Everyone was on their best behavior last night, including Elaine. He had to remind himself of that. He hadn’t been expecting to like her. Hadn’t been expecting this thread of attraction that tugged at his body when she stood near. He snorted. She didn’t even have to be standing near. His eyes sought her out wherever she was, ran down her back and over the curve of her hip.

  But it was her smile, when the tiredness fell from her face and it transformed into something that made his heart hurt to look at, that caused him to wonder if this whole situation might be more dangerous to his sanity than he’d figured.

  Olivia’s betrayal had hurt his pride. Her actions had hurt his heart. He’d thought she’d been different than the rodeo bunnies that followed the circuit. But she’d gone where the money was, same as every other woman he’d ever known. Even his mom had left his dad when things had gotten tough. She’d come back after his bull riding money had turned the ranch around.

  Somehow he’d still held out hope that there’d be a woman who would stand beside him, working alongside him.

  After Olivia’s betrayal, he’d decided he’d rather have that than whatever fleeting high love brought.

  That’s what he’d thought he might have with Elaine. No emotions. Just a side-by-side working together. Maybe a comradery.

  Not love. Not this annoying attraction that he felt when he was in the same room as her.

  Ford’s SUV pulled to a stop. Morgan sat beside him in the front, and Rem assumed it was the preacher getting out the back. An older gentleman with gray hair, casually dressed in jeans and a Carhart coat. No hat. Man, these northerners were crazy. He’d walked outside with just his flannel shirt on, and he’d have gone back in almost as soon as he came out, except the closer it got to their wedding, the more awkward he’d felt around Elaine. He didn’t want to walk in and see her. What would he say? What did one say to a woman on her wedding day when he’d just met her the day before?

  Guess he’d better figure it out pretty quick, because Ford, Morgan, and the preacher weren’t gonna be here long.

  “Hey, Rem. It’s a nice warm morning to watch the sun come up.” Ford grinned as he followed Morgan and the preacher up the steps.

  Rem huffed. His breath immediately froze into a big white cloud that drifted off on the chill air. No Texan in his right mind would consider this warm. This was what hell looked like when it froze over.

  Rem nodded at Morgan when she greeted him. Then his eyes went to the gray-haired man behind her.

  “I’m Pastor Houpe.” The preacher held out his hand. “This isn’t something I normally would agree to.” His lips turned down, and he slanted a glance at the closed door. “But Ford assures me you intend to keep your vows and that woman needs more than I can do for her.”

  “Yes, sir. I don’t give my word lightly, and especially on a vow made before God.”

  The old man studied Rem with one eye narrowed a bit more than the other. Finally he nodded. “You can’t judge a man by what you see. Only God sees the heart. But I trust Ford. I also have a peace about this marriage that truly surprises me.” He pressed his lips together. “I think you’re going to be good for Elaine and her children. But—” Here, he paused and seemed to peer deep inside, seeing things, maybe, that Rem would prefer to stay hidden. “I also think that maybe Elaine will be good for you. I think you might need her.”

  That rubbed him the wrong way. “Don’t want to be disrespectful, pastor, and don’t want you to think I don’t respect women. I do. And from what I’ve seen, I like Elaine. She does real good for herself. But I’m never gonna need a woman.”

  “Never is an awful long time.” The pastor clasped his hands over the book in front of him and rocked back on his heels.

  Rem was saved from answering by the opening of the door. Elijah and Gabe spilled out onto the porch, Banjo shaking it as he came behind them. The smell of cinnamon and yeasty bread flowed out like water in a trough.

  “Mr. Ford! Miss Morgan!” they hollered as they threw themselves into Ford’s and Morgan’s arms.

  Rem knew his friend had lost a leg in the accident that also marred his face and hand, but he kept his balance easily and swung Elijah up in his arms.

  A bit of jealousy pinched Rem’s skin as he watched how the boy smiled and hugged Ford. He pushed it aside quickly. He wanted respect out of the children and their mother. Not love. Nothing mushy-gushy that would hurt if they left him.

