Short-Straw Bride (25 page)

A dull red color seeped up Jim's face, and Meredith immediately regretted asking the question. She'd only wanted to distract Cassie from her troubles, not embarrass the poor man.

“Never mind. I didn't mean to pry. I—”

“You're not prying.” Jim interrupted her babbling. “You might as well know the truth.”

Perhaps it was the sideways glance he darted in Cassandra's direction, but Meredith got the feeling he wasn't really aiming that last comment at her.

“Ma was real big on remembering the Alamo. And you're right. She didn't name me James. My given name is Bowie.” He ducked his head and stabbed a bean with the tines of his fork, though he made no move to lift the vegetable to his mouth.

“And none of us can figure out why he doesn't like it,” Crockett said, his eyes full of teasing. “It's not like it sounds like a hog call or anything. Boo-ie! No, wait. Soo-ie!”

Neill laughed out loud, nearly spewing mashed potatoes all over the table. Travis grinned and shook his head, a little huff of laughter puffing out his nose. Meredith couldn't resist a little smile of her own.

“I think Bowie is a wonderful name. It's strong. Heroic.” Cassie's passionate defense brought Jim's head back up. His eyes focused on her with an intensity that left Meredith feeling as if she was intruding on a private moment.

“However, I can certainly understand your preference for a nickname.” Her cousin blushed a bit under Jim's regard. “I myself prefer being called Cassie. It's so much friendlier and less pretentious than Cassandra, don't you think?”

Jim never took his eyes from Cassie's face. “I think they both fit you right fine. One is elegant and graceful, the other fun and lively.”

Cassie's cheeks flushed a deeper red. “What a lovely compliment. Thank you.”

After that, Crockett turned the conversation in a less intimate direction with stories of how the Archer brothers used to reenact scenes from the Alamo battle as boys. Jim had even whittled an imitation Bowie knife to use during their skirmishes, which sparked his interest in woodworking.

While Meredith cleared the dishes and refilled coffee cups, Cassie begged to see the knife Jim had carved so long ago. He offered to show it to her along with his carpentry workshop, and Cassie didn't hesitate. With an eager smile, she took his arm and allowed him to lead her from the room.

A look passed between Jim and Travis over the top of Cassie's head, and at once Meredith knew that Jim had just taken it upon himself to explain the situation with Uncle Everett to her cousin. Meredith glanced at Travis and deliberately reclaimed her seat at the table. The dishes could wait. Explanations could not.

T
ravis wrapped his hands around his coffee cup and stared into the dark depths. He could feel Meri as she lowered herself into the chair next to him, his senses attuned to her movements. He didn't have to turn, he
knew
she was there—knew she was looking at him, waiting for a recounting of what happened with her uncle. Waiting for a solution he hadn't yet devised.

Her gaze bore into him almost as fiercely as it had earlier when she'd been setting out the food. He still couldn't recall a word of what Crockett had said about the barn shingles. He'd just nodded and tried to look contemplative when all the while he'd wanted nothing more than to cross the room and wrap his arms around his wife.

My wife.

Heaven help him. He was past ready to make Meri his wife in truth. To hold her throughout the night and wake with her in his arms every morning. He'd plotted all afternoon how best to approach the topic with her that evening. After she'd kissed him with such fervor and even allowed—no, welcomed—the boldness of his touch on her leg, he'd been able to think of little else.

Now, thanks to Everett Hayes and his idiotic scheme, he'd have nothing but thoughts to keep him warm as he scrunched himself onto the too-short cot in Neill's bedroom again tonight. Travis closed his fingers around the crockery mug before him, wishing it were Hayes's throat.

“So, Trav—” Crockett made a grand show of finishing his coffee and plopping the empty cup against the tabletop—“what did Hayes have to say?”

Travis forced his fingers to relax their stranglehold on the mug and leaned back in his seat as he expelled a heavy breath. “We convinced him to let Cassandra stay for a visit.” He hesitated, trying to come up with some way to soften the rest of the facts for Meri's sake.

“Spit out the rest of it, Travis.” Meredith nodded to him, but he could see the strain around her eyes where tiny lines creased her skin. Apparently she didn't care about soft. She just wanted the truth.

Knowing the truth would be painful, he worded a short, silent prayer, and then summed up the situation as succinctly as possible. “If Cassandra's not home in three days, Hayes will round up a posse and take her by force.”

Meredith tried to muffle her moan, but Travis heard it. And the sound cut right through his heart. Not caring about what his brothers might think, he reached around the side of the table and grabbed one of the spindles on the back of Meri's chair. He dragged her to his side, the chair legs scraping against the floor in a loud racket, took her hand in his, and cradled her entire forearm against his stomach. She laid her head atop his shoulder and leaned into him.

Crockett tapped the edge of his thumb against his thigh. “Is he set on marrying her off to Mitchell?”

