An Arranged Marriage

by Susan Fox

  Allison smiled. “Of course, Edward. It would be very nice of you to show us around. Take all the time you need. We’ll wait.”

  Edward nodded to each of them, then turned to walk to the backstairs and go up to his suite of rooms. Allison turned to Aunt Pet and caught a wistful look in her eyes. The wistful look turned sad. Aunt Pet looked over at her, then blushed self-consciously when she realized Allison had been watching her. “It’s quite pleasant for a man to make gracious comments to the ladies. Of course, I realize I stand in your shadow, but it was a small boost to the ego, even so.”

  Allison caught her aunt in an affectionate embrace that knocked both their hats askew. “Aunt Pet, you’re a beautiful woman, not only on the outside, but on the inside as well. Charles is a fool.”

  Petula hugged her fiercely a moment, then drew back to straighten her hat. “Thank you, but let’s not spoil our little adventure with talk of Charles.” Her smile trembled a bit, but then it steadied. “Particularly when there are more gracious gentlemen about.”

  Later, well into the tour Edward gave them of the headquarters, Allison realized that there were frequent moments of eye contact between Edward and her aunt. Though neither of them made an overtly flirtatious remark—Edward was quite properly behaved and Aunt Pet was exactly the same—there was no way to mistake the handful of lingering glances between the two.

  Edward had changed into a blue plaid Western shirt with blue piping around the yoke and pearl snaps. The jeans he had on were the deep, dark blue of unwashed denim. His boots were black. He’d brought down his own Stetson, a black wide-brimmed cattleman’s hat that completed the handsome picture he made in his Western clothes. Allison soon got the impression that Edward had a secret love for the west and for Texas in particular. And, unless she was hallucinating, he was at least mildly attracted to Aunt Pet.

  Later, Petula chose a flashy sorrel mare to ride and recommended another sorrel mare for Allison. Edward surprised them both by selecting a horse for himself. While the stable hand saddled Allison’s mount and Petula’s, Edward efficiently saddled his own.

  And when they mounted up and rode down an alley between the corrals for the range, Edward kept a sharp eye on them both until he seemed certain of their competence, then led the way on a small tour of the ranch that he promised would be pleasant and picturesque.

  Allison eventually lagged behind Edward and Pet. Concern for Pet and the years of loneliness she’d lived made Allison keep close watch. However pitiful her marriage was, Petula was a married woman. She was also a very vulnerable one. As the time passed, Allison began to see just how vulnerable her Aunt Pet was when she began to lose her reserve and flirted gently with Edward.

  Allison did the best she could to distract her aunt without being obvious. Petula had suffered a long time in her marriage. This thing with Charles’s paternity suit might have been the last straw.

  How could she find some way to restrain her aunt and keep her from doing something Pet would be mortified about later on? As Allison rode along with Edward and Pet, and watched her aunt’s fascination with Blue’s butler deepen, Allison had no idea how to accomplish it.

  “How did your aunt like her visit?”

  Allison started at the sound of Blue’s deep voice and glanced up from the book she was reading. She was sore from the horseback ride and the outdoor air had made her sleepier than usual. Truth to tell, she’d been about to nod off. Blue’s arrival in their bedroom brought her fully awake.

  “I didn’t hear you come up the stairs—Aunt Pet was thrilled to visit.” Allison sat up straighter against the pillows she’d placed between her back and the headboard. She’d gone to bed to sit up and read for a bit. “Thank you for allowing her to come out and ride one of your horses. She used to go riding every day before her horse died a few years ago. She hasn’t ridden since.”

  Blue walked to the foot of the bed and his gaze searched her face so intently that she felt herself blush. He was dressed in another chambray shirt and worn denims. She could tell from the dust that clung to his clothes that he’d just come in from the range.

  “Does she aim to come out here every day to ride?” The question sounded mild, but Allison couldn’t tell if he approved of the notion or not.

