His Secret Bride (The Brides of Paradise Ranch (Spicy Version) Book 8)

by Merry Farmer

  “I still don’t think it’s right,” Pearl muttered as the three of them walked along Elizabeth Street toward the Place. “There has to be something that we can do. If we all banded together…”

  “We already do band together.” The argument was sapping every last bit of energy Bonnie had. She couldn’t bear it anymore. “We’ve done all that we can together. Now I have to take this step on my own.”

  “But—”

  “I need you to trust me when I say this is the only option left,” she cut Pearl off. They’d reached the juncture of Elizabeth and Main Streets. Bonnie stopped to face both of her friends, as if lecturing them. “I created a problem, I need to fix it. My feelings for Rupert Cole, or anyone else, can’t play a part in the decisions I make. You have to believe me when I say that. I wish Rupert all the very best in this world. I…I hope that he finds someone who he can love, someone who deserves him.” It ripped at her soul to say that, but he deserved to be happy. “I’m going to marry Rex on Tuesday, and that’s all there is to it.” She’d deal with the consequences as they came.

  Neither Pearl nor Lucy had a response, so Bonnie nodded to them, then turned and marched across the intersection and up the steps of the porch. She wanted nothing more than to retreat to her own rooms, where she could cry her eyes out in peace.

  As she opened the door, she glanced over her shoulder. Pearl and Lucy stood with their heads together, eyes wide with emotion, whispering furiously. If Bonnie didn’t know any better, she’d think the two were plotting something.

  Chapter 13

  Rupert would have sworn he was in for another sleepless night, but as soon as his head hit the pillow back at The Cattleman Hotel after a gloomy team supper at the saloon, he fell into a heavy sleep. It was a blessing that it was dreamless, otherwise he was certain he would have dreamed of nothing but Bonnie. As it was, he was certain he would dream about nothing but her for the rest of his life.

  When morning finally dawned, he stayed in bed longer than he should have, then got up, washed without shaving, and packed his bags. The sooner he got home to Everland the better. He tried to make himself think of how grateful Skipper would be to have him back at work, about how he and Max and Gordon would laugh about the whole thing at The Gingerbread Man while throwing back a few whiskeys. On second thought, he was convinced he would never laugh again.

  “I’d like to check out,” Rupert mumbled to Gunn at the hotel’s front desk after nothing but coffee for breakfast.

  Gunn blinked at him, his steely, blue-eyed gaze concerned. “Don’t you have your meeting with Howard and Lucy later this morning?”

  “I do.” Rupert sighed, rubbing a hand over his stubbly chin. “But after that, I’d like to catch the next train back to Everland. Apparently there’s only one today, and it leaves just before noon.”

  Gunn studied him with a frown. “Aren’t you expecting your meeting to go well?” He leaned closer across the desk. “I hear Howard was exceptionally impressed with the designs you gave him the other day. You didn’t hear it from me, but he plans to make you an offer.”

  The stirring of excitement in Rupert’s chest at the possibility of a lucrative building contract felt as though it was a million miles away, someone else’s emotions. It rang in the hollowness of his heart, barely making a dent. “That’s nice,” he told Gunn with a faint smile. “I’d still like to check out, though.”

  “If you’re sure,” Gunn said slowly.

  “I am sure,” Rupert snapped back. “I want to go home. Is that too much to ask?”

  “Not at all.” Gunn nodded with regal calm.

  It wasn’t enough to soothe Rupert’s hurt feelings. “I don’t know what’s wrong with this town. Everyone thinks it’s their business to interfere with the lives of strangers.”

  Gunn’s expression turned dangerously flat. “Allow me to correct you. This town harbors a deep concern and care for its citizens. We are more than just a town, we are a community.”

  “Yeah, well I’m not part of it.”

  It took Rupert a few seconds of Gunn’s obvious disapproval to realize the man might not be talking about him. Bonnie was central to Haskell. People like Gunn would be concerned with her happiness, not his.

  He puffed out a breath, shaking his head. He was concerned with her happiness too.

