Wood shook his head. “No, why would you ask that?”
“Because I once saw this show on TV where this guy had to change his name because he had stolen all this money and the cops wanted to—”
Wood interrupted him. “Jeremy, I can promise you the reason I’m not using my real name has nothing to do with anything you’ve seen on TV. You know the kind of man I am.”
“Yeah. You’re too nice to be a crook. Mom says you won’t even accept all the money that’s owed you. She thinks it’s because you feel sorry for her, but I think it’s because you don’t need it.”
Wood tapped his chest with his fingertips. “It’s what’s inside here that makes a person who he is, not a name. Whether I’m Wood Dumler or Wood Harris, I’m still the same man who has worked on your farm for the past month.”
Jeremy nodded in agreement. “You don’t need to worry. I’ll keep your secret.”
“I hope one day it won’t have to be a secret.”
“Does that mean you won’t be the mail-order groom if that happens?” Anxiety edged his words.
“I’m not sure, Jeremy.” he answered honestly.
“But if you’re pretending to be a mail-order groom now, it must mean that you think it’s a good idea, doesn’t it?”
“I want to help your mother in any way I can.”
“Does that mean you plan on staying? That you want to be my dad?”
Wood didn’t miss the fact that Jeremy didn’t ask if he wanted to marry his mother, but rather did Wood want to be his father. It was a delicate situation Wood found himself in. He didn’t want to hurt the boy’s feelings, yet he didn’t want to mislead Jeremy, either.
“It’s not a question of whether I want to be your father,” Wood told him as he watched shadows dance on the canvas. “It’s whether your mother and I are suited to each other.”
“But you like her, don’t you?”
“Sure I do.”
“And she likes you.”
“She told you that?”
“No, but Gabby says Mom watches you when you’re not looking and that’s a sign that she’s taken with you,” he said earnestly. “I think that’s why Gabby went to bed and left you to feed mom the soup. To make it...you know—” he grinned shyly “—romantic.”
Wood didn’t doubt Gabby had played matchmaker. He only hoped that she was right about Hannah’s feelings for him. However, he suspected that the reason Hannah had her eye on him probably had to do more with her being worried he might steal something rather than her being taken with him.
“Liking someone and wanting to marry him are not the same thing. Your mother doesn’t appear to be a woman who’s going to take kindly to someone sending for a groom for her without her knowledge,” Wood pointed out.
“Gabby’s not sure we should ever tell her.”
Wood frowned. “She’d rather I be a hired hand than your mother’s husband?”
“Uh-uh. She thinks nature should take its course. If you and Mom fall in love and get married, then my mom doesn’t need to know that Gabby advertised for a husband for her,” Jeremy said on a yawn.
Wood reached up to turn off the gas lantern. “I’m certain everything will work out in a reasonable amount of time. You and I need to get some sleep if we’re going to be any help to your mother tomorrow.”
Jeremy groaned in protest as darkness filled the tent, but Wood noticed it was only a matter of minutes before the boy had fallen asleep. Not so for Wood. Long after the light had been extinguished he thought about Hannah and the way she had looked when she had arrived at their camping spot.
It was nice to know that the smart, strong, capable Hannah could be foolish at times. He shook his head. And she thought she didn’t need a man to take care of her.
THE FOLLOWING MORNING was Sunday and Wood filled in for Hannah for a second time. He took Gabby and Jeremy to church, leaving Hannah to sleep in.
When she did finally awake, the sun was streaming through her window. At the sight of the nearly empty soup bowl, she realized that last night hadn’t been a dream. She had gone out to the campsite and Wood had carried her home. He had fussed over her in a way no man had ever fussed over her, and to her surprise, it didn’t leave her angry, but feeling rather special. Maybe old-fashioned men weren’t such a pain in the butt after all.
Gingerly, she climbed out of bed to discover that her legs weren’t wobbly and her head wasn’t throbbing. She crept downstairs to the kitchen where she made herself toast and a cup of tea. Then she tried to remember where she had left her moccasins.
