An Improper Situation (Sanborn-Malloy Historical Romance Series, Book One) (10 page)

Charlotte was well aware that Beatrice had the first and only sewing machine in Spring City, but, as it turned out, little in the way of alterations were needed. They picked out a pair of white stockings for Lily with one flower sewn on either ankle—slightly daring for a little girl, but Charlotte thought it wouldn’t hurt. Then they thanked Mr. Webster and headed out to purchase shoes for Charlotte.

They were just pausing over a cup of tea and a glass of milk at the Fuller Hotel’s dining room when Lily exclaimed, “Uncle Reed’s tie!”

“
Oh dear, it wouldn’t do to go home without that, now, would it?” They headed over to the only men’s clothing store in town.

After bypassing the overalls and flannel shirts, they came to the smaller section of the store with fine cotton shirts and worsted wool pants, doctor’s clothes, bang-ups, and Hessians, and then, to Lily’s delight, a very small selection of silk ties.

“I’ll leave this entirely to your judgment, Lily. I haven’t a clue,” Charlotte admitted and she didn’t want to be blamed for whatever they chose.
Coward,
she told herself, but Reed Malloy seemed to be an exacting man who would rather stand naked than let a female choose his clothing. She still wondered why he’d given in so quickly.

As it turned out, Lily had as excellent taste in men’s cravats as in women’s stockings, and Charlotte wondered just what the little girl’s life had been like in Boston. Could she have already been in high society at the tender age of eight? Was all this boring and provincial to her niece?

And what about Reed Malloy? Would he find the barn dance as tame as she feared? Charlotte almost reconsidered the purchase of the dress, except that Lily was so enthusiastic when they went to pick it up.

Her only black cloud was running into Eliza Prentice who was purchasing a bolt of lace to add to the dress her own mother was just finishing for her. Mrs. Prentice was known far and wide as an excellent seamstress.

In school, though two years younger, Eliza had been a torment to Charlotte, who had always been painfully shy except when reading aloud, and their relationship hadn’t improved they’d grown up. Even now, Eliza had to raise her eyebrows at the idea of Charlotte attending a dance, and nearly demanded to see what she’d bought.

Charlotte hugged close to her the large box wrapped in brown paper and tied with string, noting Eliza’s smirk. Evidently, she’d already looked through the rack and thought she knew exactly what it contained.

Charlotte was almost goaded into showing her, but it was Lily who brought her to her senses, saying it would be better as a surprise.

Of course, the little girl was right—a devastating, hopefully nasty, surprise to Eliza. And not the only one, Charlotte thought, as they said their farewells, thinking how proud she’d be to show up with Reed and the two children.

For the sake of all that lived, wasn’t Eliza happy with having already caught and engaged the most handsome young man in Spring City? Everyone knew as soon as her fiancé obtained his medical license, Eliza would be a doctor’s wife. What more could she want?

Charlotte didn’t have long to wonder why Reed had let them go so easily. He had been busy at her home, she saw, planting rose bushes in the front. It took Charlotte’s breath away as they rounded the corner, Lily perched on her knee holding the reins.

Reed and Thomas were nowhere in sight, so the two females scrambled down from the wagon. It had been a splendid day and Charlotte was already in a good mood, savoring the feeling of contentment at going home to a full house—and then to see what Reed had accomplished in such a short time!

“
It’s magic,” Lily exclaimed.

They paused only long enough to unhook Alfred and lead him around to the stable where Reed’s horse stood. Here, too, there were changes. Reed had tilled the ground where her mother used to grow vegetables and he’d turned over the topsoil, ready for planting. A pile of weeds lay a few feet away.

Charlotte shook her head in wonder, as she turned Alfred free in the small paddock. It was second nature for her to check his water and fill his food trough and then, she and Lily hurried toward the door.

They burst into the kitchen and stopped short—a veritable feast was obviously being prepared. Thomas sat on the stool, peeling potatoes, and Reed Malloy was attending to something in the oven that smelled heavenly. As he stood up and turned around, Charlotte’s eyes raced over him.

She had grown slightly accustomed to his presence but not to the downright raw handsomeness of the man. Now, dressed in well-worn dungarees and a light cotton shirt, a handkerchief tied at his neck to catch the sweat, and comfortable looking cowboy boots, he looked the epitome of a westerner.

“
Yes, Miss Sanborn?” There was downright pleasure dancing in his eyes.

She pretended to be serious as she frowned and shook her head at him in mock amazement.

“I didn’t know eastern lawyers could dirty up so well.”

He laughed aloud at that.

“Well, you can take over with dinner now that you’re here.”

He laughed again at her genuine look of terror.
“Or at least Lily can take over and you can help her. I’ve got to go take a bath. I’m not fit to sit down to dinner with two such beautiful ladies.”

Lily giggled at this while her little brother snorted his disgust. Charlotte kept silent, the smile crinkling the corners of her eyes.

“Have you got packages in the wagon?” he asked as an afterthought.

“
Uh, yes,” Charlotte replied, nervously remembering her dress.

But Lily gave the warning as she followed Reed to the door.
“No peeking, Uncle Reed,” she called after him.

Charlotte set to helping cook the meal, but had difficulty keeping her mind off the man in the room above them. After he’d heated the water, Reed disappeared upstairs.

She thought of him removing his work clothes, and then sinking his body into the steaming water, first his feet, then his well-shaped calves and hard thighs, then . . .

“
Sugar!” she exclaimed, shocking herself with her own thoughts.

“
What is it?” Lily asked.

Her cheeks pink, she merely shrugged.
“Nothing at all.”