  “Look, Mr. Gunn, I know you all want what’s best for Bonnie,” he said, trying to be more conciliatory. “That’s what I want too. We had a long talk about it yesterday,” sort of, “and I see now that Bonnie’s plan of marrying Bonneville so that she can hold onto her Place is the right thing. Even if it doesn’t make me particularly happy.”

  “Or her?” Gunn questioned, one eyebrow arched.

  “Or her,” Rupert sighed. “I have to respect her choices. If I didn’t, I’d be nothing but a selfish, overbearing fool.”

  Silence followed his speech. Gunn continued to stare at him, not even remotely convinced. Rupert was spared the frustration of having to argue even more for something he didn’t want when Howard and his daughter burst into the lobby.

  “Ah! Mr. Cole! I see you’re ready for our meeting.”

  Rupert had never been more grateful to do business with a loud, boisterous man in his life. He gave Gunn one last look, followed by a shrug. “I’ll check out right after this meeting.”

  Howard had to greet Gunn at length before asking for breakfast and settling himself, Mrs. Faraday, and Rupert in the dining room for the meeting. He then launched into his opinionated account of the baseball game the day before, berating Bonneville for his tactics and doing his best to reassure Rupert that he didn’t hold the loss against him personally, that everyone made a bad play at a crucial moment now and then. Mrs. Faraday stayed silent, frowning, at that statement. Rupert could feel the clock ticking in his head, but nothing he did could get Howard to settle down to business.

  “We’ll be done here in plenty of time for you to catch your train,” he insisted, even as he delayed business until after the pancakes and bacon were served.

  Every minute that Rupert was forced to sit and listen to Howard’s bombast about the game, the town, and his plans for it was like torture. All he wanted to do was go home, and yet, he kept looking out the hotel restaurant’s window, hoping to catch a glimpse of Bonnie. No, dreading the possibility of catching a glimpse of Bonnie. He’d lost her. He had no right to continue to long for her. This was all for her. He strained to hear any sign of a train whistle so that he could make his excuses and flee.

  “And that’s why I want to pay you and your partner ten thousand dollars for the designs and offer you a contract worth five thousand dollars per completed unit.”

  Rupert jerked out of his depressing thoughts, his eyes popping at the figures Howard quoted. “That’s a small fortune.”

  Howard beamed and patted his round stomach. “Of course it is. I only want the finest quality for my town, and in my experience, if you pay people what they’re worth, they’ll not only live up to your expectations, they’ll exceed them.”

  Rupert could only gape. He was in no way worth that much money. But with an income like that, he could do so much to help Bonnie and her girls. What he couldn’t do, however, was enable them to keep their house. Howard’s generous offer was too little too late to fix the destruction Rex Bonneville had wrought.

  “I have to consult with my partner about this,” Rupert replied. Although for money like that, Skipper was likely to fall all over himself to accept the offer. It would be tricky figuring out how to engage in a contract in Haskell while the primary business was in Everland, but if Rupert spent more time in Haskell, if they hired more men, both for their Everland enterprise and for the Haskell project…

  No, he didn’t think he could face that much time spent working in Haskell with Bonnie married to Bonneville. Even with the friends he’d made in town, it was too much.

  “I have to ask Skipper,” he repeated, deflating.

  “Take all the time you need, my boy.” Howard
reached over and thumped his arm. “But I doubt you’ll ever find an offer like this again.”

  “You won’t,” Mrs. Faraday added. The way she had looked at him through the entire meeting clearly had nothing to do with building contracts and housing designs. She was Bonnie’s friend. She probably hated him.

  At last, the first, faint peal of a train whistle sounded in the distance. Rupert stood faster than was polite. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a train to catch.”

  “Yes, yes, but I hope to hear an answer from you soon.” Howard stood with him and shook his hand.

  Rupert nodded to Mrs. Faraday, then turned to rush out of the room.

  He was halfway across the lobby before he realized Mrs. Faraday had jumped up and chased after him.

  “I can’t let you do it.” She grabbed him by the arm, dug in her heels, and forced him to stop. “I can’t let you run away like this.”

  “What?” Rupert tried to shake her off politely, but she had his arm in a dogged grip.