  They walked into the house. Rem held the door on the pretense of being polite, but honestly, he was just putting off seeing Elaine.

  They’d worked pretty much in silence this morning, other than her instructions when he needed to be told what to do. They’d eaten breakfast the same way.

  And he wasn’t sure what to say to her now. So he took the easy way out and avoided her. At least until everyone else had walked in. Then he had no choice. It was like sliding down on the back of the bull. He wasn’t completely committed yet, but he was that much closer to the head nod that would open the gate.

  He walked in the door.

  Elaine stood at the head of the table, facing them, her hand on the back of the chair that he’d sat in last night at supper and again this morning at breakfast.

  Her slender neck worked as she swallowed, but her small chin was up and her face composed.

  Her porcelain white shoulders were exposed in a dress that was more like summer than Christmas. White with big yellow flowers on it. There was no cleavage, but it cinched her waist then flared out around her hips and fell in flirty waves of material that swirled around her legs as the baby at her feet shuffled around her with his arms raised.

  Her hair flowed around her shoulders in loose waves, longer than he’d thought but every bit the white blond that was as opposite to his as it could be.

  Morgan moved behind him, and he barely noticed her until she pulled the door out of his slack hand and shut it.

  His face heated, and he was grateful for his sun-darkened skin that hid his flush. What was he thinking, standing in the doorway staring at her like he’d never seen a woman in a dress with her hair down before?

  He’d seen plenty. Plenty of women. Plenty of dresses. Plenty of hair.

  So why did this woman, in this dress, with this hair stop him faster than a solid metal gate?

  He shook his head. “I guess we can get this over with. I’ve got some work I’d like to get done before dinner.”

  The soft look in her eyes disappeared as he said it, and he regretted his words immediately. But the pastor had just talked about him needing Elaine, and for a few seconds there, some emptiness in his soul that he hadn’t even realized he had begged for the woman on the other side of the table. It felt an awful lot like a need. And there was no way Rem was ever going to need anyone again. Especially a woman.

  “That’s probably a good idea. I have some hospital visits to make once we’re done here.” The pastor shuffled forward, his book in hand. “Do you have any place in particular you want to do this? Maybe beside the Christmas tree?”

  “No. Right here’s fine,” Rem said.

  Morgan’s brows lowered, and her fingers tightened on Ford’s arm. Rem ignored her. He wasn’t here to please Ford’s wife. He hadn’t even thought about pleasing the woman who was soon to be his own wife. His collar suddenly felt stifling, and he couldn’t wait to get this over with so he could unbutton the top button. He hadn’t noticed he’d gotten the wrong size when he took the tag off this morning.

  “I don’t have a tree.” Elaine’s voice flowed smooth as honey. “But the kids and I decorated a spot in the living room.”

  Her face ticked up a notch, and he realized she was challenging him. They stared at each other across the table.

  So, their first fight would be in front of the preacher and their neighbors. If that’s the way she wanted to play it.

  Some part of him said since he didn’t care where they got married, and she did, he should give in.

  But he did care. He didn’t want to make more out of it than what it was. When she started getting dressed up in fancy dresses that fluttered around her legs like silk on a prayer, and when she let her hair down so that it flowed over her shoulders more beautiful than any horse’s mane, and when all that made his fingers itch to touch her to see if she was as soft as she looked... Yeah. He cared.

  She broke eye contact first, turning to the stove and grabbing a hot pad before pulling warm cinnamon rolls out of the oven along with something that looked and smelled like apple crisp. He might have been able to hold up, but after closing the oven door, she opened the freezer and set a container of vanilla ice cream on the counter to thaw.

  He’d marry her in a suit and tie in New York City with ten thousand people looking on if that’s what he had to look forward to eating after he said “I do.”

  “If she made a spot in the living room, let’s use it.” He waited beside the door while everyone else filed out of the kitchen.