  “I doubt it. When she still had Maria, she kept her at a stable closer to town.” Allison hesitated. “If she did, would that bother you?”

  Blue’s eyes never wavered from hers. “I don’t know. She seems nice enough. Probably too polite to be a bother.”

  Allison smiled at his perception. “Yes, she is. She was the one who wanted me to call you to ask permission to visit.”

  Blue looked faintly uncomfortable. “She doesn’t need to ask my permission to come out. It’s just her husband I want to have some warning about.”

  Allison watched his face. The faint stirring of desire that had begun the moment she’d heard his voice began to intensify. She sensed his concession about her aunt was a big one for him to make. She doubted he was a man who was used to lots of people going in and out of his house. He was accustomed to his men and the household staff, but perhaps his wife’s family members and friends might be another story.

  “I’m glad, Blue. Thank you. My aunt means a lot to me.”

  His expression seemed to harden a bit. “You know I’m goin’ in to talk to Charles tomorrow.”

  “Yes. And do you remember Vacation Bible School starts at church in the morning?” She’d decided it best not to let either of them focus solely on Blue’s trip to the bank. He might think she was trying to pressure him about it.

  As if he was relieved that she wasn’t pressing him about what he’d do, he nodded once. “Nine o’clock to eleven. I’ll drop you off, talk to Charles, then pick you up when I get done.”

  As if that was the end of the discussion as far as he was concerned, Blue turned and strode toward the bathroom, then closed the door behind him.

  In moments, Allison heard the shower go on. Her eyelids suddenly too heavy to read, she set her book on the night table and switched off the lamp. She slid down in the bed. Now that all the lights were off except for the soft light from the lamp on Blue’s side of the big bed, she wasn’t feeling quite as sleepy.

  Nevertheless, she must have dozed, because she didn’t realize he’d finished his shower until she felt the mattress dip when he got into bed. She opened her eyes and saw he’d snapped off his lamp. She glanced his way in the darkness, feeling her heart rate accelerate as he settled against her side, his shadowed face looming over hers.

  She expected him to kiss her and felt a hot rush of excitement. She lifted her hand to touch the hard muscle of his upper arm, then was disappointed when he didn’t move.

  “My thanks for the mare.”

  The low words and the edge of emotion behind them caught her off guard.

  She immediately realized that this might be her one opportunity to get Blue to explain his earlier reactions to both her gifts. But, lying there in the dark, hearing the hint of strong emotion and restraint in his voice, she suddenly sensed the answer.

  Perhaps because of Blue’s childhood poverty, and the loneliness and isolation of his adult life, he hadn’t received many gifts. A hard man of few words who kept his feelings rigidly in check, might not be prepared to react any other way to her gifts than he had. She’d just decided not to seek a confirmation of that when he surprised her by admitting it.

  “Haven’t been given too many presents in my life. That’s not said to make you feel sorry for me.” The gruff edge in his voice warned her from doing that, but it also betrayed his extreme discomfort with making an explanation. “It’s just to let you know the reason for how I acted.” He paused. “I’m proud you gave me something that belonged to your daddy, and that mare is one of the finest pieces of horseflesh I ever laid eyes on. I thank you.”

  By the time he finished with his almost terse speech, tears were leaking from the corners of her eyes. She reached up with both hands and placed her pal
ms on his lean cheeks.

  Her soft, “You’re welcome, Blue. I’m glad you liked them,” was soft, and she was grateful she’d managed to keep a teary sound from her voice. “Thank you for telling me. I understand now.”

  With that, she raised up to close the few inches between her mouth and his. Her tender feelings for him blossomed as she touched her lips to his.

  Blue’s lips suddenly bore down on hers, gently pressing her head back down on the pillow. He made love to her then. The poignant feelings between them burst into a passion so hot and fierce that it left them both trembling with exhaustion in its aftermath.

  “Miss Allie! Miss Allie!”

  Allison had seen Johnny Bond fall, and had already started in his direction at a run when he cried for her.