In Gabby’s den. Sure enough, there they were, stuck partway beneath the flowered love seat. Hannah bent down on her hands and knees to retrieve them, when she noticed the corner of a magazine sticking out beneath the ruffled skirt. It was a farm journal which Hannah would have tossed into Gabby’s magazine rack if a piece of paper hadn’t fallen out.
Curious, Hannah read what it said. It was an invoice for an ad billed to Gabby. Suspicion replaced curiosity. Hannah opened the magazine to the classified section and scanned the small print until she found one that had been circled in pen.
“That pig!” She dropped the magazine.
HANNAH HEARD GABBY’S CAR return from church. As she glanced out her bedroom window, she saw Jeremy and Wood head for the chicken coop. Gabby was nowhere in sight. Hannah could only guess that she had stayed after for donuts and coffee and that Mabel would be bringing her home.
It was probably better that Gabby hadn’t come home. Hannah preferred to vent her anger on Wood, the mail-order groom. She shivered at the thought. Everything he had done since his arrival had been with one goal in mind—getting her to the altar. The solicitous behavior, the interest in her son, the intimate moments they had shared...
She took a deep breath and marched outside, the farm journal in hand. He and Jeremy worked side by side, carefully submerging the freshly gathered eggs in a metal tub of water and placing them in one of the half dozen cartons lined up in a row on the grass.
“Hi, Mom. Wood’s helping me with the eggs,” Jeremy said when she came out of the house.
“You’ll have to finish later. I need to speak to Wood,” Hannah said briskly.
“Are you mad about something?” Jeremy asked.
“Jeremy, just go inside.”
“But my eggs...”
“I’ll take care of your eggs.”
Slowly Jeremy headed for the house, pausing on the porch steps to say, “Wood didn’t do anything wrong. He couldn’t have...”
One stern look from his mother had him slipping inside without another word.
“You must be feeling better. You’re acting like the boss again,” Wood commented, rising to his feet.
“Boss? Don’t you mean wife?” She held up the farm journal. “I saw Gabby’s ad.”
“That’s why you look like you want to tear my heart out and eat it for breakfast.”
She chuckled mirthlessly. “Believe me, your heart does not interest me.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“How could the two of you...” She trailed off at a loss for words.
“Gabby was worried that you were going to lose the farm,” he said in the older woman’s defense.
“I know what motivated Gabby. What I want to know is what kind of a man answers an ad for a groom?” Hannah was so angry she could barely stand still, moving restlessly back and forth.
But more than anger, she felt hurt. Just when she was beginning to think she could trust Wood, she discovered that he had been lying to her from the start. No wonder he had flirted with her. And all that gallant behavior...and the kisses. It was all an act. To convince her to marry him.
“I’m sorry, Hannah.”
His apology did little to calm her. “You still haven’t answered my question. What kind of man are you to agree to marry a woman you’ve never met?”
“I never thought I was going to marry you when I came here,” he replied.
“You didn�
�t come here looking for a wife? Well, golly gee, Wood, why not tell another lie?” she drawled sarcastically. “It’s not like you haven’t been lying since the day I met you, is it?”
“I couldn’t tell you the truth,” he admitted. “I knew you would send me away. And then there was Gabby:”
She waved a finger at him. “You leave Gabby out of this. We’re talking about you coming here under false pretenses—pretending you needed a job.”
“I did need a job.”
“You were after more than that,” she sneered. “No wonder you said you’d work for nothing. You had your eyes set on bigger stuff—like owning half of this farm.”
“You’re wrong about me, Hannah,” he said quietly.
“Am I?”
“Yes, and I’d appreciate it if you’d stop looking at me as if I’m one of those bugs Wilbur ruts around for in the manure pile,” he retorted.
“At least those bugs serve a purpose,” she spat back. She was behaving like a shrew, yet she couldn’t help herself. How could he have duped her this way? Insinuating his way onto the farm, endearing himself to Jeremy and Gabby, reminding her that she was a woman....