  “Ohh,” she squealed. “Bonnie is my friend, and it tears me apart to watch the two of you making what could be the worst mistake of your lives.”

  Rupert closed his hand over hers, peeled her fingers away, and set her arm by her side. Trying to be firm without being rude, he looked her in the eye and said, “I’m sorry, Mrs. Faraday, but this isn’t actually any of your business.”

  “It is so!” she protested. “This is Haskell, and in Haskell we look out for each other.”

  Rupert glanced sideways to the main desk, only to find Gunn grinning and failing to pretend he wasn’t paying attention.

  “I appreciate the sentiment,” Rupert said, loud enough for both of them to hear. “But there are things about this situation that even you don’t know.”

  Gunn’s grin screamed “I doubt it.”

  Mrs. Faraday stomped her foot and planted her hands on her hips. “I can’t let you break two hearts and ruin two lives. Just like I can’t accept anything that will give Rex Bonneville the idea that he can get away with mischief like this. He’s been a thorn in my father’s side for years now.”

  Rupert’s lips twitched into something close to a grin. Of course there was another level to the entire thing that he hadn’t considered. He believed that these people all cared deeply for Bonnie, but it made sense that they would want to see Bonneville thwarted too.

  Mrs. Faraday switched tactics, gripping Rupert’s arm again with a plaintive look. “Please,” she begged him. “Surely this contract with my father will make a difference. Please try talking to Bonnie one more time. You can work things out, I just know it.”

  Rupert stared at her. Had she been the one to convince her father to offer him so much money? For Bonnie’s sake?

  “I tell you, it’s a lost cause,” he argued.

  “Love is never a lost cause,” she replied in indignation. “It’s just like a man to think so.”

  There was no way for Rupert to defend himself on that count.

  She switched back to pleading. “Please, at least go over to the church and say goodbye to Bonnie.”

  “The church?”

  “Yes. She’s over there decorating for the wedding tomorrow.”

  Rupert’s frown darkened.

  “That wedding doesn’t have to take place,” Mrs. Faraday insisted, practically hugging his arm now. “You can stop it. All you need to do is work things out, assure Bonnie that you support her efforts with her girls and can help finance it.”

  “There’s more going on than just the money.” It was the closest Rupert was willing to come to betraying Bonnie’s secrets.

  “There’s always a solution to every problem. Love can always save the day.”

  Rupert swallowed, willing himself to have patience with this determined woman. Another faint train whistle sounded. Time was ticking away. He could either stand there and let Mrs. Faraday plead with him—and Mr. Gunn stare disapprovingly at him—or he could go over to the church and show the woman that her efforts were for naught.

  “All right.” He sighed. “I’ll go with you to the church. I’ll say goodbye to Bonnie. But that’s it.”

  “I knew you’d see it my way.” Mrs. Faraday beamed as if he’d agreed to stay in Haskell and chain himself to Bonnie’s side. She grabbed his hand and rushed him toward the door. “I just know everything will work out.”

  “What do you think of the white chrysanthemums paired with the pink ribbon?” Honoria asked Bonnie as they worked at a table set up near the back of the church.

  The air was rich with the scent of autumnal flowers, a pleasant buzz of activity filled the room as a handful of Bonnie’s girls and the Bonneville sisters decorated, and morning sunlight streamed through the stained-glass windows, painting the chapel with bright colors. But Bonnie saw none of it, didn’t hear Honoria’s question. She stood with a roll of ribbon in one hand and a pair of scissors in the other, staring at nothing.

  “I like the red ribbon better,” Pearl answered Honoria’s question from Bonnie’s other side. “It’s more daring, more irreverent.”

  “We’re in a church, you stupid cow,” Melinda sneered from one of the windows a few yards away. “Things are supposed to be reverent.”

  “Definitely the red, then.” Pearl winked at Honoria. The two burst into giggles.

  “Ugh! I’m so sick of this!” Melinda threw a handful of flowers she was attempting to arrange in the windowsill to the floor and stomped. Honoria and Pearl blinked at her. Some of Bonnie’s other girls straightened in indignation. Bebe glanced up from where she was making bunting at the back of the church.