  After Bible School, she and some of the children had been playing touch-tag on the church lawn. Because some of the parents were late picking up their children, Allison had organized the game to keep the little ones occupied. Luckily, some of the older children stayed behind to help her. Sure enough five-year-old Johnny had been “it” and had chased another boy too close to the concrete parking lot before he tripped and fell on his hands and knees at the edge of the rough surface.

  Allison was beside him in an instant, gathering him into her arms.

  “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry!”

  Blue had just parked his car on the street when he saw the boy fall. Allison had literally run to the boy, and now sat on the grass with the kid on her lap.

  She brushed the little boy’s dark hair out of his eyes, said something to him, then gingerly inspected his bare knees and the palms he’d turned up to show her. Blue got to them and felt a shaft of pure pleasure when she glanced up and recognized him. He saw the smile of welcome in her eyes, along with a look of relief that made him feel ten feet tall.

  “Better get this one fixed up,” he said briskly. “I’ll carry him in.”

  The boy shrank away from the tall stranger until Allison assured him that it was all right and quickly introduced Blue as her new husband. The boy looked up at him with new respect and allowed Blue to pluck him off Allison’s lap. Allison asked the older children to mind the others carefully for a few moments.

  Once inside the church, Allison directed Blue down the stairs to the small bathroom off her basement classroom. Blue set the boy on the counter next to the sink and stepped back to watch as Allison gently washed the boy’s abrasions with warm water and soapy paper towels.

  The boy began to cry, but Allison’s frequent pauses and soothing words helped get the boy through it.

  Blue suddenly felt every gentle touch of her hands as if she’d touched him. The peculiar sensation made his heart pound and sent a sweet feeling over his skin that connected with every atom in his body. Both adults cringed in sympathy for the teary boy when Allison had to apply an antiseptic cream to his raw skin.

  Need sent a stroke of lightning through Blue as he watched Allison’s tender ministrations. God help him, but he couldn’t remember clearly that anyone but a nurse or doctor had ever taken care of his scrapes and hurts. It was damned sure he’d never been comforted.

  Suddenly memories of childhood injuries—skinned knees, smashed fingers, cut hands and broken bones, even the time he’d fallen off a fence and ripped his side open on the head of a protruding nail—seemed to crowd into that tiny room. There had been no one to doctor and comfort and croon sympathetically to him, no mother alive to do it, no father sober enough to notice and no adult, other than the occasional doctor or nurse, who had taken on the chore.

  And yet Allison lavished affection and attention on this boy—someone else’s child—as if he was the only kid in the history of the world who had ever skinned himself up.

  The fact that Blue had never known an Allison Lancaster Sumner in all his growing up years made the sudden realization that he knew one now—at last—especially poignant.

  Emotions that were anathema to him rose and pounded against the wide, hard wall he’d erected around his heart. With every beat of blood through his body, emotion thundered painfully against his only defense.

  The room closed in on him like a stout rope on a calf, and he took it as long as he could stand before he abruptly stepped out. Escaping the small bathroom didn’t make things much better, but at least he could get a full breath. And though he couldn’t see what more Allison did for the boy, what he had seen had been burned forever on his mind and heart.

  Blue was so quiet on the ride home that Allison’s worry over what he’d done about Charles escalated close to panic.

  She hadn’t told him anything about Pet’s discovery about the paternity suit. She’d been afraid to. Though she felt guilty about it, she’d feared what Blue might do about the bank if he knew.

  Aunt Pet hadn’t come to any decision about her marriage, but Allison suspected Pet would eventually choose to stay with Charles. If Charles had seemed as furious as Pet had said, perhaps he had no intention of being rid of her so he could marry the mother of his child. Charles was such an arrogant, cold man that Allison had trouble picturing him being truly in love with anyone. It was certain the child only figured to be a nuisance in his life.

