Exactly. What other man?
Since he was such a man, he deserved to know how she felt. If he felt as she did, but hadn’t been able to say so because of the ridiculous vow she’d forced him to make to follow her stupid rules, he shouldn’t have to spend another minute believing she felt nothing.
But what if he was gone by the time she returned? If he’d meant to hand the ranch over to Matt and come live here, he’d have said so. But he’d said to send him a catalog. Where did he intend to go?
Matthias stood, then dragged his chair back to its place. “Come with me to the parlor.”
“Oh, no. I think I’ll stay here. I’m just…” Maybe she shouldn’t be such a troublesome guest, because if she couldn’t return to the ranch and needed to support herself, this place offered―
“Corinne?”
She startled and turned for the door. “I’m sorry. I’m coming.”
In the middle of the hallway, he stopped, gesturing for a maid to come to them. “Get Mrs. Key a seltzer, something to liven her spirits.”
“That’s all right, I―”
He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her along. “I know it won’t make everything better, but it’ll help.”
“I’m sorry to seem ungrateful―”
“Don’t worry about it any longer. I can see what the problem is now.”
“You can?” She looked up at him, but he was still looking forward as he led her down the hallway.
“Of course. I should have asked Nolan to come along. I’m afraid it’s been a long time since I’ve been besotted, and in the years since, I lost my head with the opposite feeling toward the woman. I should’ve realized how the separation would affect you.” He jiggled her shoulder. “But no need for such melancholy. He can visit whenever he wishes.”
“I’m not sure he can.” With all the money he gave her, what Matt had threatened, and how Nolan never asked for help… “He’s so set on proving he can provide, I can’t imagine he’d come here. What man would want people thinking he had to live off his wife?”
“You’re talking in riddles, Corinne. Why would visiting you make anyone think that?” He’d stopped a foot inside the parlor and stared at her.
Unable to hold his gaze, she moved to the window, though the glass was too coated with grime to see out well.
What should she tell him?
Since Matt had left her reeling on the train two days ago, she’d played over every possible option. Going back to Armelle in an attempt to save the ranch would likely destroy one or the both of them. But if she remained in Denver, they had a chance at staying solvent―as long as Matthias continued to support her.
“If something’s wrong, I can’t help you unless you tell me about it.”
The maid came in and handed two glasses of seltzer to Matthias. He crossed the room to hand her one. “Sip on this and tell me what you’re worrying about.”
What would he do if she told him? She moved to sit in one of the upholstered chairs facing a small table with a chess set and set down her glass. “How good are my inventions?”
He moved to lean against the wall. “They’re good. Some are nothing more than that. Others have a chance at making you decent money. I’d still prefer you to allow Nolan to put his name on them, but if you insist…” He sighed. “I can still sell them.”
“But what if, at one time, I was … well―” She should quit this conversation right now and buck up.
Yet how could she allow Matt the power to spill her secrets whenever he wished? “The fact of the matter is, Nolan didn’t marry a virgin bride―and it wasn’t because I’d been widowed or forced.”
Matthias stiffened, his brows nearly meeting in the middle. He scratched his cheek for a moment, but then shook his head. “I’m aware you know about my late wife and how information like that would not make me think highly of you.”
She dropped her gaze to her lap. “I know.”
“Then why on earth would you reveal such to me?” His voice was hard and heated.
Would he kick her out immediately? Oh, how she should have held her tongue. But it’d do no good to stay silent now. “Your son found out.”
“Why does that matter?” Matthias set down his glass and crossed his arms.
She put a hand to her cheek, hoping to hide the heat blooming there. “He thinks me a loose woman, but I was seventeen and naïve. I’d believed Kurt when he said he’d make an honest woman out of me. When he betrayed me, and then Randolph after him, I swore off trusting another man ever again.”
“Yet you married Nolan?”
Her cheeks heated even more. “It was a business arrangement―no different than when a family arranges a marriage to consolidate wealth, power, or any other reason besides love.”