  He waited for Elaine to go past him.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  The look of triumph he expected to see in her eyes wasn’t there. He was familiar with that look from Olivia. Any time she got her way, she notched a win. And she kept score.

  But Elaine gave him a soft smile as she passed. If her lips trembled a little, if her hands were clenched in front of her, if her eyes were slightly pinched, he didn’t really notice.

  He did, however, notice that she was in her bare feet.

  He swallowed at the sight of the pink toes, feeling like he’d just tightened his bull rope and rubbed it good to get the rosin hot and sticky, seconds away from it being too late to turn back.

  Still, once he’d gone that far, he’d not gotten off until the bull had thrown him. Unless he made a full ride. It had been called the longest eight seconds in sports, but somehow he doubted it compared to the lifetime he was about to pledge.

  Chapter 7

  Elaine’s hands shook as she picked up the bouquet of poinsettias Heaven and she had put together this morning. They were fake. As was the greenery that she’d wrapped around the window, threading it with white lights and red berries.

  A Christmas tree had been more than she could handle with all four kids and all the outside work. If they’d had a fake one, she would have put it up, but she couldn’t afford to buy one. Not this year.

  Still, the living room looked festive. And clean. It wouldn’t stay that way for long, but all the toys were put away, and there weren’t any clothes or dog bones, and the mud had been scrubbed off the old hardwood floor.

  She had the small coffee table with their lone manger scene in front of the window that she’d decorated. Maybe they wouldn’t be standing in front of the altar, but they could exchange their vows in front of the manger. The altar and church setting hadn’t helped James remember that he was supposed to keep the vows he’d made, anyway.

  “Is this the right spot?” Pastor Houpe asked, stopping in front of the coffee table.

  “Yes.” Her voice came out lower and more husky than usual. It didn’t tremble. She was grateful for that.

  Her boys wrestled a little, but they stood where she’d instructed last night when she’d gone over what was going to happen with her kids. Heaven stood on her side. Carson still wanted her to carry him, but she’d been resisting. Something about being married to one man while holding the child of another just didn’t sit right, no matter how much the second marriage might be a business arrangement and not a real love match.

  She’d tried the love match. It hadn’t worked.

  Surely this couldn’t be worse?

  It could. She was sure of it. There was always “worse.” But at least there wouldn’t be the money struggles she’d had with James. Maybe that had been part of the problem, although she’d not seen it at first. She hadn’t minded staying at the ranch. James, on the other hand, couldn’t stand working from sunup to sundown with no break other than church on Sunday.

  The problem hadn’t been her.

  Maybe one day she’d believe that.

  Very conscious of the man behind her, she stopped in front of the pastor. Ford and Morgan stood back some, in front of the couch, and Rem strode confidently to his place on the other side of the preacher, facing her.

  He was tall and big and even now had the beginnings of a cocky grin lifting a corner of his mouth. Not a grin that said he thought things were funny. But a grin that said he’d take on the world by himself, and he might not make it, but he’d laugh while he was doing it, and he’d die trying. It was a look that impressed her. Made her feel like maybe she was making the right choice.

  If he were bothered or the slightest bit nervous, she couldn’t tell.

  “Clasp right hands, please.” Pastor Houpe’s scratchy voice startled her. For once, her kids were quiet, but before she could lift her hand, Carson stumbled into her leg with both hands up.

  “Up, up,” he said, his hands thumping against her dress. The swirl of material made her notice her bare feet, which she’d thought were as appropriate as flip-flops. She didn’t have any other shoes that would go with this dress. The only winter clothes she had were a black skirt and several different tops that she wore with it.

  She hadn’t wanted to wear black to her wedding, business arrangement or no.

  Morgan stepped forward to take Carson, but Rem swooped him up, sticking him in his left arm before taking Elaine’s right hand in his.

  Carson still hadn’t decided if he liked the dark stranger, but he wasn’t shy like Heaven and Elijah. Maybe he liked the view from his new, higher position. Whatever it was, he stuck his thumb in his mouth and stared at Rem, quiet.