“Seems to be. He didn't come right out and say so, but every time I hinted at such a union being a mistake, he sputtered something about me minding my own business and not meddling in his affairs.”

“Travis, she can't marry that man.” Meredith raised her head and stiffened her spine.

“I know, darlin'.” Travis hugged her arm closer. “We'll figure something out.”

She looked past him for a moment, catching her lower lip between her teeth. When her eyes met his once again, determination glowed in their vibrant blue depths. “I'll go talk to him. Give him permission to sell the land to Mitchell straight out. No dowry, no need for a wedding. All Roy wants is the land, anyway.”

Crockett shook his head. “I don't think it would do any good.”

“Why not?” she demanded, jerking forward in her seat. “Roy gets the land, and Uncle Everett would have him in his debt. Both of them get what they want.”

Travis stroked the exposed skin on the back of her arm from the wrist joint all the way to her elbow, where her rolled sleeve sat bunched against her bicep. “Your uncle wants a stronger tie to Mitchell, one that will ensure his business for years to come. A marriage contract would bind him more fully than a bill of sale.”

“The homestead was supposed to be my inheritance. Maybe if I got a lawyer . . .” Her words died when Crockett shook his head.

“If the deed is in your uncle's name, I imagine he can do whatever he wants with it, even if it goes against your father's last wishes. Now if the land was specifically deeded to you . . .” He left the sentence hanging, a thread of hope holding it aloft.

She shook her head and snapped the tenuous thread. “No. Papa trusted my uncle to look out for my interests since I was not of age. Nothing is in my name.”

Meredith slumped, and Travis tugged her back into his side.

“I just can't believe that Uncle Everett would do this. Papa trusted him. His own brother. He was supposed to oversee the property on my behalf, not sell it out from under me or give it to his daughter. And Cassie . . . Oh, Travis.” She turned anguished eyes on him. “He's not just stealing my land, he's selling his daughter. How could he do that? He loves Cassie. I know he does. This doesn't make any sense.”

Travis kissed her forehead and murmured into her hair. “Desperation can warp a man's mind. Keep him from seeing things clearly. Your uncle must be in a financial crisis.”

“I don't care what kind of crisis he's in.” Meredith drew back, a sob catching in her throat. “What he's doing is wrong!”

“I know it is, love.” He gathered her close again, aching to fix what Everett Hayes's betrayal had broken. “We'll find a way to protect Cassie. I swear it.”

“Already found one.” Jim's deep voice rumbled in from the bathing room an instant before he and Cassandra stepped through the doorway into the kitchen.

Travis frowned. How had he not heard the back door open?

Cassie bounded forward, arms outstretched to Meredith. The smile Travis had noted during her first visit had made a miraculous reappearance. Reluctantly, Travis relinquished his hold on Meri, freeing her to clasp her cousin's hands.

“You'll never guess our plan,” Cassie gushed as she slid into the chair next to Meredith. “It's perfect. And it was all Jim's idea. He's so clever.” She smiled at her accomplice over her shoulder as he, too, reclaimed a seat at the table.

“What didja come up with?” Neill elbowed Jim, speaking up for the first time since dinner.

“It's the most brilliant plan.” Cassie's enthusiasm bubbled over before Jim could shape his mouth into a response. Not that the fellow seemed to mind. Having someone do his talking for him was probably a dream come true.

Cassie released Meredith's hands in order to include everyone at the table in her gaze. “First, we're going to give Papa his three days. I'll stay here at the ranch, making my objection to his scheme clear. And perhaps with the six of us praying, the Lord will see fit to nudge him into a more rational stance.”

Travis took a swallow of his coffee, hoping to hide his skepticism. Everett Hayes would need more than a nudge from the Lord to help him see the error of his ways. A wallop upside the head with one of the charred pine planks from the barn might be better.

“Then on Tuesday,” Cassie continued, “I'll return home and tell Papa and Mama straight out that I will not be coerced into marriage. No matter how they plead, I will not be dissuaded.” She lifted her chin in such a way that Travis had to smile. She looked so much like Meri. Brave and determined. Perhaps the princess had gumption, after all.

Crockett hunched forward over the table and scraped his coffee cup across the wooden surface as he drew it closer to his chest. “I don't mean to dash your hopes, but I highly doubt that a little time and stubbornness on your part are going to accomplish much. If your father is truly set on this marriage, all he would have to do is find someone to officiate who could be convinced to ignore your protests. And unfortunately, Mitchell's got enough money to bribe a man into forgetting his scruples.”

“That's where your brother's cleverness comes into play.” Cassandra's smile didn't dim for a second.

Travis raised a questioning brow at Jim, but the man made no effort to enlighten him, his face as stoic as ever.

“If Papa insists on the wedding despite my protests, then we move to stage three.”