“Why? What did you have that would entice Nolan into marrying you?”
“Your brother’s will said Matt would get the ranch if Nolan didn’t marry within three months after his passing.”
“It said what?” Matthias cursed under his breath. “Lewis was always too hard on Nolan. My son doesn’t deserve that ranch.”
“Nolan didn’t think so either, so he decided to marry. Since he and I were the two people most adamant about not wanting to wed, he figured we could arrange this like business. Split the ranch’s profits, lead our lives separately, no hearts involved.”
“I’m not sure why any of this matters.”
“Because Matt knows all about that, too. He riffled through our things and found the paper Nolan had written up delineating our marriage agreement. Matt says he can prove we defrauded him of his inheritance. If we don’t fight him, he claims he’ll refrain from revealing what he knows of my past―especially to you, since he expects you’ll quit aiding me once you know what happened before I met Nolan.”
She laid over the chess set’s king. “So in exchange for not telling anyone about my indiscretions, he asked Nolan to quietly hand over the ranch.”
Matthias cursed again. “I don’t know yet how I’ll end up thinking about you, but I do know what I think of Nolan. I’ll take care of this.”
He stood abruptly, righted the king piece with a definitive thunk, crossed the room, and pulled a bell rope.
She slid to the edge of her seat. “Please don’t do anything that’ll reveal my past to the gossips in Armelle. Not for my sake, but I don’t want to hurt Nolan anymore than I have. I did tell him about Kurt, but not before we married. I didn’t think it necessary since we were only pretending to wed.”
“Oh, that won’t matter when I’m done.”
The butler came in, somber of face and rigid of posture. “You rang.”
“I want you to contact Peters, Carlson, and Tabor. Find out the soonest they can see me.”
“Would Tabor be at Capital Bank today?”
“Yes, and the other two are likely at their office on Thirteenth.”
“Very good, sir.” The butler turned on his heel and left.
She gripped the armrests. What was he going to do? Buy Matt off?
As much as she didn’t want him to―for how would they ever be able to repay him―she couldn’t tell him no. She’d do anything to help Nolan keep his ranch.
“When you’ve figured out how much it’ll take to purchase Matt’s silence, let me know how many of my ideas you’ll need to patent under your name to reimburse your expenses.” Her words felt wooden, each one had been harder to get out than the last. But what else could she do? Nolan was more important than anything she had or might ever possess.
Matthias returned to her and pulled her up from her chair. “We’re not buying him off. My pride kept me from pressing embezzlement charges, and I thought I was doing him a favor by kicking him out. I didn’t realize doing so would hurt you and Nolan―or anyone else for that matter. I was only thinking of saving myself the public embarrassment of such a son.”
“How will pressing charges help?”
“Your marriage with Nolan isn’t purely business anymore, is it?
”
She started wringing her hands like she used to when they constantly ached. “I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I mean, no, it isn’t. But I’m not sure he…”
“He what?”
Oh, why hadn't she said it wasn’t business anymore and left it at that?
“I’m not sure he wants me,” she whispered. “Not after how I’ve messed up his life.”
He took her by the shoulders. “Go pack your things. We’ll leave on the next train to Armelle. I’ll take care of Matt, and you’ll straighten things out with Nolan. If you two decide you want my lawyer’s help in annulling your sham of a marriage, I’ll take care of that, too.”
“What?” Her chest heaved hard with the solitary word, and she went numb from nose to toe.
He chucked her chin up gently, his expression semi-soft. “That’s what I thought.”
Spinning her, he nudged her toward the hallway. “Don’t forget who your husband is, Corinne. That boy never vowed to do something he didn’t intend to follow through with. Why you’re so unsure of him, I have no idea. Maybe it’s because he needs to know you’re not interested in business any longer.”