  Besides, Petula Wallace was well loved by everyone. She was known in their small town and throughout the county as an angel of mercy, a beautiful, rich woman who genuinely cared about others and gave unstintingly of her money, time and attention to the sick and those in need. Divorcing Petula for a woman he’d had an affair with would forever ruin Charles’s reputation and cause many more problems for the bank that Charles truly did love.

  Allison was certain she’d have to think of a tactful way to ask Blue what he’d decided to do about the bank, when he suddenly told her.

  “I transferred a certain amount of money into a new account with Chaney Bank,” he said grimly. “I gave Charles a second amount of money to use for a couple of mortgage investments.”

  Though Allison was certain the dollar amounts in both cases were far lower than what Charles had hoped for, perhaps it was enough.

  “Told him you weren’t responsible for his hiring decisions about that college friend of yours.”

  Allison was startled that Blue had found out about John Blake’s embezzlement. But then, she wouldn’t put it past Charles to try to use a revelation like that to get more money out of Blue. After all, it had been one of the pressures he’d used so successfully on her.

  “I also told him he needed to call in the law and let them handle things with this John Blake. I won’t give him access to another dollar until he does.”

  Allison’s soft, “Was he angry?” made Blue’s mouth quirk humorlessly.

  “He tried to talk me into more, but I could tell he was straining to keep from cussing me out. One of the good things about bein’ rich is some people’d rather bite their tongues off before they chance offending you.”

  Allison smiled, relieved he’d come through with his part of the bargain with Charles, but proud of him for maintaining the upper hand. She told him so, but Blue ignored the bit of praise.

  “If what I gave him isn’t enough to save his bank, then there’s no savin’ it.”

  “Thank you, Blue. I’m glad you didn’t put everything in Chaney Bank. Charles hasn’t shown his usual professionalism of late.” Her brow crinkled with worry. “There’s no way the money you put in the bank and invested could be lost, is there?”

  “Not unless Charles steals it himself.” He turned to briefly glance at her. “I had a man at the meeting who handles my money and investments. Nothing that we agreed to puts the money in jeopardy. The investment part isn’t especially risky this time.” He glanced ahead to watch the highway. “Charles wasn’t happy to find out my man already handles things for me, but he had to accept it.”

  Allison released a tense breath. “Then it’s all over. The crisis has passed.”

  “Maybe.”

  Blue let his remark signal the end of the conversation. Allison could tell by the
stern set of his profile that he’d said everything he wanted to. His low, “Maybe,” could have meant anything, but it was probably an acknowledgment that he’d given Charles no more than a minimum of what he’d truly wanted from him. She doubted Blue knew about the paternity suit. He reached over to snap on the radio for a weather report just before they got to the ranch and Allison was distracted from thinking about Charles’s private problem.

  They had lunch together when they arrived home. Blue rushed through his meal, then left the house to get back to work long before Allison finished eating. She got the distinct impression that he was eager to get away from the house—away from her specifically—then chided herself for taking it that way. The world didn’t revolve around her.

  But there was no getting away from the fact that Blue’s world didn’t revolve around her. His ranch was his first love. Because he was a man who didn’t believe in love, he’d probably invested everything he might normally feel for other people—for a wife in particular—into his ranch.

  She pushed away the dismal thought. Blue had changed toward her. There was no way she could discount his tenderness, or the way he seemed to be trying to overcome his lifelong habit of being a loner. Blue had weathered a lot of huge changes in his life the past two years. Perhaps once they’d lived together for a while, his attitude about loving her would change.

  Because she had such hope, she began to relax. Though she was certain now that she was in love with Blue, she could wait for him to love her. However long it took for him to overcome his resistance to the whole notion of love, she believed with all her heart that Blue was a man worth being patient for.

  Allison finished her meal, then told Edward where she could be reached, before she changed her clothes, picked up her handbag, then went out to the garage to her car. She was due at the small town hospital to read for some of the patients, children and adults, who had no visitors in the afternoons, or to simply visit with them or play cards, and give their spirits a lift.