“What's stage three?” Meredith asked when Cassandra decided to pause for dramatic effect.

Cassandra rose from her chair, her eyes glowing. “Only the most brilliantly simple idea ever.” She clapped her hands together beneath her chin and slid over to where Jim sat, his gaze centered somewhere between the table and his lap.

Travis's jaw began to twitch. He couldn't quite figure out where this was headed, but his gut told him he wasn't going to like it.

“Papa can't force me to marry Roy if I'm already married to someone else.”

“Jim?” The single word clawed its way out of Travis's throat as he tried to convince himself he'd misunderstood Cassie's meaning.

His brother finally lifted his head, defiance glittering in his eyes. “I offered to be her groom should she find herself in need of one.”

Travis shot up so fast his chair tipped backward onto the floor. “You did
what
?”

Jim slowly pushed to his feet and crossed his arms over his chest. “Why so surprised, Trav? I'm just following in your footsteps.”

“Jim?” Cassandra's smile wobbled, and uncertainty clouded her features.

“Everything's fine, Cassie.” Jim patted her shoulder, but his eyes never left his older brother. “Travis just doesn't handle surprises well. He'll get over it.”

“Outside,” Travis ground out between clenched teeth. “Now.”

He rounded the table and strode down the hall, his arms throbbing with the need to hit something. When he reached the front door, he wrenched it open, not caring that it thudded against the wall with enough force to loosen the hinges.

What could Jim be thinking? He'd known Cassandra Hayes for all of about two minutes. How could he possibly make a decision that would affect the rest of his life on a . . . a whim? Travis paced the length of the porch, the heels of his boots pounding against the pine boards. He was on his second pass when Jim finally got around to joining him.

“You can save your breath,” Jim said as he pulled the front door closed, “I ain't changin' my mind.”

Travis stalked up to him, his hands fisted at his sides. “Think about what you're doing, Jim. You don't really even know the woman.”

“I know enough.”

“What do you know, exactly? That's she's pretty? Quit thinking with your eyes and try using your brain. The girl's been pampered her whole life. She can barely sit a horse, she can't cook, probably can't sew or garden, either. What happens when those pretty smiles of hers turn into pouts because she hates being a rancher's wife? Will you follow her to town?”

“Maybe.”

Fear coiled in Travis's heart at Jim's dark expression. Would he actually choose town life with Cassie over the ranch?

Jim drew himself up to his full height and set his jaw. “Meredith's got a bum leg and a penchant for meddling, yet you seem willing enough to overlook her faults. It's no different with Cassie. I can teach her what she needs to know. And if there comes a time when she wants to return to town, I can handle that, too. I'm sure Palestine could use a new carpentry shop.”

An invisible vise clamped over Travis's chest. His lungs refused to draw in a full breath. His heart throbbed as if his rib cage were shrinking.

Meredith's words came back to him, flaying his defenses like a skinning knife cutting away a hide. “
How long do you think the others will be content to live here in your shadow?”

Would they really leave? All of them?

“Marriage is forever, Jim.” Travis leaned a bent arm against the doorframe, needing its support. “You can't just jump into it on a chivalrous impulse.”

“Like you did?”

“That's different,” Travis sputtered. “I knew that I lo—”
That I loved her
. The shock of that thought sent him reeling. He pushed away from the wall and staggered over to the railing. His palms dug into the wood as he locked his elbows and braced himself against the truth swirling around him.

He loved her. He had all along. That's why he'd not protested when Everett Hayes demanded a wedding. That's why he'd rigged the straws. It wasn't to spare Meri's reputation or an act of brotherly duty. Nothing so altruistic. He'd wanted her for himself. Needed her.

Somehow, on a gut level, he'd known she was the one meant for him, and he'd made up his mind to do everything in his power to keep her.

Jim's quiet footfalls sounded behind him. “Look, Trav. It's a last resort. Neither of us plans to rush into anything. I might have a strong hankerin' for the woman, but if I marry her, I want her comfortable enough around me that I don't have to bunk with one of my brothers while she adjusts.”

“Hey!” Travis spun to face his brother, fists clenched. But the half grin on Jim's face stole his ire. He thumped his fist against his brother's arm anyway, though he put no real force behind the blow. “Yeah, well, I'll listen to your advice when you actually have some experience as a husband. Until then, keep your thoughts to yourself.”

Jim thumped him with his own fist, and Travis grinned as he staggered slightly to the side. Suddenly their problems didn't seem quite so dire.

“So would you really do it, if it came down to it?” Travis asked.

Jim raised a brow. “What? Marry Cassie?”

“No. Willingly tie yourself to a pair of in-laws like Everett and Noreen Hayes?”

Jim growled and lunged for Travis, but Travis sidestepped his brother and darted up to the porch, a chuckle vibrating deep in his throat.

Maybe he wouldn't have to worry about Jim moving into town after all.