That was the part that bothered her more than anything. Wood Dumler hadn’t just filled a void at the farm, he had filled an emptiness in her life. And she hated him for it.
“I want you to pack up your things and be gone by tomorrow morning.” She finally was able to quit wiggling and stand perfectly still, her arms folded across her chest.
Wood heaved a long sigh. “I’m a good worker, Hannah. If you don’t want the marriage thing, I can understand that, but at least let me help you with the harvest.”
“I don’t need your help,” she said through tight lips.
“Yes, you do,” he contradicted her. “Don’t send me away over some ad that doesn’t mean anything to either one of us.”
She stared at him in disbelief. “How can you say that? You came here thinking you were going to marry me!”
“I didn’t!” he protested.
“You didn’t answer Gabby’s personals ad for a husband?”
This time he was the one who shifted restlessly from foot to foot. “This situation isn’t what it appears to be.”
She raised a hand in the air. “I don’t want to hear any more lies, Wood. There’s nothing you can say that will change my mind. I’ll write you a check for the wages you have coming. It should be enough to get you a bus ticket back to Omaha or wherever it is you want to go.” She started gathering up Jeremy’s egg cartons.
Wood tried to help her, but she pushed him away. “I don’t want to go anywhere. It’s true I came here under false pretenses, but my goal hasn’t been to get you to marry me.”
“Oh, no? What about the kisses?”
“I kissed you because I wanted to. That was the only reason,” he said sincerely.
“Yeah, right,” she drawled sarcastically.
When she nearly dropped a dozen eggs, he again tried to take the cartons from her hands, but she wouldn’t let him. “Will you please let me help?”
“No.” Stubbornly, she carried all the cartons in her arms, holding the top one in place with her chin.
He rushed to get the door for her. As soon as she had set the eggs down, she returned to the porch. “Just in case you didn’t understand anything I’ve said, you’re fired.”
When she would have turned around, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to him. Before she could utter a word of protest his mouth was on hers, hot and demanding.
Energy warmed her insides, vibrating from the top of her head to the tip of her toes. A thrill unlike any she had ever known swept through her as his large hands pressed her against his hardness. Her hips tilted involuntarily. She groaned, not in anger, but with pleasure.
She wanted more than his kisses. Much more.
Not so Wood. He ended the kiss just as abruptly as it had begun.
“A woman as pretty as you doesn’t need to advertise for a husband,” he told her, then turned and walked away.
She went inside, her body trembling. She took a long cool drink of water, her face still flushed. Jeremy sat at the table, his face lined with worry.
“Did you know about this?” she asked, assuming he knew what “this” meant.
The guilty look on her son’s face told her he did. “I like Wood, Mom. He’s a pretty neat guy.”
“Jeremy, don’t even utter that man’s name in my presence or I...” She stopped speaking as the sound of a car door slamming could be heard through the screen door. A few moments later Gabby bounced in. One look at the faces of Jeremy and Hannah was enough for her to know that something was definitely amiss.
“How are you feeling?” she asked Hannah.
“I’m hot and it’s not because I have a fever.” She poured herself a cup of coffee, then sat down.
“She knows why Wood is here, Gabby,” Jeremy said quietly.
“Oh-oh.” Gabby dropped down onto a chair at the table, looking very much like a schoolgirl who had been caught chewing gum in school.
“An ad for a husband?” Hannah could only stare at her great-aunt in disbelief. “How could you do such a thing?”
“You know why.” She kept her voice low.
“Grandfather’s money?”
Gabby nodded solemnly. “I didn’t want you to lose the farm.” Moisture gathered in the corners of the old lady’s eyes, causing Hannah’s anger to dissipate.
As goofy as the idea was, she knew that Gabby’s intentions had been good. She had simply wanted to help save the farm.
“We’re not going to lose the farm,” Hannah reassured her aunt, patting the wrinkled hands.
“Are you going to make Wood go home?” Jeremy wanted to know.
“He’s leaving in the morning,” Hannah replied.
Gabby and Jeremy groaned in unison.