  “I’ve got him,” Rem said to Morgan.

  Morgan’s raised brows said a lot, but she smiled, too.

  Elaine hadn’t moved. The warm hand that held hers was rough and dry. It infused confidence and strength through hers, although there were also shock waves that pinged like she’d hit her funny bone.

  Only she hadn’t, and her eyes flew to his in time to see an almost imperceptible widening of his eyes, a twitch of his brow, before his face resumed his half-cocky, half-humorously arrogant look, although this time it was laced with steely determination.

  “Go ahead,” he said to the preacher. His low drawl combined with the touch of his skin made Elaine want to shift her bare feet on the floor.

  Pastor Houpe cleared his throat and began. Elaine had trouble concentrating on anything other than the hand holding hers and the rich, deep drawl of the man in front of her as he pledged to stay with her until he died.

  She must have said her vows, too. The pastor had been warned, apparently, that they didn’t have rings, because he didn’t ask for them. He also didn’t mention anything about kissing at the end.

  “I now present you to Mr. and Mrs. Remington Martinez.”

  Ford and Morgan clapped, and Elaine’s kids joined in.

  It took Elaine a bit of time to shake the daze that she was in. “Everyone can come to the kitchen and sit down at the table, there’s sweet rolls, apple crisp, and ice cream.”

  She didn’t give her new husband a glance, although she wanted to, but spun, her dress billowing out, and strode out into the kitchen, concentrating on thinking about the plates and glasses and silverware that she’d need and not about what she’d just done. The voices of the adults behind her—Ford’s tones then Rem’s laughter—followed her out of the room.

  Serving the refreshments should give her something to focus on. Except, instead of finding a place at the table with everyone else, Rem’s heat hit her bare arms and shoulders, and she turned to see him beside her.

  “What can I do?”

  “You can sit. I’ll serve you.” Did she sound breathless?

  His voice was low but firm. “You sit. I’ll serve. Or we’ll do it together. But I’m not sitting while you keep working. You’ve already done more than I have this morning.”

  Her lips pressed together, even while his words sent warmth through her. A part of her hoped it wasn’t a show. The bigger part knew that whatever nuances Rem might have in his character, fakeness wasn’t one of them.

  “I need to set this stuff on the table and get the kids settled.”

  “You work on the kids. I don’t want to see you get anything on your pretty dress.”

  That same warmth spread and blossomed. How long had it been since anyone cared whether she worked all the time or got her dress dirty? The wedding had done nothing but give her pain in her stomach, but his words gave her a euphoric glow as she settled the kids and chatted with the adults.

  The preacher and the Hansons didn’t stay long.

  Morgan walked out with Pastor Houpe. Ford hung back and waited until they’d stepped off the porch before he glanced at Elaine then Rem, including them both before he spoke. “I think you can get the money moved to your account right away. They’ll want you to drive to Fargo and show them your marriage certificate within a certain time.”

  “You have the number?” Rem’s dark eyes were all seriousness when he looked at her.

  “It’s on the letter.” For a while, she’d been able to forget that he only wanted the money and the ranch. This brought it back and spoiled all the good feelings that had been chirping in her chest.

  “The money was transferred the day I called.” Ford gave them both another long look. “Let me know if you need anything.”

  “You’ve already done so much. I truly appreciate it.” Elaine wished there was a way she could pay back everything they’d done for her.

  Rem shifted. She didn’t look directly at him, but she got the impression he was annoyed. Maybe he was impatient to get the money. But it felt more like he didn’t want her attention on Ford, which was weird.

  “Please tell Morgan I said thanks for everything. And if there’s ever anything I can do...”

  Ford grinned. “We’ll get you to babysit.”

  Elaine’s eyes widened. “You’re expecting?”

  Ford’s smile seemed to burst from his face. “Yeah. We just found out.”

 

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