Over dinner, she thought more about the dance than she did of the succulent roast chicken.

“Excuse me?” she asked, realizing that Reed had just asked her a question.

“
I asked what you’re currently writing about.”

She answered but all the time her mind was imagining them dancing in the candlelight of Drake’s barn in town. She smiled at him directly through her reverie and he smiled back broadly before she caught hold of herself, feeling a sudden hot flush at the stupid expression she must have worn.

It was much later that night, after the unexpected treat of hearing Reed play the old, untuned piano in the parlor, when Charlotte finally sat down to her work. She still felt dreamy as she searched for the right words to end her article on barbed wire.
Who cares about barbed wire?
she asked herself.

The knock at the door made her jump guiltily as if Reed Malloy had known she was in there thinking of him. She kept telling herself that it was natural for her to be interested in the only male to darken her doorstep since . . . well, the
only
male to darken her doorstep. And such an incredibly male one at that!

Then suddenly, his head was appearing around the door
.

“
Fancy a nightcap and some conversation?”

Charlotte nodded wordlessly before she caught herself. Reed pushed the door open with his shoulder and she could see he carried two glasses in one hand and a bottle of brandy in the other. Now where did
that
come from?

“
Are you sure I’m not disturbing you?”

“
Oh no,” Charlotte said quickly. “I wasn’t getting any work done anyway.” She immediately wished she hadn’t said that as he honed in on the remark like the well-trained lawyer he was.

“
Why is that, Miss Sanborn?” He settled in the chair on the other side of her desk and, after attempting to clear a place on the little Pembroke table, finally set the glasses on top of the nearest pile of books.

He didn’t look at her as he poured, but she was well aware that he awaited her answer. To give herself time, she moved around the front of her desk and leaned against it.

“Naturally the events of the past weeks have caused a bit of turmoil in my head.”

“
Yes, of course.” His remark was toneless as he handed her a glass. “And I suppose the sooner it is all over with, the better for your career?”

“
My feelings have not changed any, if that is what you’re asking. I maintain that I am not well-matched to be their full-time caregiver.” She couldn’t believe they were at this again within seconds of starting a conversation.

He narrowed his eyes, taking a sip of the brandy.
“I see.” He stared into the rich amber liquid and Charlotte wondered just what it was he saw.

She looked at his dark, thick hair, that now familiar lock of it hanging rakishly over his forehead—he looked like anything but her idea of a stuffy city lawyer. Her gaze went to his mouth, to the firm, well-defined lips that she had seen both smiling at her and held in a grim straight line. She preferred the gentle curve of his smile.

His eyes flickered to hers and their gazes locked. Charlotte was unable to look away from his intense blue stare.

“
How about a compromise, Miss Sanborn?” She didn’t say anything, mesmerized by his sensual gleam that didn’t waver.

“
What if you were only a part-time guardian?”

Charlotte frowned.
“And how would that be?”

“
I’m not entirely sure, but an idea is coming to me. What if you were to move east with the children, have them live with you, and let their grandmother look after them whenever you were too busy.”

Charlotte just stared at him for a full five seconds; she was utterly flabbergasted that he could expect her to rearrange her whole life and move thousands of miles from her home in order to make his duty as executor easier. What made him think that she had no roots here, no friends, no stake in her homestead?
Of all the unmitigated gall!

“
You’re gurgling, Miss Sanborn.”

“
That’s because I can barely frame a civil word to you, Mr. Malloy. How dare you presume to move me and the children about to suit your liking, as though we’re pawns?” She looked down at her glass and took a sip of brandy.

He had hit a nerve with that one, and she freely admitted—to herself only, of course—that moving was one thing that terrified her. This home, and Spring City, were all she’d ever known.

His eyes widened in surprise at this reproachful utterance. He leaned forward, looking earnest. “I believe you’re making excuses, if you’ll pardon my saying so. As for the children, they’re young and completely unaffected by all this traveling. They find it exciting. As for you,” he paused and she stared into dark sapphires and was mesmerized once again.

“
As for you,” he continued, “I don’t presume, but I can suggest. I believe your writing career can only benefit from being in the midst of a large city as opposed to being stifled out here. Besides, many great writers and thinkers have come out of New England—Longfellow, Whittier, Hawthorne.”

“
Thoreau, Emerson,” she added, with an involuntary grimace. “All men. If I were to move anywhere, Mr. Malloy, I would be better off moving to Wyoming. At least there, I could vote, and have a say in the laws that you so aptly use in the defense of your clients.”

He smiled at her.
“I assure you, the Woman’s Suffrage Association is active in Boston. The women of Massachusetts already have a great deal of power, Miss Sanborn. Perhaps you heard about the 1860 strike parade of shoe workers? That was led by 800 women.”

She wasn’t convinced. The issue was not, after all, her being a woman in Boston. The issue was her own terror at facing the unknown, with two small children, in tow.

“In fact,” he continued, “you would not only fit well in our fair city; you would be welcomed as another literary light if you chose to write under your own name. Frankly, I would be extremely pleased to have you as an addition to my circle of friends , and to show you around.”

This last bit of news interested her the most; the idea of being escorted around Boston by Reed Malloy held great allure. But Charlotte was taken aback by this sudden insistence that she move east.

“My career isn’t stifled,” she said finally, latching on to his earliest point as the only part of his speech she could debate. “After all,
you
had heard of me in Boston.”

“
Only because your cousin brought you to my attention.”

She took another sip of her brandy.

“I will . . . take it into consideration, Mr. Malloy. It had not occurred to me that I could share the responsibility of the children.”