but did he want to take on the additional work? Also, he’d always done his best to avoid hospital politics, and with an appointment to the board, he would be diving headfirst into the fray.

  “May I think about it for a day or so, Dr. Clark?” he asked politely.

  “Of course, but I would like an answer as soon as possible.”

  “I understand.”

  By two that afternoon numerous tele
phone calls had taken place: Maddie and Dr. Herrera, Maddie and Dr. Pierce, Noah and Dr. Herrera, and Maddie and Denise Hunter. Notably absent was a call between Maddie and Noah, because that was going to be one very difficult conversation for her.

  A weak sun was shining, the temperature was mild, and Maddie left the house wearing jeans, boots and a heavily ribbed, hand-knitted, green wool sweater. She tossed a jacket into the cab of her truck, just in case, but her sweater was warm and probably all she would need. She drove straight to the Braddock stable, got out and went inside the building to hug and stroke Fanny. Try as she might, she could no longer hold back the tears that had stung her eyes and nose all the way from town.

  After a few minutes of crying on Fanny’s warm neck, Maddie began consoling herself by speaking softly to her beloved horse. “I will always take care of you. You’re my darling, and after you’re well you’ll take me for long rides and we’ll explore together. You’ll always have a good home, I promise you. Oh, Fanny…Fanny.” Emotion overcame her.

  “Maddie?”

  She wiped her eyes and turned to look at Denise. “I’m all right.”

  “I’m so sorry. I really wish Dr. Pierce had been as frank with me that day as he was with you on the telephone today.”

  “He couldn’t be. I understand his code of ethics. The things he wrote down for you to tell me were the bare-bones medical facts of Fanny’s injuries. The rest of it…his opinion that she should not compete again…could only be said to me, Fanny’s owner. Before he said that, he let me know that I could race her, it was really up to me. Some people would, he said, even though another fall and further injury to her legs could cripple her.” Maddie stroked Fanny’s neck. “I’ll never race her again. I wouldn’t put her in that kind of jeopardy.”

  “Oh, Maddie,” Denise said with a saddened sigh. “I’ll leave you alone again. I just wanted to let you know how badly I feel about this. If you’d like to talk later on, come to the house and I’ll make some tea…or coffee.”