“Aw, Mom, come on!”
“He lied to me,” Hannah said in her own defense.
“So did me and Gabby,” Jeremy pointed out. “We knew about the ad, but we didn’t say anything because we knew this is just what you would do. You’d send Wood away, and we didn’t want that because we think he’s neat.”
“He is a rather remarkable young man,” Gabby added her two cents’ worth. “He’s good with animals, and you’re never going to find anyone who’s willing to work for so little money.”
“He didn’t know what a soybean was until I showed him,” Hannah reminded them.
“But he works so hard.”
“He’s not staying,” Hannah said firmly, ignoring the woeful pleas in the eyes of the two people at the table.
“You don’t have to marry the man, but don’t you think we should at least keep him on through the harvest?” Gabby asked.
“We’ll get by. We did last year.” Hannah got up to get the bottle of aspirin from the cupboard.
“Last year you had Barry full time,” Gabby reminded her.
“He’ll help with the corn harvest.”
Hannah was about to pop a tablet in her mouth when Gabby said, “Now I know you’re not thinking clearly. You know that Barry and Caroline’s baby is scheduled to have surgery next week. He’s not going to be able to come back to work here.”
“Then I’ll harvest the corn by myself. Jeremy will help me,” Hannah stated stubbornly.
Gabby rose to all of her four feet eleven inches and looked down at her niece seated at the table. “Hannah Marie Davis, you’re being bullheaded. You have a perfectly reliable man willing to work for you, yet you’re going to let him go because of your pride. Now, I have a say in this farm and my say says we keep Wood on at least until harvest is over.”
“I vote with Gabby,” Jeremy piped up.
“You don’t have a vote,” Hannah informed him.
“He should have,” Gabby declared.
“How come I don’t have a vote?” Jeremy demanded.
“All right, you have a vote,” Hannah snapped in frustration.
“G
ood, then it’s two yeses and one no which means Wood stays, right Gabby?” Jeremy looked to his great-aunt for confirmation.
“Is he right?” Gabby looked at Hannah.
“All right. He can stay. But only until harvest is over.” Hannah knew her aunt was right. She couldn’t afford to let Wood go at this time of the year. No matter what her personal feelings were, she needed another pair of hands. Wood’s hands. But only for harvest. Not for anything else. And especially not for holding her.
“YOU GET TO STAY.” Gabby’s face beamed as she made the announcement.
“I bet I have you to thank for that, don’t I?” Wood said affectionately.
“And Jeremy.”
“Then I owe you both a debt of gratitude.” He hugged Gabby, then said, “Do you know where Jeremy is?”
“Outside somewhere,” Gabby told him. “I was just about to do laundry. If you bring your things over, I’ll wash them up for you.”
“Gabby, you are a gem.” Wood tipped his hat, then went to retrieve his dirty clothes.
Gabby relished his compliment. There was nothing she wouldn’t do for Wood. In her opinion, she had picked out the best mail-order groom possible for Hannah. It was true that her original plan had been for Hannah and Wood to fall in love, but all things considered, at least Hannah hadn’t sent him away. Gabby knew that no matter what Hannah said, she liked having Wood around. It was only a matter of time until she realized what a good husband he’d make.
A short while later Gabby smiled to herself as she carried a basket of laundry to the basement. In it were Wood’s work clothes. He had asked her on several different occasions if she would show him how to use the washer and dryer.
She had refused, telling him it was no bother for her to include his laundry in with Jeremy’s. As she sorted through jeans and shirts, she hummed a song from her childhood. In and out of the pockets of shirts and pants her fingers traveled to the rhythm of the music.
When she found a folded up piece of paper in one of Wood’s shirt pockets, she couldn’t resist taking a look at it. Carefully peeking at one corner, she discovered a photocopy of a newspaper dated 1876.
“This must be what he was looking for at the library,” Gabby mused aloud. Curious, she unfolded the rest of the paper, then gasped.
Mail Order Cowboy (Harlequin American Romance) Page 17
