The Shepherd's Daughter (Dry Bayou Brides Book 1) (7 page)

Ray swallowed the lump of anger forming in her throat. “Yes, this place is very special.” She forced herself to look at Billy again. “I hope you both have a great evening.”

Suddenly, the exhaustion of the last two days settled over her. She was tired of putting on airs, trying to be something she wasn’t, trying to keep the pain and hurt hidden. She turned to make her way to her horse.

Billy grabbed her from behind and turned her around.

“Why’re you leaving? You just got here.”

Ray refused to answer. She needed to get away before he read the truth on her face.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt your
special
time together. I should probably get back to the ranch anyway.” She swallowed. “I
am
the shepherd’s daughter, after all.”

With that, she pulled away and left him standing in the clearing beside the creek, the place where she’d never find peace again.

“S
he seems like
an…intriguing woman,” Rebecca said after Ray left. “She certainly has a fire I haven’t seen in a long time. It’s refreshing.” She laughed and Billy didn’t know how to respond.

Ray had departed as quickly as she appeared and he couldn’t make hide nor hair of everything that had occurred in the short time she’d been standing there. In that dress.

Where had she even gotten it? In all the years he’d known Ray, he never once seen her in a skirt any other color than brown or any shirt other than the cream or red ones she must have bought by the crate.

Rebecca softly cleared her throat and smiled at him from under the brim of her bonnet.

Ray hadn’t worn a bonnet. But he was glad of it. He pictured Ray again, her bright hair cascading over her shoulders and down her back. He’d never seen her hair like that, either.

He removed his hat and ran his fingers through his hair, trying to unscramble his brain enough to be good company for Rebecca. “Er, yes, Ray is…something else, that’s for sure.”

Rebecca’s expression became contemplative and her gaze roved over his face. “You’ve been friends a long time. That must mean she’s special to you.”

That was an understatement. She was everything to him. Had been since he first met her; he’d just been too much of a fool to realize it sooner.

“Yes, she is special to me,”
so special it hurts to think of her
“—but let’s not talk about Ray any more, let’s talk about you. Why did you decide to throw caution to the wind and come all the way out here to get married? Aren’t there eligible men in New York? You’re a pretty woman. I imagine there’s any number of men who’d have you for a wife.”

Rebecca tipped her head thoughtfully. “Sure, there were men enough in New York, but there weren’t many opportunities for the future I’d envisioned when I moved to America. Out here, I can create my own future. With or without being Mrs. Willem Ducharme.” Her smile was one of longing and sorrow, and the sight of it made Billy wonder at what she really meant when she’d mentioned the future she’d envisioned.

“Well, I can’t say much about that, but whether we marry or not, there are still men here to marry—if you know what you’re looking for.” If he could talk his parents out of forcing the match, he wanted Rebecca to have a way out of her contract.

“Oh, I know exactly what I’m looking for,” she remarked. “What I’d like to know, though, is what you’re looking for in a wife.”

Was she trying to get him to confess that
he
wanted
her
?

“Well, I’ve never actually thought about it. I hadn’t planned to get married yet so I didn’t sit down and make a list—like my pa did when he sent back east for you.” He laughed, trying to ease the tension between them.

“Just tell me the first things that come to mind.”

Billy took a deep breath and put his hat back on. He stared where Ray had been standing minutes before.

Ray MacAdams…

“I guess what I’m looking for in a wife…” his thoughts remained on Ray. “I think I’d want my wife to be someone who fires my blood. Someone I could talk to about anything. I’d think about her all day while I was away and couldn’t wait to get home to. She’d be strong, smart, kind, and hardworking. We’d be able to laugh and enjoy our children. And I’d love her.”

Rebecca’s gaze never left his face and now that his babbling had come to an end, the awkwardness of the situation hit him.

He was standing in front of his mail order bride, picturing another woman as his wife.

*

Ray practically tore
the dress from her body even before she’d made it into the privacy of her bedroom.

Thankfully, her ma was in town, gathering supplies for the Sunday dresses she’d been meaning to make for the last three months. Pa’s sudden death put most everything on hold. Now that there’d been time enough to mourn, her ma was realizing that life couldn’t be put off any longer.

“Oh, Pa, I wish you were here. I need you to tell me that I’m being a fool, that Billy and I will be just fine as friends, that my heart won’t be shattered to pieces if he marries another woman.” She sank onto her bed.

All the way home from the creek, Ray had fought hard to keep the tears at bay.

But she couldn’t help it. Her insides were in knots.