  Vivian, of course, joined right in. “It’s so degrading! To be forced to labor side-by-side with harlots and cheap women!”

  “It’s a disgrace that Rev. Pickering would let dirty, soiled women into the church in the first place,” Melinda ranted on.

  “Who are you calling dirty, cerdo asqueroso?” Domenica hollered back from across the room, eyes flaring.

  “She called me a name!” Vivian bellowed. “I just know she did.”

  “I refuse to work in these conditions,” Melinda stomped again.

  “Go ahead and leave, then.” Della shrugged. “That’ll mean I can use more of these in the decorations.” She held up a thick cat-tail plant that bore a distinct resemblance to something else entirely and giggled. The girls giggled along with her.

  “Oh, that’s vile.” Melinda grimaced, averting her eyes. “That’s simply foul.”

  “Disgusting.” Vivian sniffed. “Isn’t it disgusting, Bebe?”

  “What?” Bebe lifted her head timidly from her sewing, eyes wide and wary. She saw Della holding the cat-tail and said, “Oh. Oh, yes. Disgusting,” before quickly shrinking in on herself and returning to work.

  Vivian snorted. “You’re completely useless.”

  “Idiot,” Melinda added.

  Bebe blushed, but was quickly forgotten.

  “Oh, it’s so unfair,” Vivian bellowed, then sank dramatically onto one of the pews, the back of her hand pressed to her forehead. “How can I possibly be expected to work alongside these filthy creatures? How can I be expected to work at all in my condition?”

  “I still don’t understand how she can be with child at all, what with the speed at which Rance Bonneville fires his pistol,” Pearl murmured.

  She wasn’t quiet enough that Honoria and several of the girls working nearby didn’t hear her. The girls laughed. Honoria had the good manners to flush and purse her lips in embarrassment. Vivian heard enough to burst into wails.

  “Enough.” Bonnie finally snapped out of her miserable thoughts and took interest in the scene around her. “Don’t go making things worse, Pearl,” she scolded her friend, then leaned closer to add, “Vivian has to live with the man.”

  “Oh, you’re right.” Pearl made a face as though she’d tasted something sour, then turned to Vivian. “I’m very sorry for my crude comment, Mrs. Bonneville.”

  Vivian curled her lip and muttered, “Dis
gusting harlot,” before laying back on the pew’s bench, arm draped over her face.

  There was a clatter at the door, then Hubert Strong stumbled into the room wearing his porter uniform. “This box of daisies just came in on the train. Pop said I should run them right over.” He spoke to the room at large, but looked at Bebe, a goofy grin spreading across his face.

  Bebe glanced up from sewing bunting and turned an even deeper shade of pink. She burst into shy smiles and giggles. Hubert giggled right back at her.

  “Bebe! Stop it this instant!” Melinda shrieked from across the room.

  Bebe’s bashful good spirits died in an instant, and she slumped over her sewing again. Hubert glared as though he wanted to throw the box of daisies straight at Melinda’s face.

  “Stupid cow,” Vivian muttered from her pew.

  Bonnie sighed, rubbing her temples and the headache that was forming behind her eyes. She put down her ribbon and scissors and marched across the church to take the box. “Thanks, Hubert. Much appreciated.”

  “No problem, Miss Bonnie.” He glanced anxiously to Bebe—whose shoulders now shook with silent tears. “Uh, do you need me to, um, maybe stick around and help for a while? Pop can spare me. He’s trying to give me more responsibility, now that I’m graduated and all.” His gaze darted back to Bebe.

  Bonnie’s heart ached for the young couple. They’d been silently sweet on each other for months now. But they were young, and with Bebe a Bonneville and Hubert the son of the stationmaster, they had a hard road ahead of them if they were ever going to do more than stare longingly at each other across the room.

  “I think Bebe needed a bit more thread for that bunting she’s making,” Bonnie said. Bebe’s head instantly popped up, her watery eyes filling with surprise. “Maybe you could walk her over to Kline’s Mercantile to pick out some more?”

  “Oh, yes.” Bebe popped up from her chair.