Chapter Forty-Two
Pulling on his string tie, Nolan sat behind the small table in front of the courtroom and looked back toward the gallery where a few townspeople sat. Did they not have enough stuff to do? Thankfully there weren’t as many spectators as the hullabaloo this past spring when the mayor had been convicted of several crimes.
Nolan glanced at the clock again. It had barely moved since the last time he’d checked.
Once he’d decided to travel to Denver to be with Corinne, he’d been tempted to sign over the deed and leave immediately. However, Jacob and Sal had convinced him to stick around to make sure Matt’s case held water.
Nolan tugged on his string tie. Matt had promised not to bring up anything against Corinne―but now that he wasn’t simply going to hand over the deed, would he stick to the facts of the case and leave her out of it? If not, hopefully word wouldn’t spread as far as Colorado. He glanced back at the people in the courtroom. No one present was known for gossiping, but that didn’t mean they refrained.
As to what his uncle would think … the faster he got to Denver, the faster he could point out that nothing Matt accused Corinne of changed the kind, hardworking woman she was today.
He scanned the room. Where was Jacob?
His friend had offered to loan him money for a lawyer, but it hadn’t mattered. Mr. Wright had left to go home for a visit, and it was too short notice to get another. But his friend had volunteered to do the best he could.
As hard as it had been to bring someone into his mess, to see how vulnerable he was, he’d needed Jacob’s help.
What if he had admitted his needs and weaknesses to Corinne before she’d left? Would she have remained behind?
Of course, he wouldn’t have wanted that. She needed to be as far away from this circus as possible right now, no matter how much he wished for her presence.
Nolan spotted Sal in the back corner. The man’s jaw was set as if he could intimidate the judge into siding against Matt. But who was the man in the crumpled coat, scraping dirt from under his fingernails with a pocketknife? A drifter looking to sit a spell out of the summer sun?
Maybe he could ask the court to remove people who had no need to be privy to his financial affairs. The fewer people who heard what Matt said, the better.
The back door opened and Matt walked in with the man who’d showed up on the train yesterday, carrying a briefcase in one hand and a cane with a shiny gold topper in the other.
Mr. Driscoll, the big-city lawyer Matt had hired, was the talk of the town already, so smooth in tongue he’d talked the barber into a free shave and Mr. Ivens into extending him an invitation to his private poker game―an invitation Matt had wanted for months.
Whereas Matt thought himself a smooth talker, his lawyer truly was. Not a comforting thought.
Especially since the judge trying this case was Judge Morrisey. Though he was generally fair, he tended to flout procedure, speak frankly, and was a bit eccentric. He’d roamed the western territories for decades, basking in the freedom of an untamed land which mirrored his unpredictable rulings.
Jacob strode in, shoved his way through the little half door at the front, and sat in the chair next to him. His friend was breathing as if he’d run all the way into town.
Matt eyed both of them before leaning over to whisper something in his lawyer’s ear.
Nolan leaned to do his own whispering. “Do you think we have any hope?”
He turned. “I got Judge Morrisey to allow a few last-minute witnesses, but he’s unpredictable. I can’t tell you what’s going to happen.”
His heart tripping anew, Nolan turned to see Annie seat herself in the corner opposite the man in the hard-worn clothes. “I don’t want―”
The door to the judge’s chamber swung open and a blond man walked out stiffly. “All rise for the honorable Judge Morrisey.”
A few chairs screeched across the floor as the judge, who never wore the normal black robe but a caramel-colored duster, came out and flapped his hand at everyone in a “be seated” gesture.
No one sat. All waited for the bailiff to tell them to do so.
The judge’s silvery mustache drooped far below his chin, lush and full, and Nolan couldn’t help but glance over at his cousin. He stifled a smirk at the self-conscious way Matt was running his fingers through his sparser muttonchops.
Judge Morrisey dropped a folder onto the solitary desk at the front and sat. “I’ve decided I want the defendant to come up first.”