For the first time since her pa had died, Ray wept.

“G
oodnight, darling,” Billy’s
ma kissed his cheek and headed to the master wing of the ranch house.

He heaved a sigh and made his way to his own room. A room, if his parents had their way, wouldn’t be his for much longer.

Any day now, his pa would likely approach him about building his own homestead somewhere on the property. Close enough to the main house but far enough away to provide the privacy he’d need with a new wife.

Problem was, the only place on the eight-hundred-acre property he could think of, was the clearing by the creek. Where he’d taken Rebecca. The place where Ray had showed up dressed as fine as he’d ever seen her and stole the very breath from his body.

He pulled his bedroom door shut and leaned against it, focused on the one moment by the creek where his whole life had changed.

He remembered how his heart stopped at seeing her again after two long days. All rational thought had stopped.

Ray was wearing a light blue dress, though a little big on her, it hugged her frame just right. Her glorious hair was pulled back from her face the rest left hanging down her back. So very pretty.

He drank her in, not trusting himself to speak. Regrettably, the words that tumbled from him mouth made the next few minutes the hardest in his life.

“
What’re you
wearing
?” As if he couldn’t see it with his own eyes. She was beautiful. He didn’t care if she was wearing a potato sack. Ray was more than he’d ever imagined.

It hadn’t gone well after.

Had he said something wrong?

Blood rushed into his face as he remembered.

“…this is Ray MacAdams, the shepherd’s daughter…”
 – not his best friend, not the woman he’d ached to see the last two days, not the woman who tore him up inside, just the shepherd’s daughter.

Yeah, he’d hurt her all right.

The fiery-haired little girl he’d met all those years ago had grown up finally. He trusted and cared for her more than any other woman.

“
Aw-dingit
! I’m such an idiot.” He groaned at his own ignorance and fought down the urge to punch the wall.

Billy didn’t even know how to begin delving into his emotions. Even the physical reaction he had to Ray confused him.

What a fool he’d been for ever considering, even for a moment, marrying Rebecca. Just courting her was unfair. Just because he’d promised his ma—but that had to end.

Ray wasn’t an idiot. She’d known who Rebecca was and why she was there.

He had to find a way to make it right. To make everything right.

He punched the door, welcoming the sharp pain in his knuckles. A reminder of how stupid he’d been.

The one woman who mattered most to him thought he didn’t want her.

Thought he preferred another woman.

The ache in his heart wouldn’t go away.

“Oh, Ray. What am I going to do about you?”

*

“Again, thank you
for your kind invitation, Miss Mosier.” Rebecca smiled prettily at Tilly, who sat across from a grumpy but grudgingly charmed Ray.

She really wanted to dislike Rebecca, the woman who’d been picked over her to marry Billy. The woman he was obviously falling in love with. She’d been forced to spend the last few hours with Rebecca because Tilly’s parents had invited Dry Bayou’s newest resident to town for the day.

From France, Rebecca had moved to New York years ago, had worked as an interpreter in one of those fancy office buildings, and, after some sort of unfortunate event, had decided to try a life out west. By a bit of luck, she’d found Mr. Ducharme’s advert in the New York Times. Ray considered it a heaping helping of luck that she’d met all of the man’s requirements as a wife for his son.

Honestly, Ray couldn’t be mad at her for doing what she thought was best for her own future.

But not Ray. Because the prize for Rebecca’s courage was the one person Ray couldn’t give up.

“We’re happy to have you,” Tilly welcomed her graciously. “It’s just too bad Ma, Pa, Gaston, and Dora couldn’t stay longer. The store requires looking after.” Tilly spoke the last words with a pinch of annoyance in her voice.

Tilly’s parents were always after her about making her mark in the family business.

“Oh, I understand perfectly. I am just glad that I can spend some time away from the ranch.” She must’ve caught Ray’s grimace because she continued, “—not that I don’t like it there. I do. I just wanted to meet new people. Billy’s mother is wonderful, but she can be…overwhelming.”

Ray let out a snort, then remembered she was trying to be more ladylike. “I’m sorry, you were saying?”

Rebecca continued. “She’s well meaning, but all she can seem to talk about is the wedding—what day would work best, evening or morning, chicken or trout, ribbons or lace, lanterns or candles. I’m happy that she’s so excited but…well, the wedding isn’t set in stone, yet, and I can’t help but feel that she’s putting the…how do you say…
cart before the horse
—. She’s planning a wedding for a son who doesn’t seem ready.”