Nolan grabbed his crutches that the doctor had only approved this morning to keep his healing ankle from bearing all his weight, circled his little table, and stood to the judge’s right. After being sworn in, he tugged on his suit coat. He wasn’t going to lie, but to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
He shouldn’t have caved to the men’s prodding to stay. What if Matt’s lawyer forced him to say something that would make Matt blab everything?
“Did you write this paper Matthias Key Jr.’s lawyer submitted to me earlier?” The judge held up the paper Matt had flashed at him days ago, containing the agreement he’d proposed to Corinne.
“I did, Your Honor.”
“Any questions for Mr. Key?” The judge looked at Mr. Driscoll and Jacob, but neither nodded.
“You may be seated.”
Nolan raised his brows at Jacob. Shouldn’t he have been cross-examined or something? And yet, the shorter the hearing, the less chance Matt had to besmirch Corinne.
“Mr. Hendrix, you wanted to call witnesses?”
Jacob stood, ignoring Nolan’s attempt to catch his eye as he maneuvered back into his seat. “Yes, Your Honor. I’d like to call Sal Towers, Nolan Key’s head foreman.”
Nolan’s heart quavered. He trusted Jacob, but witnesses would only goad Matt into defaming Corinne.
Once Sal was sworn in, Jacob moved around the table to question him.
“Were you aware that your boss made an agreement with his wife to split the ranch’s profits?”
“No.” He cocked his head. “But that’s none of my business. Though it does sound like something Mr. Key would do. And considering Mrs. Key worked hard from day one, she’d be worthy of it, unlike others I know.” Without turning his head, he glared at Matt.
“You say it sounded like something Nolan would do. How’s that?”
“He gives us ranch hands a say in what we’re doing. When we had good years, he convinced his dad to give us a bonus at Christmas. I imagine he’d talk through how to split things up with anybody he brought on board permanently.”
“Brought on board? Is that how a man speaks of a wife?”
Sal shrugged again. “We were surprised Mr. Key married at all since he seemed against the institution. But it’d make sense he’d change hi
s mind if he found a woman who wasn’t hard on the eyes and had a head for business.”
“So you didn’t find it odd she didn’t stick to the usual women’s work?”
“We might’ve been irked in the beginning, but we got over it. I’m sure if we complained though, Mr. Key would’ve listened. He even listens to Timothy, and he’s not yet twenty. I stay at the Key ranch because, unlike other ranches I’ve worked, Mr. Key listens to his workers. He takes everyone’s opinions into account and attempts to do what’s best for more than himself. I don’t see why he’d not enter into marriage the same way―setting it up so things were fair for the both of them.”
“Thank you.”
Jacob returned to his seat and Matt’s lawyer took his place. “Mr. Towers, have you ever heard of a woman asking for a share of her husband’s profit? Wouldn’t a wife in truth expect to benefit from the entirety of his profits and possessions?”
“That’s how it should be, I guess. But some men turn out to be scoundrels, and a woman with a head on her shoulders might―”
“Answer the question, Mr. Towers.”
“No, I don’t know of any other wife with the same arrangement. However, I’m not privy to everyone’s matrimonial affairs.”
“Thank you, Mr. Towers.”
Annie was called next. Her cheeks were suffused with red, more than the summer heat could account for.
Her husband walked up beside her, his face blank as if trying not to show any kind of relationship to the witness. “Can you verify the marriage between Nolan Key and Corinne Key was real―in every way?”
Nolan closed his eyes and stifled a groan. Considering the blush she’d sported on the way up, Annie had known beforehand what Jacob was going to ask her.
Thankfully Corinne wasn’t here.
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
She looked up to the ceiling, her face turning even redder. “Women talk.”
Judge Morrisey pointed his gavel at Nolan. “You verify this?”
Was that all it would take to turn over Matt’s charge against him? “Yes, we’ve fulfilled my father’s will in truth.”
Pretending to Wed Page 31
